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

[Solomon P. <pi...@sh...>]

On Fri, Feb 16, 2018 at 10:48:51AM +0100, Johannes Meixner wrote:
> 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).

I'd rather not even create any special stuff if at all possible; it's 
nearly always an affront to sanity.  :)

> 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).

Amen, but the necessary USB backend does blur that line a little bit.  
(It's already used as the data source for status UIs, but there are 
some hiccups with respect to multiple models using the same backend due 
to the need to attach and query serial numbers via non-standard means..)

> 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 The technical parts in that article are somewhat outdated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

Especially "Printing should work without attracting attention"

I personally don't care about supporting proprietary OSes, and
wouldn't lose any sleep if we completely dropped OSX tomorrow.  I'd 
rather put that effort into a CI system that can generate up-to-date 
Linux distro packages automatically.  (And OSX too, but I can't justify 
spending money on the hardware to enable that, or the time to figure 
out how to automate it, to say nothing of keeping up with Apple's 
whims..)

Meanwhile, I'm hoping that Citizen can be persuaded that keeping things 
simple but functional is the best approach to take.

 - Solomon
-- 
Solomon Peachy			       pizza at shaftnet dot org
Coconut Creek, FL                          ^^ (email/xmpp) ^^
Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum videtur.