Re: [Gimp-print-devel] OSX support (Was Re: CITIZEN photo printers)

[Johannes M. <js...@su...>]

Hello,

On Feb 15 14:59 Solomon Peachy wrote (excerpt):
> Essentially, Citizen is considering using Gutenprint as the basis of
> their future OSX drivers.  Thanks to customer demand, they are also
> interested in providing official Linux support too.
...
> ... but what's unclear is the level of polish
> they're after -- eg are they okay with a generic Gutenprint driver
> package not unlike we already supply today, or would they want some sort
> of unique-to-citizen release? Would they want unique-to-OSX features,
> like a spiffier control panel or status monitor?  And (rather
> importantly) are the terms of the GPL acceptible?

I strongly recommend to "Keep Separated Issues Separated"
(i.e. "KSIS" cf. KISS and RFC 1925 item 5 ;-)
which means here:

In any case keep the plain printer driver
(i.e. the software that produces the final printer data)
separated from any optional other printing related software
(like special user frontends or any printer specific tools).

The plain printer driver and only the plain printer driver
should be in Gutenprint under its license but anthing else
must be separated software in whatever form (as the makers
of that separated software like it).

Mixing up the plain printer driver together with any software
that does not strictly belong to the plain printer driver
results in nothing else but an endless sequence
of various annoyances for anybody: The software developers,
the (re)-distributors of such software (e.g. Linux distributions),
those who must maintain such bloatware (e.g. support people),
and finally and most important the end-users (who suffer
first and foremost from each single issue in such "messware").

Perhaps the most severe problem of "all in one software"
is when license issues cannot be solved
(One license to rule them all, one license to find them,
  One license to bring them all and in the darkness bind them,
  In the land of legal issues where the Shadows lie ;-)

But basically each and every printer manufacturer that makes
"printing software" intends to provide to his users his
"one and only fully complete ultimate right final solution".

No surprise when things end up in an unsupportable nightmare
in particular for those pitful end-users who have various
different printers from various different manufacturers.

Think about admins who maintain central print servers
for hundreds of printers from various manufacturers.
Not any kind of user GUI makes sense on a print server
nor is an admin interested in any printer specific tools.
Only plain generic software makes sense on a print server
and only software that is "scriptable" i.e. where the admin
can automate his daily tasks by (bash) scripts (i.e. only
generic programs that run on plain command line are useful,
not any kind of graphical stuff on server machines),
cf. the section "Command-line Tools" in
https://en.opensuse.org/SDB:CUPS_in_a_Nutshell
("If you are not sure which graphical tool is best suited for
   certain special configurations or print queue maintenance
   actions, use command-line tools instead.")

See the section "Conditions" in
https://en.opensuse.org/SDB:Information_for_Printer_Manufacturers_Regarding_Linux_Support
The technical parts in that article are somewhat outdated
but the generic information therein should be still right.

Also have a look at the section "User expectations" in
https://en.opensuse.org/Concepts_printing


Kind Regards
Johannes Meixner
-- 
SUSE LINUX GmbH - GF: Felix Imendoerffer, Jane Smithard,
Graham Norton - HRB 21284 (AG Nuernberg)