Bug#501312: cups-client: ambiguous description of "-o scaling=NN" option

[Sanjoy Mahajan-2]

Package: cups-client
Version: 1.3.8-1lenny1
Severity: minor
File: /usr/share/man/man1/lp.1.gz

The lp(1) manpage says:

       -o scaling=number
          Scales image files to use up to number percent of the page.
          Values greater than 100 cause the image file to be printed
          across multiple pages.

The "percent of the page" slightly implies "percent of the page area."
So -o scaling=25 would, on this interpretation, scale an image to half
the height and half the width of the page.

I tried a couple experiments here by printing two jpegs on a HP PSC
2710.  It seems that the 25 is really a percent of either the page
height or the width, so the image took up about 1/16th of the page.

Should the description read something like : "use up to number percent
of the page height or of the page width [whichever limit sets the more
stringent criterion]."

-Sanjoy

-- System Information:
Debian Release: lenny/sid
  APT prefers unstable
  APT policy: (500, 'unstable')
Architecture: i386 (i686)

Kernel: Linux 2.6.26-1-686 (SMP w/2 CPU cores)
Locale: LANG=en_US.utf8, LC_CTYPE=en_US.utf8 (charmap=UTF-8)
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/bash

Versions of packages cups-client depends on:
ii  adduser                3.110             add and remove users and groups
ii  cups-common            1.3.8-1lenny1     Common UNIX Printing System(tm) -
ii  libc6                  2.7-14            GNU C Library: Shared libraries
ii  libcups2               1.3.8-1lenny1     Common UNIX Printing System(tm) -
ii  libcupsimage2          1.3.8-1lenny1     Common UNIX Printing System(tm) -
ii  zlib1g                 1:1.2.3.3.dfsg-12 compression library - runtime

cups-client recommends no packages.

Versions of packages cups-client suggests:
ii  cups                       1.3.8-1lenny1 Common UNIX Printing System(tm) -
ii  cups-bsd                   1.3.8-1lenny1 Common UNIX Printing System(tm) -
pn  cups-pt                    <none>        (no description available)
pn  gtklp                      <none>        (no description available)
pn  kdeprint                   <none>        (no description available)
pn  xpp                        <none>        (no description available)

-- no debconf information




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[Debian Bug Tracking System]

Your message dated Sun, 16 Nov 2008 20:26:25 +0100
with message-id <20081116192625.GA19015@...>
and subject line Re: Bug#501312: cups-client: ambiguous description of "-o scaling=NN" option
has caused the Debian Bug report #501312,
regarding cups-client: ambiguous description of "-o scaling=NN" option
to be marked as done.

This means that you claim that the problem has been dealt with.
If this is not the case it is now your responsibility to reopen the
Bug report if necessary, and/or fix the problem forthwith.

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--
501312: http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=501312
Debian Bug Tracking System
Contact owner@... with problems

Package: cups-client
Version: 1.3.8-1lenny1
Severity: minor
File: /usr/share/man/man1/lp.1.gz

The lp(1) manpage says:

       -o scaling=number
          Scales image files to use up to number percent of the page.
          Values greater than 100 cause the image file to be printed
          across multiple pages.

The "percent of the page" slightly implies "percent of the page area."
So -o scaling=25 would, on this interpretation, scale an image to half
the height and half the width of the page.

I tried a couple experiments here by printing two jpegs on a HP PSC
2710.  It seems that the 25 is really a percent of either the page
height or the width, so the image took up about 1/16th of the page.

Should the description read something like : "use up to number percent
of the page height or of the page width [whichever limit sets the more
stringent criterion]."

-Sanjoy

-- System Information:
Debian Release: lenny/sid
  APT prefers unstable
  APT policy: (500, 'unstable')
Architecture: i386 (i686)

Kernel: Linux 2.6.26-1-686 (SMP w/2 CPU cores)
Locale: LANG=en_US.utf8, LC_CTYPE=en_US.utf8 (charmap=UTF-8)
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/bash

Versions of packages cups-client depends on:
ii  adduser                3.110             add and remove users and groups
ii  cups-common            1.3.8-1lenny1     Common UNIX Printing System(tm) -
ii  libc6                  2.7-14            GNU C Library: Shared libraries
ii  libcups2               1.3.8-1lenny1     Common UNIX Printing System(tm) -
ii  libcupsimage2          1.3.8-1lenny1     Common UNIX Printing System(tm) -
ii  zlib1g                 1:1.2.3.3.dfsg-12 compression library - runtime

cups-client recommends no packages.

Versions of packages cups-client suggests:
ii  cups                       1.3.8-1lenny1 Common UNIX Printing System(tm) -
ii  cups-bsd                   1.3.8-1lenny1 Common UNIX Printing System(tm) -
pn  cups-pt                    <none>        (no description available)
pn  gtklp                      <none>        (no description available)
pn  kdeprint                   <none>        (no description available)
pn  xpp                        <none>        (no description available)

-- no debconf information



Hi Sanjoy,

Sanjoy Mahajan [2008-10-06 10:06 -0400]:
> Should the description read something like : "use up to number percent
> of the page height or of the page width [whichever limit sets the more
> stringent criterion]."

I passed this on to upstream, who rejected it:

 "The scaling is a dimensional percentage, and always has been. This wording
  was actually changed from previous documentation which was more specific but
  apparently also more confusing for the average user.

  Given that we've already changed the documentation to its current state based
  on feedback from other users, and changing it back will just bring back the
  old confusion, I'm inclined to leave the documentation as-is."

Thanks for your report!

Martin
--
Martin Pitt                        | http://www.piware.de
Ubuntu Developer (www.ubuntu.com)  | Debian Developer  (www.debian.org)