[SOLVED] Cups refuses to work: "bad file descriptor"

Question

I am not getting CUPS to work on a new installation.
I need to use cups as a client printing to a printer attached to a separate server. What I did:
1. I installed  the cups package and started/enabled the service in systemd.
2. The remote server has a working CUPS installation (accessible and working from other computers)
3. I can see the remote printer listed among the printers in CUPS's local  web interface
However, every job sent to the printer (from the GUI: KDE based apps such as Okular, etcetera) silently fails.
No job is ever listed on the CUPS web interface.
If I try to check on CUPS status with lstat I get the following error:
$> lpstat
lpstat: bad file descriptor
Any suggestion on how to fix the problem?
Edit: more info
It seems that cups is running fine according to systemd:
[stefano@gorgias ~]$ systemctl status cups
● cups.service - CUPS Printing Service
Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/cups.service; enabled)
Active: active (running) since Mon 2014-08-04 17:56:32 CDT; 16h ago
Main PID: 2832 (cupsd)
Status: "Scheduler is running..."
CGroup: /system.slice/cups.service
└─2832 /usr/bin/cupsd -f
Aug 04 17:56:32 gorgias systemd[1]: Started CUPS Printing Service.
but not so according to CUPS itself:
[stefano@gorgias ~]$ lpstat -t
scheduler is not running
no system default destination
lpstat: Bad file descriptor
lpstat: Bad file descriptor
lpstat: Bad file descriptor
lpstat: Bad file descriptor
lpstat: Bad file descriptor
So systemd tells me the scheduler is running, while CUPS claims it is not
Last edited by stefano (2014-08-06 22:15:53)

Answer 1

Stefano,
I can't thank you enough for posting your solution! I have spent the last several days trying to get libreoffice and evince to even see my printer. I've been up and down so many cups web interface sessions, I lost count long ago. Finally, I came across some commands I'd never seen before, in particular 'lpstat' which also gave me the 'bad file descriptor' message. Googling provided next to nothing in help, but it did produce a link to your post, which is like finding a needle in a haystack! Anyway, I updated /etc/cups/client.conf as you suggested, and now my applications can finally see my Brother HL-2280DW.
For what it's worth, I'm running a fresh archlinux install (as of a week or two ago), and just installed cups a few days ago:
root<t1>@benito:/etc/cups# uname -a
Linux benito 3.16.1-1-ARCH #1 SMP PREEMPT Thu Aug 14 07:40:19 CEST 2014 x86_64 GNU/Linux
root<t1>@benito:/etc/cups# pacman -Qs cups
local/brother-hl2280dw 2.0.4_2-3
    Brother HL-2280DW CUPS Driver
local/cups 1.7.5-1
    The CUPS Printing System - daemon package
local/cups-filters 1.0.57-1
    OpenPrinting CUPS Filters
local/cups-pdf 2.6.1-2
    PDF printer for cups
local/libcups 1.7.5-1
    The CUPS Printing System - client libraries and headers
local/python2-pycups 1.9.66-2
    Python CUPS Bindings
local/system-config-printer 1.4.4-1
    A CUPS printer configuration tool and status applet
Again, my sincere thanks!!
(BTW, I'd also like to know why /etc/cups/client.conf doesn't work as advertised...)
Last edited by archzen (2014-08-24 06:44:58)