Startup services (Re: ubuntu-laptop useful?)
Matt Zimmerman
mdz at ubuntu.com
Mon May 8 22:42:40 BST 2006
On Mon, May 08, 2006 at 05:30:53PM -0400, Chris Wagner wrote:
> Matt Zimmerman wrote:
> >On Sat, May 06, 2006 at 03:08:43PM +0200, Thilo Six wrote:
> >> 206 update-rc.d -f cupsys remove
> >> 207 update-rc.d -f hplip remove
> >
> >
> >Similar problem; there's no way to know if a printer is connected
> >(especially if it's turned off at boot time). Most desktop users seem to
> >want to print at some point in their lives, and CUPS needs to be running
> >then. It runs with special privileges, so it can't be started by the user.
> >Remember that a printer could be turned on or connected at any time, and
> >parallel port printers can't be automatically detected (USB printers could
> >theoretically trigger the startup of printing services when connected).
>
> If udev/dbus/whatever can automatically start CUPS for USB printers,
> then the problem is only with parallel port printers (right?). And,
> since these cannot be autodetected, then some kind of manual
> "installation" process must take place when the user decides to make use
> of such a printer (as is required, now, with all printers). So, perhaps
> CUPS could be started only when a the user attempts to "install" a
> printer -- when he hits System->Administration->Printers->New Printer.
>
> It seems like this would be possible, theoretically, but I'd guess there
> would be problems with the Ubuntu/GNOME printer management implementation:
> a) How would you know if printers are "installed" (so we know whether
> to start CUPS) if CUPS isn't running? You could probably look at the
> configuration for CUPS, but that may or may not be a good idea (?).
> b) The GNOME "Printers" panel would probably have to be reprogrammed
> to start CUPS, if it wasn't running already, when the user hit "New
> Printer".
Yes, it should be possible to have the GNOME printer configuration tool
enable CUPS startup when a printer is added; of course, before CUPS could be
disabled by default, this would need to be done for the corresponding
printer administration tools in Kubuntu and Xubuntu.
> Not sure about all this, but it seems maybe it's just an issue of
> whether or not it's worth the trouble that it would be to not auto-start
> CUPS by default.
Exactly. Not only do we have genuine bugs to fix, but there are easier
gains to be found which don't require this much work.
--
- mdz
More information about the ubuntu-devel
mailing list