Does printing in Linux RedHat requires CUPS?

Question

Does the jdk1.4 Printing API require CUPS to run in Linux RedHat? I installed the JDK and programs run well but I cannot direct the printing to a particular prnter. The printing allways goes to the default printer. I ran the examples in Print2DPrinterJob.java (code at the end of this posting) and I find that the windows to select the printers appear, I select the printer to output the image, but the printout allways goes to the default printer regardless of the printer selected.
Since the java Printing API requires the IPP and since LPR is not based in this protocol, I was wondering if I must install CUPS in the server in order to use the printing API
import java.io.*;
import java.awt.*;
import java.net.*;
import java.awt.image.*;
import java.awt.print.*;
import javax.print.*;
import javax.print.attribute.*;
import javax.print.attribute.standard.*;
public class Print2DPrinterJob implements Printable {
     public Print2DPrinterJob() {
          /* Construct the print request specification.
          * The print data is a Printable object.
          * the request additonally specifies a job name, 2 copies, and
          * landscape orientation of the media.
          PrintRequestAttributeSet aset = new HashPrintRequestAttributeSet();
          aset.add(OrientationRequested.LANDSCAPE);
          aset.add(new Copies(2));
          aset.add(new JobName("My job", null));
          /* Create a print job */
          PrinterJob pj = PrinterJob.getPrinterJob();
          pj.setPrintable(this);
          /* locate a print service that can handle the request */
          PrintService[] services =
               PrinterJob.lookupPrintServices();
          if (services.length > 0) {
               System.out.println("selected printer " + services[0].getName());
               try {
                    pj.setPrintService(services[0]);
                    pj.pageDialog(aset);
                    if(pj.printDialog(aset)) {
                         pj.print(aset);
               } catch (PrinterException pe) {
                    System.err.println(pe);
     public int print(Graphics g,PageFormat pf,int pageIndex) {
          if (pageIndex == 0) {
               Graphics2D g2d= (Graphics2D)g;
               g2d.translate(pf.getImageableX(), pf.getImageableY());
               g2d.setColor(Color.black);
               g2d.drawString("example string", 250, 250);
               g2d.fillRect(0, 0, 200, 200);
               return Printable.PAGE_EXISTS;                         
          } else {
               return Printable.NO_SUCH_PAGE;
     public static void main(String arg[]) {
          Print2DPrinterJob sp = new Print2DPrinterJob();

Answer 1

i have experienced the same problem as you - inability to print to a particular printer on linux. this appears to be a bug - if you look closely at what is happening, you get the following exception thrown when you try to print to any printer other than the default one (however, by default it will just recover and print to the default printer so you won't see this exception unless you force it by trying to do a print service lookup with no attributes set). I have not had any luck gettign around this. CUPS does not help either - i have installed CUPS and still see this behavior. Let me know if you have found a workaround.
- Dan Kokotov
javax.print.PrintException: java.io.IOException: Bad file descriptor
     at sun.print.UnixPrintJob.print(UnixPrintJob.java:485)
     at PrintTest.printJava(PrintTest.java:67)
     at PrintTest.main(PrintTest.java:16)
Caused by: java.io.IOException: Bad file descriptor
     at java.io.FileInputStream.readBytes(Native Method)
     at java.io.FileInputStream.read(FileInputStream.java:191)
     at java.io.BufferedInputStream.fill(BufferedInputStream.java:183)
     at java.io.BufferedInputStream.read1(BufferedInputStream.java:222)
     at java.io.BufferedInputStream.read(BufferedInputStream.java:277)
     at java.io.FilterInputStream.read(FilterInputStream.java:90)
     at sun.print.UnixPrintJob.print(UnixPrintJob.java:477)
     ... 2 more