On Tue, Feb 04, 2014 at 07:12:21AM +0100, Martin Pitt wrote:
> Hello Till, all,
>
> thanks for picking this up and pioneering on-demand startup in Ubuntu!
> Unfortunately cups is probably the most complicated case for on-demand
> startup, so I have some remarks.
>
> Till Kamppeter [2014-02-03 18:11 -0000]:
> > Blueprint changed by Till Kamppeter:
> >
> > Whiteboard changed:
> > + tkamppeter, 2014-02-03:
> > +
> > + (After discussion with xnox on Desktop Sprint) For on-demand starting of
> > + daemons (avahi-daemon, cups, cups-browsed) instead of using Upstart
> > + bridges (which can get rather complex and is still buggy in Upstart) let
> > + them get started when the user opens the print dialog. Queues in the
> > + network get all visible within around 5 seconds. Stop daemons when
> > + dialog is closed, but let CUPS keep running for printing the job(s).
> > + CUPS has then to remove temporary queues and close by itself when queues
> > + empty out.
>
> Will this only be done on the phone or the desktop as well? I want to
> point out that starting daemons several times on demand like that is
> not universally better than always having them running as we do now.
> It trades using less memory against using more CPU/IO/battery as now
> the daemon loading, linking, and initialization has to be done several
> times.
>
> In a system with swap or plenty of memory (i. e. laptops) where you
> want to optimize for power it's generally better to not constantly
> stop and start services.
>
> On a phone this makes much more sense of course, as printing from a
> phone is a rare task, memory is usually scarce, and there usually is
> no swap.
>
> The initial starting on demand is always fine of course, provided that
> picking up remote printers is really that fast (it used to be 30
> seconds with the old browsing protocol?). So perhaps as a compromise,
> on a phone cups could still immediately quit after finishing its jobs,
> but on a desktop it would just keep running for e. g. an hour before
> it times out?
>
> I assume cups would never auto-quit and always auto-start at boot if
> you have printers that get shared remotely?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Martin
> --
> Martin Pitt | http://www.piware.de
> Ubuntu Developer (www.ubuntu.com) | Debian Developer (www.debian.org)
One case we need to make sure is properly covered is job queuing.
Specifically, if I attempt to print something to a disabled printer (not
plugged in, no paper, ...), then reboot my laptop for whatever reason, I
then expect cups to start immediately after reboot to try and process
its queue. Having to wait till the next time you try and print something
to process the queue seems odd and wrong to me.
--
Stéphane Graber
Ubuntu developer
http://www.ubuntu.com
