bug#3332: 23.0.93; Printing on MS Windows

bug#3332: 23.0.93; Printing on MS Windows

[Francis Wright]

Please write in English if possible, because the Emacs maintainers
usually do not have translators to read other languages for them.

Your bug report will be posted to the emacs-pretest-bug@gnu.org mailing
list.

Please describe exactly what actions triggered the bug
and the precise symptoms of the bug:

I started Emacs with the -Q option, then clicked on Print Buffer in
the File menu. This gave the error message

direct-print-region-helper: Opening output file: permission denied,
c:/DOT4_001

My printer is an hp LaserJet 1010 connected via USB and the printer
driver properties show that it is connect to the port DOT4_001. I
think the problem is that "c:/" has been prepended to the port name.

I see that the same thing happens in Emacs 22.3. (I don't print from
Emacs very often!)

If Emacs crashed, and you have the Emacs process in the gdb debugger,
please include the output from the following gdb commands:
    `bt full' and `xbacktrace'.
If you would like to further debug the crash, please read the file
c:/NTEmacs/emacs-23.0.93/etc/DEBUG for instructions.


In GNU Emacs 23.0.93.1 (i386-mingw-nt6.0.6001)
 of 2009-05-02 on SOFT-MJASON
Windowing system distributor `Microsoft Corp.', version 6.0.6001
configured using `configure --with-gcc (3.4)'

Important settings:
  value of $LC_ALL: nil
  value of $LC_COLLATE: nil
  value of $LC_CTYPE: nil
  value of $LC_MESSAGES: nil
  value of $LC_MONETARY: nil
  value of $LC_NUMERIC: nil
  value of $LC_TIME: nil
  value of $LANG: ENG
  value of $XMODIFIERS: nil
  locale-coding-system: cp1252
  default-enable-multibyte-characters: t

Major mode: Lisp Interaction

Minor modes in effect:
  tooltip-mode: t
  tool-bar-mode: t
  mouse-wheel-mode: t
  menu-bar-mode: t
  file-name-shadow-mode: t
  global-font-lock-mode: t
  font-lock-mode: t
  blink-cursor-mode: t
  global-auto-composition-mode: t
  auto-composition-mode: t
  auto-encryption-mode: t
  auto-compression-mode: t
  line-number-mode: t
  transient-mark-mode: t

Recent input:
<help-echo> <help-echo> <help-echo> <help-echo> <help-echo> 
<help-echo> <help-echo> <help-echo> <help-echo> <help-echo> 
<help-echo> <menu-bar> <file> <print-buffer> <help-echo> 
<help-echo> <help-echo> <help-echo> <help-echo> <help-echo> 
<help-echo> <help-echo> <menu-bar> <help-menu> <se
nd-emacs-bug-report>

Recent messages:
For information about GNU Emacs and the GNU system, type C-h C-a.
Spooling with options (page headers are not supported)...
direct-print-region-helper: Opening output file: permission denied,
c:/DOT4_001

bug#3332: 23.0.93; Printing on MS Windows

[Jason Rumney]

Francis Wright wrote:
> direct-print-region-helper: Opening output file: permission denied,
> c:/DOT4_001
>
> My printer is an hp LaserJet 1010 connected via USB and the printer
> driver properties show that it is connect to the port DOT4_001. I
> think the problem is that "c:/" has been prepended to the port name.
>   

Windows does that behind your back because DOT4_001 is not a real port, 
so it gets treated as a file name in the default-directory. To print on 
such a printer directly, you will have to share it and configure Emacs 
to use the network share name, or I think there is a way to redirect a 
real port (eg LPT1) to such a USB port.

> I see that the same thing happens in Emacs 22.3. (I don't print from
> Emacs very often!)
>
> If Emacs crashed, and you have the Emacs process in the gdb debugger,
> please include the output from the following gdb commands:
>     `bt full' and `xbacktrace'.
> If you would like to further debug the crash, please read the file
> c:/NTEmacs/emacs-23.0.93/etc/DEBUG for instructions.
>
>
> In GNU Emacs 23.0.93.1 (i386-mingw-nt6.0.6001)
>  of 2009-05-02 on SOFT-MJASON
> Windowing system distributor `Microsoft Corp.', version 6.0.6001
> configured using `configure --with-gcc (3.4)'
>
> Important settings:
>   value of $LC_ALL: nil
>   value of $LC_COLLATE: nil
>   value of $LC_CTYPE: nil
>   value of $LC_MESSAGES: nil
>   value of $LC_MONETARY: nil
>   value of $LC_NUMERIC: nil
>   value of $LC_TIME: nil
>   value of $LANG: ENG
>   value of $XMODIFIERS: nil
>   locale-coding-system: cp1252
>   default-enable-multibyte-characters: t
>
> Major mode: Lisp Interaction
>
> Minor modes in effect:
>   tooltip-mode: t
>   tool-bar-mode: t
>   mouse-wheel-mode: t
>   menu-bar-mode: t
>   file-name-shadow-mode: t
>   global-font-lock-mode: t
>   font-lock-mode: t
>   blink-cursor-mode: t
>   global-auto-composition-mode: t
>   auto-composition-mode: t
>   auto-encryption-mode: t
>   auto-compression-mode: t
>   line-number-mode: t
>   transient-mark-mode: t
>
> Recent input:
> <help-echo> <help-echo> <help-echo> <help-echo> <help-echo> 
> <help-echo> <help-echo> <help-echo> <help-echo> <help-echo> 
> <help-echo> <menu-bar> <file> <print-buffer> <help-echo> 
> <help-echo> <help-echo> <help-echo> <help-echo> <help-echo> 
> <help-echo> <help-echo> <menu-bar> <help-menu> <se
> nd-emacs-bug-report>
>
> Recent messages:
> For information about GNU Emacs and the GNU system, type C-h C-a.
> Spooling with options (page headers are not supported)...
> direct-print-region-helper: Opening output file: permission denied,
> c:/DOT4_001
>
>
>
>
>
>
>   

bug#3332: 23.0.93; Printing on MS Windows

[Francis Wright]

> From: Jason Rumney [mailto:jasonrumney@gmail.com] On Behalf Of Jason
> Rumney
> Sent: Wednesday 20 May 2009 1:10 am
> To: Francis Wright; 3332@emacsbugs.donarmstrong.com
> Subject: Re: bug#3332: 23.0.93; Printing on MS Windows
> 
> Francis Wright wrote:
> > direct-print-region-helper: Opening output file: permission denied,
> > c:/DOT4_001
> >
> > My printer is an hp LaserJet 1010 connected via USB and the printer
> > driver properties show that it is connect to the port DOT4_001. I
> > think the problem is that "c:/" has been prepended to the port name.
> >
> 
> Windows does that behind your back because DOT4_001 is not a real port,
> so it gets treated as a file name in the default-directory. To print on
> such a printer directly, you will have to share it and configure Emacs
> to use the network share name, or I think there is a way to redirect a
> real port (eg LPT1) to such a USB port.

OK, thanks.

Could Emacs detect that DOT4_001 is not a real port and not use it as the
default? The fact that Emacs picked it up automatically gave me some hope
that it would work.

The Emacs Manual entry for printing on Windows seems to suggest that
connecting a printer to a USB port is "rare", but I doubt that it's possible
to buy a printer that uses any other kind of connection (other than perhaps
wireless). So I think it would be helpful if there were some specific
guidance in the manual along the lines of what you wrote above. The bit
about sharing and redirecting is there (although I haven't managed to get it
to work yet) but there is nothing about USB ports.