Beyond Linux® From Scratch (systemd Edition) - Version 11.3

Chapter 46. Printing

cups-filters-1.28.16

Introduction to CUPS Filters

The CUPS Filters package contains backends, filters and other software that was once part of the core CUPS distribution but is no longer maintained by Apple Inc.

This package is known to build and work properly using an LFS 11.3 platform.

Package Information

CUPS Filters Dependencies

Required

Cups-2.4.2, GLib-2.74.5, ghostscript-10.00.0, Little CMS-2.14, Poppler-23.02.0, and Qpdf-11.2.0

Recommended

Dejavu fonts (the build fails if they are not installed, although they are only required for the tests), libexif-0.6.24, libjpeg-turbo-2.1.5.1, libpng-1.6.39, libtiff-4.5.0, and mupdf-1.21.1 (mutool)

Optional

Avahi-0.8 (required to build the DNSSD backend of the cups-browsed daemon, which is needed for operating some network printers), OpenLDAP-2.6.4, PHP-8.2.3 (use of this might be broken), Liblouis (Braille), and Liblouisutdml (Braille)

Optional printer drivers (runtime)

Gutenprint-5.3.4 (for supported printers), or other printer drivers, such as hplip

User Notes: https://wiki.linuxfromscratch.org/blfs/wiki/cups-filters

Installation of CUPS Filters

Install CUPS Filters by running the following commands: 

./configure --prefix=/usr        \
            --sysconfdir=/etc    \
            --localstatedir=/var \
            --without-rcdir      \
            --disable-static     \
            --disable-avahi      \
            --docdir=/usr/share/doc/cups-filters-1.28.16 &&
make

To test the results, issue: make check. DejaVu fonts are needed for the tests.

Now, as the root user: 

make install

Install the systemd unit by running the following command as the root user: 

install -v -m644 utils/cups-browsed.service /lib/systemd/system/cups-browsed.service

Command Explanations

--disable-avahi: This switch is needed if the optional Avahi-0.8 is not installed. Remove it if avahi is installed and you need network printer discovery capabilities.

--without-rcdir: This switch disables installation of the bundled bootscript which is not compatible with BLFS.

--disable-static: This switch prevents installation of static versions of the libraries.

--with-test-font-path=VALUE: If you wish to run the tests, but you do not have the default /usr/share/fonts/dejavu/DejaVuSans.ttf use this switch to specify where DejaVuSans.ttf (or perhaps some other text TTF font - untested) is located.

Configuring CUPS Filters

Systemd Units

To start the cups-browsed daemon at boot, enable the previously installed systemd unit by running the following command as the root user: 

systemctl enable cups-browsed

Contents

Installed Programs: cups-browsed, driverless, driverless-fax, and foomatic-rip
Installed Libraries: libcupsfilters.so and libfontembed.so
Installed Directories: /usr/include/{cupsfilters,fontembed}, /usr/lib/cups/{backend,driver,filter}, /usr/share/cups/{braille,charsets}, /usr/share/doc/cups-filters-1.28.16, and /usr/share/ppd/cupsfilters

Short Descriptions

cups-browsed

is a daemon for browsing the Bonjour and CUPS broadcasts of shared, remote CUPS printers

driverless

is a PPD generator utility for driverless printing

driverless-fax

is a wrapper to driverless for FAX type devices

foomatic-rip

is a universal print filter/RIP wrapper which can be used as CUPS filter or stand-alone for spooler-less, direct printing

libcupsfilters.so

contains CUPS Filters API functions