Foomatic 3.0 and KDE Print

[Till Kamppeter]

Oi,

during the last weeks I have started to develop for Foomatic 3.0 on the 
new Foomatic 2.9.x development line.

Yesterday, I have released a pre-release for Foomatic 2.9.0, Foomatic 
2.9.0pre1. I intend to release 2.9.0 when some people on the mailing 
lists where we have announced it have tested it and when the basic 
documentation on the test web site is done. See the announcement with 
release notes, new features, and roadmap for Foomatic 3.0 on

http://www.linuxprinting.org/pipermail/foomatic-devel/2002q4/001141.html

KDE Print should work with it out-of-the-box (at least with CUPS), but 
the PPD files do not have an embedded Perl structure any more, but have 
all information integrated in an Adobe-compliant format. So numerical 
options will appear as enumerated choice options. In addition, I don't 
know whether KDE Print will still work with this Foomatic in LPD/LPRng mode.

I want to ask you to download and to test the new Foomatic, report bugs 
to me, test it especially with KDE Print, and where necessary or better 
for the usabilty, adapt KDE Print. So we could have a KDE Print 
supportig the new Foomatic completely, when Foomatic 3.0 comes out.

The main differences are:

- For all spoolers PPD files serve as printer/driver combo configuration
   files, so you could use the same functions to read the options of an
   installed queue, independent which spooler is used.

- The PPD files do not have an embedded Perl data structure any more,
   but all is put into Adobe-complient PPD file lines, no relevant info
   is in comment lines. These files are also much easier to read by C
   programs (as KDE Pint) than the former Perl structures. See the end of
   the README file of the "foomatic-db-engine package for info about the
   new PPR format.

- PPDs supplied by the manufacturers of PostScript printers are
   supported by Foomatic, so they can be used with every spooler, and
   Foomatic can copy such queues without loosing option settings. So
   every PostScript printer works perfectly under every spooler now.

- All spoolers use the same filter, foomatic-rip. foomatic-rip
   auto-detects which spooler has called it.

See more new features in the above-mentioned announcement posting.

These change would make it much easier for KDE Print to support 
different spoolers and printers. One could have for example a 
spooler-agnostic "Foomatic" mode in which KDE Print manages all via 
reading PPD files and writing into them, foomatic-configure and 
foomatic-printjob.This way one could perhaps easily make KDE-Print 
supporting all spoolers and also having the possibility to install 
PostScript printers with manufacturer-supplied PPDs under all spoolers. 
In addition, one could also have the spooler-specific modes as they are 
there now, so offer GUI access to the spooler's specialities.

    Till