[Printing-architecture] [Gimp-print-devel] Printer setup tools: Automatically choose the correct backend

[Till Kamppeter]

Michael R Sweet wrote:
> Suffield, David wrote:
>> ...
>> I would consider using the Mike's "usb" backend if it meets our
>> needs. We need a backend that provides printing and status over
>> various types of IO (ie: raw, 1284.4 and MLC). The IO can be very
>> manufacturer and product specific and I don't see how the current
>> "usb" backend can provide this functionality.
> 
> Our current focus is on supporting libusb; if necessary, we can add
> a side-channel request to set the IO mode, but otherwise I suspect
> we can use the default mode supported by the device.
> 
> We already support a variety of side-channel data - 1284 device ID,
> centronics bits, bidirectional support, SNMP OIDs (for network
> printers), etc.
>

Will this really cover all manufacturer-specific access methods?

>> I have looked at cups-1.4svn-r7679-source.tar.gz and I don't see the
>> libusb support in the "usb" backend am I missing something?
> 
> libusb support is part of STR #1575, which hasn't been merged to
> trunk yet:
> 
>     http://www.cups.org/str.php?L1575
> 

Will it be merged for CUPS 1.4?

    Till