Certain CUPS options not editable with MATE Control Panel > Printers app

I've run into a problem managing a printer from the "Printers" app inside the Control Center. (It's a Konica-Minolta Bizhub C308 multifunction using their v1.17 CUPS driver.) Specifically, I cannot set the Account Track Password because of a missing text entry field:

When users start a new print job, however, they are able to type an Account Track Password into the drop-down field itself (edit and, yes, auth is successful):

edit So functionally it's OK but there is a field missing from the Printer Properties dialog. Is this "Printers" app part of the Ubuntu MATE Settings project? I could use some help figuring out the best place to file a bug report.


Bonus question: can I prompt users to enter their Account Track Password for each new print job? It's a critical capability for enterprise environments, but seems to be built into the OS instead of the printer driver. Leaving the password blank did not result in users being prompted to enter a password (which is the behavior observed on, for example, Windows.)

So I looked inside /etc/cups/ppd/Paccar455.ppd and looks like a password entry field is defined but not rendered ("*ParamCustomKMAccPass Key: 1 password 1 16"):

...

*% ==================================
*OpenGroup: AccountTrack/Account Track


*OpenUI *KMSectionManagement/Account Track: Boolean
*OrderDependency: 52 AnySetup *KMSectionManagement
*DefaultKMSectionManagement: True
*KMSectionManagement False/Off: " "
*KMSectionManagement True/On: " "
*End
*CloseUI: *KMSectionManagement

*% ==================================
*%  Account Track Department Code
*% ==================================
*OpenUI *KMDepCode/Department Code: PickOne
*OrderDependency: 10 AnySetup *KMDepCode
*DefaultKMDepCode: None
*KMDepCode None: " "
*CloseUI: *KMDepCode

*% Custom PostScript KMDepCode option
*CustomKMDepCode True: " "
*ParamCustomKMDepCode Name: 1 string 1 16

*% ==================================
*%  Account Track Password
*% ==================================
*OpenUI *KMAccPass/Password: PickOne
*OrderDependency: 10 AnySetup *KMAccPass
*DefaultKMAccPass: Custom
*KMAccPass None: " "
*CloseUI: *KMAccPass

*% Custom PostScript KMAccPass option
*CustomKMAccPass True: " "
*ParamCustomKMAccPass Key: 1 password 1 16


*CloseGroup: AccountTrack

...

I also tried several more times to print using my Account Track Password and none of them were successful. The print queue labels the job "Completed" but the jobs remain queued and no paper comes out. So, although users can enter a value for Account Track Password on the Advanced tab during individual print jobs, it appears to always silently fail.

That is system-config-properties, you can open a bug against that program.

It's not one of our packages, it's part of the greater Ubuntu ecosystem.

Here are the current bugs on that:

https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/system-config-printer/+bugs

This is the github page:

I've never used Account Track so I'm not sure how to help you troubleshoot.

2 Likes

Awesome, thank you @franksmcb :+1: