HPLIP and system-config-printer (and foomatic)

[Patrick O'Callaghan]

On Sun, 2008-09-14 at 11:14 +0100, Andrea wrote:
> Andrea wrote:
> > Hi,
> > 
> > I need to update hplip to the latest version (2.8.7) to support a new printer.
> > 
> > So I have downloaded the src rpm from fedora 10 and rebuilt the rpm.
> > Everything went fine.
> > Installed ok (replacing the f9 version 2.8.2)
> > 
> > Now when I launch system-config-printer I cannot see my the new drivers.
> > In the list (under HP) I see exactly the same drivers of before the upgrade.
> > 
> > The funny thing is that even if I remove hplip I still see the same drivers for HP printers.
> > 
> > I have rebooted to be sure cups was properly restarted.
> > 
> > I can imagine that system-config-printer takes the drivers from elsewhere.
> > 
> > Does anybody know how it works?
> > 
> > Andrea
> > 
> 
> After a while I found that there is more that one driver provider for my printer
> 
> 1) foomatic (providing the same (?) support as hpijs 2.8.2)
> 2) hpijs (the one I upgraded)
> 3) hplip
> 
> And more than one way of adding a printer
> 
> 1) system-config-printer (only allows 1)
> 2) the web interface of CUPS (for 1 and 2)
> 3) hp-setup (for 3)
> 
> Does it need to be so complicated?

(1) is a generic tool that dates from before CUPS existed and is
designed for Fedora, (2) is an attempt to rationalize the various
spooler systems and is not just for Linux, and (3) is distributed by HP.
Since you have an HP printer, just use the hplip package (which
interfaces with CUPS) and you should be fine.

poc