CUPSD process not running!

Miguel,

I can't guarantee this will work, but it is worth trying. Use Printer Setup Repair program to change what happens when your compute boots up. Go to the CUPS Tools section to change the "hostconfig" file from "-AUTOMATIC-" to "-YES-". The changes will take effect the next time you boot your computer.

In Tiger, Apple has introduced this new feature "-AUTOMATIC-" to start the cups daemon with an "-L" option. I have not been able to find any information on what this is supposed to do. I think it may responsible for situations like yours.

I would appreciate your posting back if this works for you. Your experience may help us determine if this new option is the cause of some of the problems we see on these boards.

Matt

where do I find the printer setup repair program...I'm experiencing a similar problem, everytime I re-start my printers disappear

Printer Setup Repair is a shareware program. You can try it free for seven days.

Miguel,

As a follow up to my previous reply, I see that you found a better and more authoritative answer at cups.org forums. The solution appears to be to turn on Printer Sharing.

According to Michael Sweet:

you are running into a known

"feature" that was added in 10.4 where cupsd is only run as needed. However, the auto-start only works when connecting to the domain socket (/var/run/cupsd) and not via the network sockets.

The quickest fix is to go into system preferences, open the sharing

pane, and check "printer sharing" to get cupsd to run all of the time.

I'm still a bit fuzzy about all the details, but I did try turning the Printer Sharing on and found that the cups scheduler did not "shut down normally" after a period of inactivity. In any event, this finally sheds some light on the new "feature" of CUPS in Tiger.

EDIT: Removed link to cups.org forum item "cupsd process not starting" and quoted reply to question. This is to prevent Miguel's e-mail address from being too readily available.
EDIT #2: Get line wrapping correct.

Matt

Odd,

Port 631 is for ip printing. I'm not sure why it would be off but the sharing sort of makes sense if this is the case.

In Panther you can go to preferences/sharing/firewall/and enable printer sharing for port 631.

I would think that printer sharing on the services would do this but perhaps the firewall blocks it.

I'm really stabbing at this one.

Miguel and Carl,
It is "Printer Sharing" that you want to turn on, not "File Sharing". If you are using the firewall, the rules will be changed to allow TCP access in on ports 631 and 515 when Printer Sharing is turned on. Port 631 is used for IPP printing as Carl mentions. Port 515 is used for printer spooling. See <a href="http://www.iana.org/assignments/port-numbers>IANA port numbers</a>.

CUPS is based on IPP printing protocol and it runs its own server. It is supposed to listen on port 631. You can see the web interface to CUPS by pointing a browser to <http://127.0.0.1:631> which is port 631 on your own computer.

I posted a follow up to Michael Sweet of Easy Software Products (the developers of CUPS) to the thread Miguel started on the cups.org forum. Here's what seems to be happening:
1. In Tiger, Apple introduced two new features for printing. When the computer is booted up, CUPS starts with the -L option (still not defined or documented anywhere that I can find) when the /etc/hostconfig file shows that CUPS is to start up as "-AUTOMATIC-". CUPS will start "normally" when the /etc/hostconfig file indicates that CUPS is to start up as "-YES-".

The other feature Apple introduced was that the CUPS scheduler would "go to sleep" after there was a period of inactivity.

2. Some, but not all, people are having problems with their printers not responding because CUPS is not running. It appears that the scheduler "going to sleep" may also be causing the printer to not respond.

According to Michael Sweet--

It is most likely the -L option [that is causing the problem], but it can also be the "going to sleep" problem. Turning printer sharing on disables both features and tells cupsd to run in "server" mode.

Turning Printer Sharing on, then, prevents the CUPS scheduler from going to sleep and ensures that the cupsd is started normally (in the server mode) on boot up.

Matt

Thanks for clearing this up Matt. I really was doing some educated guessing but you have confirmed that this was the issue.

Why Apple tinkers with something that was working fine is beyond me. I mean, how much overhead does CUPS present?

Carl,

I really was doing some educated guessing

As was I until Miguel started the thread on the cups.org news server. I had first noticed the -L option that had been added when Tiger first came out. I was doing some testing to make sure that serial printers would still work and that I had a good compile of the serial backend. I found that I couldn't access the web interface because CUPS had not started. I would only see cupsd start when I booted with a viable printer turned on at boot time. Serial printers are not seen at boot time, so cupsd wasn't starting. I later noticed that the scheduler would go to sleep when there was no activity.

I even went so far as to do a test compile and install of CUPS from the source code at cups.org. This is the source code that Apple starts with. Needless to say, when I tried to manually start cupsd on that installation, it would give me an error of an unknown option. Further, once I did start cupsd, it would not go to sleep in that installation.

Since then I have been trying to gather some data by suggesting that people change the /etc/hostconfig file so that CUPS would start normally. I didn't feel I really had enough data to pose the right question to the cups.org people to find out what was really occurring. Thanks to Miguel for getting things rolling.

Hopefully we now have some better answers and an easy solution.

I hope that Miguel and others with a similar problem will post their results after enabling Printer Sharing. I feel much better offering help when I'm not guessing.

Matt

I turned on printer sharing but that did not work for me..when I re-started my computer, the printer was gone once again..very frustrating....

Well Matt,

That is some detective work.

I just gave you a vote.

Good work!

Dan,

Could you give us some more specifics? What make and model of printer are you using? How is it connected to your computer? What drivers are you using? Have you tried using the Printer Setup Repair program? When you say your printer is missing when you boot up, are you saying that a printer you previously added is not shown in the list of printers?

EDIT: Better still would be if you start a new topic to discuss you particular situation Dan. A missing printer is a bit off topic for this thread. I'm afraid your problem will not get the attention of other people who may be able to help if it is all under the current thread.

Matt

I think it is the same topic since whenever my system re-starts, it does not load any printer (the printer is not missing, it is not listed) and before I can add the printer, I have to run the "reset printing system"....i think it is related to the cupsd process..

Running a G3, 450 with 763mgRam, Tiger 10.4.2, Brother HL2070 printer and connecting via IPP (since this is a new printer with a network card installed), used drivers that came with the printer..

I tried the printer setup repair program but I get an error "unable to access root level commands"....tried their process of removing and adding a new root user but still get an error....probably need to do a clean install of the system...

I think I fixed my problem...here is what I did...

Since the printer setup utility program was giving me permission errors, I ran the disk utility in OS X to repair my permissions. I then added my printer in the printer setup utility (first had to do a reset), then I ran the printer setup utility program and that told me I was missing 2 files (due to the reset, for some reason they didn't get re-created by adding the printer)...I copied these files from another mac I had onto this one (had to change the folder permissions to do it)...then I went back and ran the disk utility is OS X again and it fixed some permissions. I was then able to run the printer setup utility program permissions and it made some adjustments to permissions as well. I also went into the CUPS tools and made sure the CUPS start-up was set to "-YES-".....I rebooted my computer and the printer was still setup and the CUPS process is running.....problem solved...at least for now

I thank everyone for there postings and suggestions...eventually it worked without having to do a full re-install of OSX.....just kept plugging away....

Dan,

Glad to hear you got things sorted out so that they work properly now.

Matt