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Drew Parsons | 2 Jun 2002 07:53

ITITP: xprint (X.org)

(that's Intention to Intent to Package)

Some useful X code has turned up, and I wanted to check in here about it
first to make sure I wouldn't be stepping on anyone's toes by packaging it.

Most of you (and certainly Branden would be) would be aware that X11 has
this obscure corner known as Xprint, the X print server.  In rough terms, it
allows printing using the same drawing APIs that X uses for drawing to
screen.  Debian provides it from XFree86 in the form of the package xprt.

The reason it's required, or at least useful, is that the mozilla default
printing driver (postscript) is, to some degree, broken.  Although pages are
rendered correctly on screen, they are sometimes defective on the printed
page.  For instance, non-latin letters do not get rendered (cf mozilla bug
125006, http://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=125006; this may be an
issue of inadequate fonts being installed), CSS styles do
not get printed correctly (text is printed in the default serif font where
it is supposed to be styled as sans-serif).

These mozilla printing problems can be worked around by using xprint instead
(mozilla is designed to print using xprint, if it is available).

However, XFree86's version of xprint is broken (mozilla detects this and
gives a warning message saying it won't print).

Roland Mainz is working on the upstream source for xprint (that's upper
upstream, X.org not XFree86.org), and provides a binary xprint server for
Linux, which works successfully with our mozilla.

He now has a development site set aside  for Xprint, at
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Branden Robinson | 2 Jun 2002 20:07
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Re: ITITP: xprint (X.org)

On Sun, Jun 02, 2002 at 03:53:32PM +1000, Drew Parsons wrote:
> I would therefore like to take his standalone xprint code and package it for
> Debian.  Any suggestions for naming?  xprint or xprt-x11 or ...??

I suggest xprint-xorg for the source package.  For the binary package I
recommend a down-cased version of the server executable's name.

> Of course, the X.org (or xprint.mozdev.org) xprint code should eventually
> fall down to into XFree86, but this will take time - apparentally the
> XFree86 code (font handling and other areas) is significantly different -
> and buggy - compared to X.org's original code.
> 
> If there are no reasonable objections, I'll proceed in couple of weeks time
> (after assignments are finished ;) ).
> 
> If anyone considered themself better qualified for the job and wants to
> do it, feel free to tell me so.

Please go ahead.  I have only the feeblest understanding of Xprt.

What is the name of the server binary that X.Org's xprint builds?  You
may need to C/R/P the xprt package.

I imagine that when X.Org's xprint finally does trickle down into
XFree86, I might want to rename my xprt package to xprint; certainly if
the binary has changed its name, but this might also leave you free to
package further developments in Xprint.  This would be similar to how
Mesa is a separate software project from XFree86, and yet it also
incorporated into the latter.  Thus my package is called "xlibmesa3",
for instance.
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Drew Parsons | 3 Jun 2002 03:28

Re: ITITP: xprint (X.org)

On Sun, Jun 02, 2002 at 01:07:29PM -0500, Branden Robinson wrote:
> On Sun, Jun 02, 2002 at 03:53:32PM +1000, Drew Parsons wrote:
> > I would therefore like to take his standalone xprint code and package it for
> > Debian.  Any suggestions for naming?  xprint or xprt-x11 or ...??
> 
> I suggest xprint-xorg for the source package.  For the binary package I
> recommend a down-cased version of the server executable's name.
> 
...
> What is the name of the server binary that X.Org's xprint builds?  You
> may need to C/R/P the xprt package.
> 

The binary is called Xprt, same as XFree86's (they are, after all, the "same"
thing ;))  I've got Roland's binary sitting in /usr/local/bin for the time
being.  So I'd probably use xprt-xorg for the binary, consistent with
xprint-xorg for the source package.

> I imagine that when X.Org's xprint finally does trickle down into
> XFree86, I might want to rename my xprt package to xprint; certainly if
> the binary has changed its name, but this might also leave you free to
> package further developments in Xprint.  This would be similar to how
> Mesa is a separate software project from XFree86, and yet it also
> incorporated into the latter.  Thus my package is called "xlibmesa3",
> for instance.
> 
> I'm happy to work with you on ensuring that my XFree86 packages and your
> xprint package(s) coexist, or at least get each other out of the way
> gracefully.  :)
>
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Roland Mainz | 7 Jun 2002 03:54
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Re: ITITP: xprint (X.org)

Drew Parsons wrote:

> > > I would therefore like to take his standalone xprint code and package it for
> > > Debian.  Any suggestions for naming?  xprint or xprt-x11 or ...??
> >
> > I suggest xprint-xorg for the source package.  For the binary package I
> > recommend a down-cased version of the server executable's name.
> >
> ...
> > What is the name of the server binary that X.Org's xprint builds?  You
> > may need to C/R/P the xprt package.
> 
> The binary is called Xprt, same as XFree86's (they are, after all, the "same"
> thing ;))  I've got Roland's binary sitting in /usr/local/bin for the time
> being.  So I'd probably use xprt-xorg for the binary, consistent with
> xprint-xorg for the source package.

The name "xprint-xorg" may be slighly misleading since it is not based
on the plain X.org source; I am using a tree based on the X.org tarballs
with tons of my own patches to get the little monster working...

What about "xprint-xprintorg" ? :)

> > I imagine that when X.Org's xprint finally does trickle down into
> > XFree86, I might want to rename my xprt package to xprint; certainly if
> > the binary has changed its name, but this might also leave you free to
> > package further developments in Xprint.  This would be similar to how
> > Mesa is a separate software project from XFree86, and yet it also
> > incorporated into the latter.  Thus my package is called "xlibmesa3",
> > for instance.
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Drew Parsons | 7 Jun 2002 18:56

Re: ITITP: xprint (X.org)

On Fri, Jun 07, 2002 at 03:54:06AM +0200, Roland Mainz wrote:
> 
> The name "xprint-xorg" may be slighly misleading since it is not based
> on the plain X.org source; I am using a tree based on the X.org tarballs
> with tons of my own patches to get the little monster working...
> 
> What about "xprint-xprintorg" ? :)
> 

OK, we can call it that, then :)

> 
> > say Xprt-xfree86 and
> > Xprt-xorg, and use alternatives to select which one will be Xprt. 
> 
> Mhhh, do yuo mean that you want to make /usr/X11R6/bin/Xprt a softlink
> to the real binary ? That may be a solution...
> ...but to be honestly... having the a broken Xprt binary around screams
> for trouble... I do not feel good with having two binaries around - one
> working, one broken...
> 

Yes, alternatives are a Debian technique used to create symlinks to one of a
set of alternative binaries.  For instance, /usr/bin/editor is set up to
point to vim, but it could point to emacs or jed or nano instead.

But once I've got the preliminary package ready, I'll discuss with Branden
and others some more about whether it would be better, as you suggest, to
have xprt-xprintorg conflict with xprt.
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Roland Mainz | 10 Jun 2002 05:51
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Re: ITITP: xprint (X.org)

Drew Parsons wrote:

> > The name "xprint-xorg" may be slighly misleading since it is not based
> > on the plain X.org source; I am using a tree based on the X.org tarballs
> > with tons of my own patches to get the little monster working...
> >
> > What about "xprint-xprintorg" ? :)
> >
> 
> OK, we can call it that, then :)

OK... :)

[snip]
> But once I've got the preliminary package ready, I'll discuss with Branden
> and others some more about whether it would be better, as you suggest, to
> have xprt-xprintorg conflict with xprt.

That would be better for now, having that broken binary around usually
ends in the problem that someone tries to use it and then runs into
hordes of problems... ;-(

----

BTW: I filed a tracker bug (http://mozdev.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=1632
- "Make release 007 not suck") which tracks all issues until the CVS at
xprint.mozdev.org is completely filled...

----
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Chris Waters | 3 Jun 2002 03:51
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Re: ITITP: xprint (X.org)

On Mon, Jun 03, 2002 at 11:28:32AM +1000, Drew Parsons wrote:

> I think the assumption should be that XFree86 will eventually fix up its own
> Xprint server, in which case the X.Org version won't be "required".

Um, as a potential user (in the my-package-depends-on sense), it would
be nice if there were a virtual packagename (or something similar)
that I could depend on.  Right now, the x.org version could provide
that dependency, and later, when/if the XF86 version gets fixed, it
could also provide the same.

Just a suggestion.

-- 
Chris Waters           |  Pneumonoultra-        osis is too long
xtifr <at> debian.org       |  microscopicsilico-    to fit into a single
or xtifr <at> speakeasy.net |  volcaniconi-          standalone haiku

--

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Drew Parsons | 3 Jun 2002 04:02

Re: ITITP: xprint (X.org)

On Sun, Jun 02, 2002 at 06:51:42PM -0700, Chris Waters wrote:
> On Mon, Jun 03, 2002 at 11:28:32AM +1000, Drew Parsons wrote:
> 
> > I think the assumption should be that XFree86 will eventually fix up its own
> > Xprint server, in which case the X.Org version won't be "required".
> 
> Um, as a potential user (in the my-package-depends-on sense), it would
> be nice if there were a virtual packagename (or something similar)
> that I could depend on.  Right now, the x.org version could provide
> that dependency, and later, when/if the XF86 version gets fixed, it
> could also provide the same.
> 

Sounds reasonable.  Branden can decide if he'd prefer to leave the current
xprt to contain the XFree86 binary, or transform it into the virtual
package, and I'll fit in accordingly. Seems to me though that xprint would
be the appropriate name for the virtual package, in which case xprt could
stay as xprt, just changing the Provides: field etc.

Drew

--

-- 
PGP public key available at http://people.debian.org/~dparsons/drewskey.txt
Fingerprint: A110 EAE1 D7D2 8076 5FE0  EC0A B6CE 7041 6412 4E4A
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Branden Robinson | 4 Jun 2002 00:42
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Re: ITITP: xprint (X.org)

On Mon, Jun 03, 2002 at 12:02:13PM +1000, Drew Parsons wrote:
> On Sun, Jun 02, 2002 at 06:51:42PM -0700, Chris Waters wrote:
> > Um, as a potential user (in the my-package-depends-on sense), it would
> > be nice if there were a virtual packagename (or something similar)
> > that I could depend on.  Right now, the x.org version could provide
> > that dependency, and later, when/if the XF86 version gets fixed, it
> > could also provide the same.
> 
> Sounds reasonable.  Branden can decide if he'd prefer to leave the current
> xprt to contain the XFree86 binary, or transform it into the virtual
> package, and I'll fit in accordingly. Seems to me though that xprint would
> be the appropriate name for the virtual package, in which case xprt could
> stay as xprt, just changing the Provides: field etc.

This approach sounds the best to me.  I hate to disrupt the xprt
package, even if no one actually uses it.

Are you comfortable with calling the X.Org XPRINT server binary
"Xprt-Xorg" or something similar?

Personally, I think it would be a good idea to rename the server binary
entirely to emphasize its rebirth, but that decision is best left to the
upstream authors.

--

-- 
G. Branden Robinson                |     Suffer before God and ye shall be
Debian GNU/Linux                   |     redeemed.  God loves us, so He
branden <at> debian.org                 |     makes us suffer Christianity.
http://people.debian.org/~branden/ |     -- Aaron Dunsmore
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Drew Parsons | 4 Jun 2002 03:29

Re: ITITP: xprint (X.org)

On Mon, Jun 03, 2002 at 05:42:00PM -0500, Branden Robinson wrote:
> Are you comfortable with calling the X.Org XPRINT server binary
> "Xprt-Xorg" or something similar?

Yes, that should be more or less fine.

Next step, I'll prepare a prelimary package of xprint-xorg.  I'll let you
know when I'm done, then we can see what we need to do next.

Drew

--

-- 
PGP public key available at http://people.debian.org/~dparsons/drewskey.txt
Fingerprint: A110 EAE1 D7D2 8076 5FE0  EC0A B6CE 7041 6412 4E4A
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Roland Mainz | 2 Jun 2002 08:20
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Re: ITITP: xprint (X.org)

Drew Parsons wrote:

> The reason it's required, or at least useful, is that the mozilla default
> printing driver (postscript) is, to some degree, broken.  Although pages are
> rendered correctly on screen, they are sometimes defective on the printed
> page.  For instance, non-latin letters do not get rendered (cf mozilla bug
> 125006, http://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=125006; this may be an
> issue of inadequate fonts being installed), CSS styles do
> not get printed correctly (text is printed in the default serif font where
> it is supposed to be styled as sans-serif).

Uhm... this is only the tip of the iceberg - take a look at the
http://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=133795#c61 (that's the
"Mozilla 1.0 release notes tracker bug") ... there are over 20
(anyoing!) bugs in the PostScript module which renders it mainly
unuseable for non-ISO-8859-1 users (and even iso-8859-1 users are
punished by many of these bugs).
Xprint was designed (and tested :) to fill the huge gap here and deliver
printing support for _all_ locales (you can even print MathML with it :)
on Linux/Unix...

----

Bye,
Roland

--

-- 
  __ .  . __
 (o.\ \/ /.o) Roland.Mainz <at> informatik.med.uni-giessen.de
  \__\/\/__/  gisburn <at> informatik.med.uni-giessen.de
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Gmane