libppd 2.0b1 Release

CHANGES.md

@@ -1,14 +1,14 @@
-# CHANGES - libppd v2.0b1 - 2022-11-14
+# CHANGES - libppd v2.0b1 - 2022-11-17
 
-## CHANGES IN V2.0b1 (TBA)
+## CHANGES IN V2.0b1 (17th November 2022)
 
 - Added the new libppd library overtaking all the PPD handling
   functions from libcups, CUPS' ppdc utility (PPD compiler using *.drv
   files), and the PPD file collection handling functionality from
-  cups-driverd, as they are deprecated there and will probably get
-  removed with the next CUPS version. This form of conservation is
-  mainly intended for converting classic printer drivers which use
-  PPDs into Printer Applications without completely rewriting them.
+  cups-driverd, as they are deprecated there and will get removed in
+  CUPS 3.x. This form of conservation is mainly intended for
+  converting classic printer drivers which use PPDs into Printer
+  Applications without completely rewriting them.
 
 - Added functions ppdLoadAttributes(), ppdFilterLoadPPD(),
   ppdFilterLoadPPDFile(), ppdFilterFreePPD(), and

INSTALL

@@ -1,82 +1,51 @@
-INSTALL - OpenPrinting libppd v2.0b1 - 2022-11-14
+INSTALL - OpenPrinting libppd v2.0b1 - 2022-11-17
 -------------------------------------------------
 
-This file describes how to compile and install OpenPrinting CUPS
-Filters from source code. For more information on OpenPrinting CUPS
-Filters see the file called "README.txt".  A complete change log can
-be found in "CHANGES.txt".
-
-**** IF YOU HAVE A NON-POSTSCRIPT PRINTER AND ARE NOT       ****
-**** RUNNING MAC OS X, YOU WILL ALSO NEED TO INSTALL        ****
-**** GHOSTSCRIPT WITH AT LEAST THE "cups", "pwgraster",     ****
-**** "appleraster", "urf", "pclm", "pclm8", "pdfwrite",     ****
-**** "pdfimage24", "pdfimage32", "pdfimage8" DRIVERS AFTER  ****
-**** YOU INSTALL CUPS AND BEFORE YOU INSTALL THIS PACKAGE.  ****
-
+This file describes how to compile and install OpenPrinting libppd
+from source code. For more information on OpenPrinting libppd see the
+file called "README.md".  A complete change log can be found in
+"CHANGES.md".
 
 BEFORE YOU BEGIN
 
-    You'll need ANSI-compliant C and C++ compilers, plus a make program and
-    POSIX-compliant shell (/bin/sh).  The GNU compiler tools and Bash work well
-    and we have tested the current CUPS code against several versions of GCC
-    with excellent results.
-
-    The Makefiles used by the project should work with most versions of make.
-    We've tested them with GNU make as well as the make programs shipped by
-    Compaq, HP, SGI, and Sun.  BSD users should use GNU make (gmake) since BSD
-    make does not support "include".
-
-    Poppler, freetype, fontconfig, and liblcms (liblcms2 recommended)
-    must be installed to be able to compile this package.
+    You'll need ANSI-compliant C and C++ compilers, plus a make
+    program and POSIX-compliant shell (/bin/sh).  The GNU compiler
+    tools and Bash work well and we have tested the current CUPS code
+    against several versions of GCC with excellent results.
 
-    Note that Poppler has to be compiled with the
-    "--enable-poppler-cpp" configure option (or the
-    "libpoppler-cpp-dev(el)" package has to be installed if the
-    Poppler packages from a Linux distribution are used).
+    The Makefiles used by the project should work with most versions
+    of make.  We've tested them with GNU make as well as the make
+    programs shipped by Compaq, HP, SGI, and Sun.  BSD users should
+    use GNU make (gmake) since BSD make does not support "include".
 
-    Besides these tools you'll want the JPEG, PNG, TIFF, ZLIB libraries for
-    image support. CUPS Filters will compile and run without these, however
-    you'll miss out on many of the features provided by CUPS Filters.
-
-    To get cups-browsed, the daemon to browse Bonjour broadcasts of
-    remote CUPS queues and make the queues available locally, you also
-    need libavahi-common and libavahi-client.
+    libcups of CUPS 2.2.2 or newer and libcupsfilters 2.0.0 or newer
+    must be installed to be able to compile this package. As none of
+    the PPD-file-supporting functions in libcups are used, porting
+    this library to use libcups3 (of CUPS 3.x) should be easy, or
+    libppd will already just work with libcups3.
 
 COMPILING THE GIT REPOSITORY CODE
 
-    The CUPS Filters GIT repository doesn't hold a copy of the pre-built
-    configure script.  You'll need to run the GNU autoconf software (2.65 or
-    higher) to create it:
+    The libppd GIT repository doesn't hold a copy of the pre-built
+    configure script.  You'll need to run the GNU autoconf software
+    (2.65 or higher) to create it:
 
         ./autogen.sh
 
 
 CONFIGURATION
 
-    CUPS Filters uses GNU autoconf, so you should find the usual "configure"
-    script in the main CUPS Filters source directory.  To configure CUPS 
-    Filters for your system, type:
+    libppd uses GNU autoconf, so you should find the usual "configure"
+    script in the main libppd source directory.  To configure libppd
+    for your system, type:
 
 	./configure
 
-    The default installation will put the CUPS Filters software in the
-    "/etc" and "/usr" directories on your system, which will overwrite
-    some of the original filters and their auxiliary files of CUPS
-    1.5.x or earlier and the auxiliary files of bannertops in all CUPS
-    versions including version 1.6.x (see also the section "PACKAGING
-    THE SOFTWARE FOR OPERATING SYSTEM DISTRIBUTIONS" below). The
-    system will still have the same functionality as before, but CUPS
-    will not convert all incoming files into PostScript any more, it
-    will convert them into PDF instead and after applying page
-    management (N-up, selected pages, reverse order, ...) by the
-    pdftopdf filter and convert PDF into the printer's native format
-    then (PDF-based printing workflow). CUPS 1.6.x or later does not
-    contain any filters which this package provides. It requires the
-    installation of this package for printing with filters and drivers
-    under Linux (or other non-Mac-OS-X operation systems).
-
-    Use the "--prefix" option to install the CUPS Filters software in another
-    location:
+    The default installation will put the libppd software into the
+    "/usr" directory on your system.
+
+    Use the "--prefix" option to install the libppd software into
+    another location:
 
 	./configure --prefix=/some/directory
 
@@ -129,57 +98,12 @@ INSTALLING THE SOFTWARE
 
 PACKAGING THE SOFTWARE FOR OPERATING SYSTEM DISTRIBUTIONS
 
-    The use of cups-filters is supported for CUPS from version 1.5.x
-    on (to switch to the PDF-based printing workflow already now) and
-    required for CUPS 1.6.x (as it does not ship a complete filter set
-    any more). In both cases cups-filters ships some files which exist
-    also in CUPS, but the versions of cups-filters have to be used to
-    assure that printing works correctly. So in the packaging of CUPS
-    the files should be removed.
-
-    Use the alternatives facility (see update-alternatives(8)) only if
-    your CUPS version is 1.5.x and you want to make the use of
-    cups-filters optional. Note that then the files of cups-filters
-    need to have priority.
-
-    When using cups-filters with CUPS 1.5.x, many of the original CUPS
-    filters get replaced or at least useless. Please remove the
-    following files from your CUPS package:
-
-	/usr/lib/cups/backend/serial
-	/usr/lib/cups/backend/parallel
-	/usr/lib/cups/filter/bannertops
-	/usr/lib/cups/filter/commandtoescpx
-	/usr/lib/cups/filter/commandtopclx
-	/usr/lib/cups/filter/imagetops
-	/usr/lib/cups/filter/imagetoraster
-	/usr/lib/cups/filter/pdftops
-	/usr/lib/cups/filter/rastertoescpx
-	/usr/lib/cups/filter/rastertopclx
-	/usr/lib/cups/filter/texttops
-	/usr/share/cups/banners/*
-	/usr/share/cups/data/testprint
-	/usr/share/cups/data/psglyphs
-	/usr/share/cups/fonts/*
-
-    Also comment out all conversion rules which use any of the removed
-    filters. You can do it with the following command line:
-
-	perl -p -i -e 's:^(.*\s+(pdftops|texttops|imagetops|bannertops|imagetoraster)\s*)$:#\1:' /usr/share/cups/mime/mime.convs
-
-    If you use CUPS 1.6.x there is less to remove from the CUPS
-    package. It is only bannertops and its auxiliary files which are
-    in the way for bannertopdf:
-
-	/usr/lib/cups/filter/bannertops
-	/usr/share/cups/banners/*
-	/usr/share/cups/data/testprint
-
-    The conversion rules get commented out via:
-
-	perl -p -i -e 's:^(.*\s+bannertops\s*)$:#\1:' /usr/share/cups/mime/mime.convs
-
-    For CUPS 1.6.x a bug report/feature request is posted to ask for
-    (at least optional) removal of bannertops:
-
-	http://www.cups.org/str.php?L4120
+    libppd is only for retro-fitting legacy CUPS drivers using PPD
+    files. So it only needs to get packaged for and included in an OS
+    distribution if retro-fitting Printer Applications are installed
+    as classic packages (like RPM or DEB).
+
+    If legacy printer support is only done via the Printer Application
+    Snaps (or other containers of the Printer Applications) or no
+    legacy printer support is required (only support for modern,
+    driverless IPP printers), libppd is not needed.