[SOLVED] Troubleshoot CUPS printer

shmu26 · 2021-08-23 14:50:45

I use a fax client for Hylafax called YajHFC. It also has a CUPS printer driver so you can do print-to-fax, via YajHFC.
I have YajHFC on both MX Linux KDE (Debian-based) and on Arch KDE.

EDIT: Hylafax is configured and I am able to send faxes through the YajHFC GUI on both distros. The only issue is with the CUPS driver on Arch.

I installed this CUPS driver on both, it works on MX, whereas on Arch it doesn't -- when printing to YajHFC on Arch, the Print Queue complains:

The printer may not exist or is unavailable at this time.

On MX, where it works, The Device URI is

yajhfc:/var/spool/yajhfc/printer-$USERNAME

On Arch, the connection is

socket://localhost:19100

On both distros, the location is

localhost

On Arch, the path mentioned by MX does not exist. There is no "yajhfc" folder in /var/spool/
Furthermore, on MX, the file inside this folder is a pipe file, and apparently cannot be copied in the usual way.

Last edited by shmu26 (2021-08-28 18:52:02)

zpg443 · 2021-08-23 15:30:45

Did you install the hylafax package?

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/hylafax

shmu26 · 2021-08-23 15:36:25

zpg443 wrote:

Did you install the hylafax package?
https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/hylafax

I am using the hylafax+ package instead, since the old hylafax package didn't configure my modem right.

zpg443 · 2021-08-23 16:11:43

What is the output of

 /var/log/cups/error_log

shmu26 · 2021-08-23 16:59:30

It's not logging that printer at all. The last entry is from weeks ago, when I was configuring a different printer.

zpg443 · 2021-08-23 17:52:49

If you went through all the "tips and tricks" in the wiki page referenced above (which should be the same for hylafax+), not sure what it could be.

shmu26 · 2021-08-23 18:07:15

zpg443 wrote:

If you went through all the "tips and tricks" in the wiki page referenced above (which should be the same for hylafax+), not sure what it could be.

The issue is not really so relevant to the wiki, because this CUPS driver is not supplied by hylafax, and is not found in the Arch repo or even in AUR. It is straight from the author of the third-party fax client I am using, YajHFC. YajHFC itself is actually in AUR, but not the printer driver.

Last edited by shmu26 (2021-08-23 18:08:28)

zpg443 · 2021-08-23 19:15:15

How about fax4cups in the AUR?

https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/fax4cups/

shmu26 · 2021-08-23 19:23:36

zpg443 wrote:

How about fax4cups in the AUR?
https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/fax4cups/

It's probably a good idea.
Ideally, I want to use the printer driver I already installed, because it ties into my GUI client, which is so convenient.

shmu26 · 2021-08-24 02:32:57

zpg443 wrote:

How about fax4cups in the AUR?
https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/fax4cups/

There is a comment

James wrote:

Download link is deprecated.
Actual working download link: http://mirror.transip.net/gentoo/gentoo … .29.tar.gz
Please update PKGBUILD.

If I install by yay, how can I edit the PKGBUILD ?

jasonwryan · 2021-08-24 02:47:27

You learn how to use the AUR: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Arch_U … g_packages

shmu26 · 2021-08-24 03:56:58

jasonwryan wrote:

You learn how to use the AUR: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Arch_U … g_packages

Surely good advice, but the only thing I saw in that wiki about editing was a recommendation to edit packages locally, in case of need. I was wondering how to edit while using yay.
I downloaded the source code directly, so that basically solves the problem for me.

jasonwryan · 2021-08-24 05:16:28

shmu26 wrote:

I was wondering how to edit while using yay.

Oh, look: the answer to editing PKGBUILDs is hidden on the Yay homepage:
https://github.com/Jguer/yay

Maybe stop being a help vampire and actually read before posting here.

shmu26 · 2021-08-24 05:26:34

jasonwryan wrote:

help vampire

That's a pretty cool epithet. Yeah, I was being lazy.

shmu26 · 2021-08-28 18:51:27

The dev wrote back and said as follows:

James wrote:

try putting the named pipe into a new directory /var/spool/yajhfc (or similar) instead of /tmp
You will also need to edit the "yajhfc" CUPS backend and replace "/tmp/yajhfc-$USERNAME" with "/var/spool/yajhfc/yajhfc-$USERNAME"
Newer CUPS version redirect /tmp to a private directory, so it won't find the named pipe file there (in the Debian package I have changed this, but sadly forgot to update the manual instructions).
If it still does not work, you can try two things:
1. Look at the CUPS log (usually in /var/log/cups) if you see some messages there
2. Try if the send fax dialog opens when you do a "cat somefile > /var/spool/yajhfc/yajhfc-$USER" in a Terminal. If that works, the YajHFC side is OK, and only the CUPS backend has problems.
Also, as a possible workaround:
If only one user uses your computer at a time, the method "TCP port with socket: backend" will work just fine and probably be easier to setup.

I used the workaround, "TCP port with socket: backend", and it worked without hitch.

Arch Linux

#1 2021-08-23 14:50:45

[SOLVED] Troubleshoot CUPS printer

#2 2021-08-23 15:30:45

Re: [SOLVED] Troubleshoot CUPS printer

#3 2021-08-23 15:36:25

Re: [SOLVED] Troubleshoot CUPS printer

#4 2021-08-23 16:11:43

Re: [SOLVED] Troubleshoot CUPS printer

#5 2021-08-23 16:59:30

Re: [SOLVED] Troubleshoot CUPS printer

#6 2021-08-23 17:52:49

Re: [SOLVED] Troubleshoot CUPS printer

#7 2021-08-23 18:07:15

Re: [SOLVED] Troubleshoot CUPS printer

#8 2021-08-23 19:15:15

Re: [SOLVED] Troubleshoot CUPS printer

#9 2021-08-23 19:23:36

Re: [SOLVED] Troubleshoot CUPS printer

#10 2021-08-24 02:32:57

Re: [SOLVED] Troubleshoot CUPS printer

#11 2021-08-24 02:47:27

Re: [SOLVED] Troubleshoot CUPS printer

#12 2021-08-24 03:56:58

Re: [SOLVED] Troubleshoot CUPS printer

#13 2021-08-24 05:16:28

Re: [SOLVED] Troubleshoot CUPS printer

#14 2021-08-24 05:26:34

Re: [SOLVED] Troubleshoot CUPS printer

#15 2021-08-28 18:51:27

Re: [SOLVED] Troubleshoot CUPS printer

Board footer