Printer Problem

[Bill Vermillion]

On Fri, Aug 13 01:48 , while impersonating an expert on the internet, 
markw at electromotor.com sent this to stdout: 

> Hi All,


> I have Filepro version 4.8.10 on a RH Linux 7.2 machine. I use
> the print command: 'lpr -P<printer name>' in Filepro's Printer
> Maintenance.

> For the past four years we have had no problems sending print
> jobs to networked and local printers. About two weeks ago all
> print jobs stopped working when initiated from Filepro.

> My first step in troubleshooting was to try the print command
> at the command prompt....no problem printer works. Next step
> was to login as root, enter filepro and try printing....all
> print jobs are sent and printed.

Then you need to see what program was added/changed about two weeks
ago.   If root can print and others can't it almost always a
permissions problem.

What can cause this is that someone has a problem and performs
something like a 'chmod' xxx on a set of files and that stripped
the first number.  A file may have been 4555 and someone thinking
the problem was there chmod'ed  777 - and that took the SUID bit
away, and it affects what gets written in certain places.  So
the user tries to write to places because the SUID bit is gone.

That's just a thought.  

> If logged in as regular user no print jobs are spooled, but
> logged in as root they spool.

> I have been trying everything within my knowledge of the OS
> to try and pinpoint the problem, but I do not think it is OS
> related. The problem seems to be within Filepro.

Sounds like an OS related problem to me.   

> I have tried resetting perms and ownership, reinstalled Filepro
> over the existing Filepro and looking for possible corrupted
> files. So far no remedy. 've been working on this one problem
> for the past two weeks and starting to question my sanity. :-)

Always test printing at the lowest level before even thinking about
trying to print from an application.   

Really do think back to the day it happened and try to recall
what was added, removed or changed at the OS level. That means
all and any programs, as some don't install nicely.

Bill
-- 
Bill Vermillion - bv @ wjv . com