cups 1.4.4-1 update crashes debian server

[tmbailey123]

Recently updated cups via apt-get only to have the plug hang/freeze/crash (no ping, no login). Since this plug acts mainly as a print server I reinstalled the OS (without cups) and once the install was complete reinstalled cups via the apt-get command. The apt-get install of cups once again freezes when the init script starts and dpkg is squawking about an interrupted install Here is the output:

root@sheeva2:/var/cache# dpkg --configure cups
Setting up cups (1.4.4-1) ...

Starting Common Unix Printing System: cupsd


The command line prompt never returns and every console/terminal I may have open is locked.

Anyone else having issues with the latest debian update of cups ?

-mike

[tmbailey123]

I think I have solved the problem. The issue was with LOAD_LP_MODULE defined in /etc/default/cups. It is set to "yes" which triggers the /etc/init.d/cups startup script to attempt to load a parallel printer module. I believe that when the attempt to load a module of a nonexistent device started the entire plug locked up, no ping, no login, game over.

Once I modifed 'LOAD_LP_MODULE=yes' to  'LOAD_LP_MODULE=no' in /etc/default/cups, I was able to execute "dpkg --configure -a" and complete the installation process. After that I was able to configure the print server and have successfully printed from all my home computers (Mac, Winbloze, Linux).

Mama is happy again !

-mike

[tbm]

FWIW, this is fixed in newer Debian kernels (which disable the parallel printer module).

[tmbailey123]

That would explain why cups now hangs on the plug. If they disabled the parallel printer module in the kernel but  cups is still trying by default to load their LP_MODULE, well let the crying begin. That make perfect sense, because as part of the apt-get dist-upgrade the new 2.6.32-5-kirkwood was installed when my problem started.

thx

-mike

[feffer]

FWIW, I'm also using my plug as a print server among other things. Like you /etc/default/cups had LP_MODULE=yes however, no problem with my system using the 2.6.32-5-kirkwood kernel. I have not re-installed cups, so maybe that's the difference.

feffer

[cjm]

That would explain why cups now hangs on the plug. If they disabled the parallel printer module in the kernel but  cups is still trying by default to load their LP_MODULE, well let the crying begin. That make perfect sense, because as part of the apt-get dist-upgrade the new 2.6.32-5-kirkwood was installed when my problem started.

thx

-mike

Cups hanging during startup is one thing but crashing the whole system is another. I haven't really looked into this, nor do I have cups on my plug, but if a module crashes the kernel when loading, the module is seriously broken and either needs to be fixed or removed from the default configuration (which Martin just did).

Loading modules for non-existant hardware or trying to load a module that doesn't exist at all should only give you an error message, not crash anything.

Thanks,
--Christian