KDE apps not using system printer settings

Tue Mar 27 17:09:48 BST 2018

KDE applications use the Qt print dialog and this one is also
responsible for selecting the correct default paper size, which in my
experience works well.

Two things that might help to narrow down the problem:

1) Do Non-KDE-Applications (e.g. Firefox or LibreOffice) preselect the
correct paper size?

2) Can you post the output of 'lpoptions -p <YOURPRINTERNAME> -l'
(where '<YOURPRINTERNAME>' needs to be replaced by the name of one
printer that is affected?

Best regards,
  Michael

On 2018-03-27 17:32, Bug Reporter wrote:
> Thank you Stephan. That's helpful info. Here's what I have found so far:
> 
> $ cat ~/.cups/lpoptions
> Dest HP_X576dw_1 Duplex=DuplexNoTumble HPPJLOutputMode=GeneralOffice
> HPPJLSaturation=-1 InputSlot=Tray2 MediaType=Plain
> Dest HP_X576dw_2 Duplex=DuplexNoTumble HPPJLOutputMode=GeneralOffice
> HPPJLSaturation=-1 InputSlot=Tray2 MediaType=Plain
> Dest HP_X576dw_3 Duplex=DuplexNoTumble HPPJLOutputMode=GeneralOffice
> HPPJLSaturation=-1 InputSlot=Tray2 MediaType=Plain
> 
> # find /etc/cups/ -xdev -type f -exec grep -i -e paper -e a4 {} +  2>&1
> | less
> and/or look at each ppd file directly:
> # less /etc/cups/ppd/HP_X576dw_1.ppd
> For each printer, it lists:
> *DefaultPaperDimension: Letter
> *DefaultPageRegion: Letter
> *DefaultImageableArea: Letter
> *PaperDimension Letter/US Letter: "612 792"
> *VariablePaperSize: False
> 
> $ find ~/.config/ ~/.local/ ~/.kde*/ -xdev -type f -exec grep -i -e
> paper -e a4 {} +  2>&1 | less
> (did not find anything revealing)
> 
> # cat /etc/papersize
> # Simply write the paper name. See papersize(5) for possible values
> (that is the entire file)
> 
> # paperconf
> letter
> 
> # lpoptions | tr ' ' '\n' | grep -i -e letter -e a4 -e paper -e size
> #
> (no output)
> 
> # cat /etc/cups/lpoptions
> cat: /etc/cups/lpoptions: No such file or directory
> 
> It does not appear that anything is setting an A4 default, yet every
> printer on every computer is defaulting to A4 now. This started a few
> months ago.
> 
> On Tue, Mar 27, 2018 at 10:47 AM, Stephen Dowdy <sdowdy at ucar.edu
> <mailto:sdowdy at ucar.edu>> wrote:
> 
>     Here's a snippet from my internal wiki page on printing
>     troubleshooting...
>     (FWIW, i've battled this type of issue before, sometimes left with
>     just head-scratching :-( )
> 
>     libpaper
> 
>     On Linux systems with the libpaper package installed, the system
>     default papersize is stored in /etc/papersize.
> 
>     You can get the value that will be used in libpapersize supporting
>     applications with:
>         paperconf
> 
>     or if the paperconf package is not installed....
>         echo ${PAPERSIZE:-$(cat ${PAPERCONF:-/etc/papersize} 2>/dev/null
>     || echo "NO DEFAULT PAPERSIZE")}
> 
>     I.e you can specify an environment variable PAPERSIZE with a valid
>     paper size (see man -s 5 papersize for valid papersizes, or type
>     'paperconf -a' to list them), or you can specify an override to the
>     system's default papersize configuration file (/etc/papersize) by
>     using the PAPERCONF environment variable to point to a file of your
>     choosing that contains the name of a valid paper size.
>     Other Possible Desktop Environment (DE) configurations
> 
>     It could be other things setting this value, so you might do:
>         find ~/.config/ ~/.local/ ~/.kde*/ -xdev -type f -exec grep -i
>     -e paper -e a4 {} +  2>&1 | less
> 
>     To see if there's any standard desktop configurations that refer to
>     "paper" or "a4" (if you're always getting A4 printouts).
>     NOTE: this is likely to generate a LOT of noise
> 
>     Also, CUPS may be configured to default a Printer to a specific
>     size, either globally or individually.  Try these:
> 
>     $ lpoptions | tr ' ' '\n' | grep -i -e letter -e a4 -e paper -e size
>     HPOption_PaperPolicy=Scale
> 
>     $ lpoptions -l | grep -i -e size
>     PageSize/Page Size: *Letter Legal Executive HalfLetter w612h935 4x6
>     5x7 5x8 A4 A5 A6 RA4 B5 B6 W283H425 w553h765 w522h737 w558h774
>     DoublePostcard Postcard Env10 Env9 EnvMonarch EnvISOB5 EnvC5 EnvC6
>     EnvDL Custom.WIDTHxHEIGHT
>     HPBookletPageSize/Paper For Booklet: *Letter Legal Executive
>     HalfLetter w612h935 4x6 5x7 5x8 A4 A5 RA4 B5 B6 W283H425 w553h765
>     w522h737 w558h774 Postcard DoublePostcard
>     HPwmFontSize/Size: pt24 pt30 pt36 pt42 *pt48 pt54 pt60 pt66 pt72
>     pt78 pt84 pt90
> 
>     add a '-P {printername}' to lpoptions (prior to '-l') to look at
>     settings for specific printers
> 
>     The options that are '*'-ed are default settings.
> 
>     --stephen
> 
>     On 03/27/2018 08:11 AM, Bug Reporter wrote:
>     > I'm not sure how to list all KDE app versions with one command, however, here are the main ones:
>     >
>     > $ plasmashell --version
>     > plasmashell 5.12.3
>     > $ kate --version
>     > kate 17.12.3
>     > $ dolphin --version
>     > dolphin 17.12.3
>     > $ konsole --version
>     > konsole 17.12.3
>     >
>     > I'm running Arch Linux and all packages are up to date. I'm running stable versions of all packages. My Linux kernel version is:
>     > 4.15.10-1-ARCH #1 SMP PREEMPT Thu Mar 15 12:24:34 UTC 2018 x86_64 GNU/Linux
>     >
>     > My CUPS version is 2.2.6
>     >
>     >
>     > On Tue, Mar 27, 2018 at 5:03 AM, Ianseeks
>     <bingmybong at btinternet.com <mailto:bingmybong at btinternet.com>
>     <mailto:bingmybong at btinternet.com
>     <mailto:bingmybong at btinternet.com>>> wrote:
>     >
>     >     On Sunday, 25 March 2018 20:00:44 BST Bug Reporter wrote:
>     >     > Starting several months ago, all KDE apps (e.g., Kate) no
>     longer use the
>     >     > system printer settings. For example, in "Kickoff ->
>     Computer -> System
>     >     > Settings -> Printer Configuration" I have US letter paper
>     size set.
>     >     > However, Kate and other KDE apps all default to A4 paper
>     size. I can't find
>     >     > a way to change this default, so I have to manually change
>     paper size every
>     >     > single time I need to print.
>     >     I'm not having that problem.
>     >     I set my Printer Configuration to "Letter" and then ran kate,
>     checked its settings and it showed it was set to "Letter", i then
>     changed it back to A4 in the Printer Configuration, reran kate,
>     checked its setting and it showed as A4.
>     >
>     >     >
>     >     > I'm running Arch Linux on several different computers (NUC,
>     laptop, desktop
>     >     > and more). The problem appears on all systems. All packages,
>     including KDE
>     >     > are fully up to date with Arch's most recent packages. The
>     problem has
>     >     > persisted through several updates now. I estimate it has
>     been going on for
>     >     > at least 3 months.
>     >     >
>     >     > Whenever I make a change (such as paper size) using
>     "Configure your
>     >     > printers" in System Settings, I can see the change reflected
>     in the
>     >     > printer's PPD file in /etc/cups/ppd. However, as I said,
>     Kate and other KDE
>     >     > apps ignore that value.
>     >     >
>     >     > Is this a known bug? Is there a work-around?
>     >     >
>     >     > Thank you.
>     >     >
>     >     You might need to list the version levels of the software you
>     are using in case someone else might notice a mismatch ot has the
>     same as you and can check..
>     >
>     >     --
>     >     opensuse:tumbleweed:20180324
>     >     Qt: 5.10.0 KDE Frameworks: 5.44.0 - KDE Plasma:  5.12.3 - kwin
>     5.12.3
>     >     kmail2 5.7.3 - akonadiserver 5.7.3 - Kernel: 
>     4.15.11-1-default  - xf86-video-nouveau:  1.0.15
>     >
>     >
>     >
>     >
> 
> 