Printer driver UI [proposal]

[Robert L Krawitz]

   Date: Thu, 13 Mar 2003 20:15:25 -0500
   From: Mike Sweet <mike@easysw.com>

   Chema Celorio wrote:
   > ...
   > This might be a good time to also raise the issue about the
   > limitations that the having a PPD based print system is imposing upon
   > us. The PPD format was designed some time ago and we are using it for
   > more complex definitions. The gimp-print guys have expressed this too
   > giving as an example trying to specify a color correction curve on a
   > PPD file, or how they have to fill a range of values like options to
   > accommodate for a floating point setting.

   As many people have demonstrated (including me with the CUPS 1.2
   code), it is entirely possible and feasible to provide additional
   attributes/data embedded within the PPD file while providing
   backwards compatibility for the large number of applications and
   systems that support PPD files...

The problem with this is that it isn't portable to printing systems
other than CUPS.  The PPD file will work with other printing systems,
but unless you've done something really clever the non-standard
options won't be accessible.  There either needs to be a well-defined
extension to PPD files that allows things like this, or a new file
format.

-- 
Robert Krawitz                                     <rlk@alum.mit.edu>      

Tall Clubs International  --  http://www.tall.org/ or 1-888-IM-TALL-2
Member of the League for Programming Freedom -- mail lpf@uunet.uu.net
Project lead for Gimp Print   --    http://gimp-print.sourceforge.net

"Linux doesn't dictate how I work, I dictate how Linux works."
--Eric Crampton