Adding printers vs Xubuntu philosphy

[Joe Braddock]

On Fri, 2006-05-05 at 18:32 +0200, Luzi Thoeny wrote:
> >   
> i see your point, but gnome-cups-manager has *really* a lot of dependencies:
> http://packages.ubuntu.com/dapper/gnome/gnome-cups-manager
> 
> btw, the desktop guide already includes information on how to enable the 
> cups web-admin (which is pretty easy to use IMHO), and there's also a 
> note that you can install gnome-cups-manager if you want, including a 
> warning about bloating your system.
> 
> ~luzi
> 

Having directions on how to enable the cups web-admin is not the same as
having a graphical tool already enabled.  I have no problem with using
cups web-admin however, if I understand the previous discussion, it
requires either a) enabling a root account or b) adding a back-door
security hole.  Neither seem to be good options.

I also understand that the gnome-cups-manager adds a lot of dependencies
and bloat however, I think that shipping a distro without having a means
of adding a printer out of the box, will be seen as a major flaw.  If
the official solution will be to use web-admin, then it needs to be
enabled (either with a root account or the back-door hole) and should
not be left to the user to find a document on how to do it.

I guess my concern stems from who is the target audience of Xubuntu
going to be?  If it is going to be the same as Ubuntu and Kubuntu but
with a lighter weight desktop in mind, then shouldn't all of the basic
functionality be provided out of the box? If it simply is not possible
at this time to have a gtk only cups front end or a web front end that
doesn't create a security problem then it seems that the
gnome-cups-manager appears to be the only logical choice.  Instead of
not shipping any printer configuration tool, ship the gnome one and if
something else becomes viable at a later date, great!  If not, at least
the average desktop user will be able to easily add and configure a
printer.

I don't mean to harp on this, but Xubuntu really only gets one chance to
make a first impression.  Printing is such a basic thing that not having
some easy mechanism in place to add a printer will, I believe, tarnish
all the good things Xubuntu has going for it.

Joe