The tool we provide for configuring printers needs to change. The one we have works as designed, but unfortunately the design was that: * print queue configuration is stored in an XML file * a front-end interface allows the user to manipulate the XML file * a back-end program, which runs at spooler start-up time, writes out spooler-specific configuration based on the XML file There are several bad consequences of this: * the XML file format was and is inflexible * the configuration options are limited to those common to both spoolers we were shipping at the time the XML format was decided * it is VERY SLOW: you can't *modify* configuration, only write out entirely new configurations (i.e. trigger the back-end) * again, due to the XML format chosen, we are tied to the foomatic database in such as way that we absolutely require foomatic to know about the printer before we can configure it. Even if you have the manufacturer's PPD file, there is very little you can do to get your printer working. * changes made using the CUPS configuration interface (http://localhost:631/), or any other method external to system-config-printer, are not reflected in the XML file and so cannot be modified. * changes made using system-config-printer cannot be modified using other tools, since changes will be overwritten. and so on. Does anyone have ideas for how system-config-printer should be re-written? Thanks, Tim. */
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