cpdb-libs 2.0b7

In the seventh beta release for cpdb-libs 2.0.0 the development was mostly led by Biswadeep Purkayastha, GSoC contributor on CPDB support for LibreOffice and his mentor Michael Weghorn, LibreOffice developer. Many bugs, especially memory leaks, got fixed and the API got improved, following actual needs.

• Add capability to check CPDB version at runtime
  This allows third-party applications to easily manage different CPDB releases. This is especially important when shipping pre-built binaries of such applications implementing CPDB, as the end users may be running outdated and potentially vulnerable versions of CPDB (Pull request #49).
• Allow to extract translations from table
  (Pull request #58)
• cpdb-text-frontend: Get locale via GLib
  Instead of only supporting the LANGUAGE environment variable that's not necessarily set, use GLib's g_get_language_names to detect the locale to use in the text frontend which takes other environment variables into account as well (Pull request #51).
• cpdb-text-frontend: Quit on EOF (Ctrl + D)
  Quit the text frontend when scanf returns EOF, which e.g. happens when the user presses Ctrl + D. Previously, pressing Ctrl + D would result in the loop running indefinitely, printing ">" without end (Pull request #38).
• Added API function cpdbRefreshPrinterList() to refresh the printer list
  (Pull request #35)
• New API function cpdbPrinterCallback()
  • Was printer_callback() in cpdb-text-frontend
    (Pull request #36)
• Turn cpdbFillBasicOptions() into a frontend API function
  (Pull request #37)
• Turn some static functions into frontend API functions
  • on_printer_added() -> cpdbOnPrinterAdded()
  • on_printer_removed() -> cpdbOnPrinterRemoved()
  • on_printer_state_changed() -> cpdbOnPrinterStateChanged()
    (Pull request #36)
• Turned static function get_dbus_connection() into API function
  cpdbGetDbusConnection()
  (Pull request #35)
• Removed unused parameter instance_name from API functions
  cpdbGetNewFrontendObj() and cpdbStartListingPrinters()
  (Pull request #41)
• cpdb-text-frontend: Add null check for get-default-printer
  Instead of crashing, asking for the default printer for a non-existing backend now prints a decent error message (Pull request #50).
• cpdbConcatPath(): Actually check XDG_CONFIG_DIRS
  Instead of using CPDB_SYSCONFDIR again as it was already done earlier, and doing so in a loop, use the actual path extracted from the XDG_CONFIG_DIRS environment variable (Pull request #48).
• frontend: Check file before creating print job
  Try to open the file to be printed at the given file path before creating a print job using cpdbPrintFD(), to avoid creation of a "dead" job which needs to get manually canceled (Pull request #78).
• Correct DBus calls to add, delete, and state change of printers
  (Pull request #44)
• Pass backend name to cpdbRefreshPrinterList() as const char*
  Use const char* instead of char* for the backend param of cpdbRefreshPrinterList(). const char* is the usual way to pass C strings. That also simplifies using the function (Pull request #40).
• cpdb-text-frontend: Don't crash when printer doesn't exist
  Instead of crashing due to a NULL dereference, print a message and skip further processing of the current command when cpdbFindPrinterObj returns NULL, e.g. because the user has entered the name of a nonexisting printer or backend (Pull request #39).
• Replace cpdbGetStringCopy() with g_strdup()
  GLib's g_strdup() already provides the same functionality as cpdbGetStringCopy(), so there's no need to have a custom implementation and even make that part of the public API (Pull request #42).
• Replace cpdbConcat() with g_strconcat()
  GLib's g_strconcat already provides the functionality to concatenate strings, so there's no need to have cpdbConcat as a custom implementation and even make that part of the public API (Pull request #55).
• Drop several unused variables
  (Pull requests #52, #64, #68)
• Drop unused cpdb_job_t and cpdbUnpackJobArray()
  Got unused since we stream the print data through a Unix domain socket (Pull request #30). Removed with pull request #73.
• Drop unused cpdbExtractFileName()
  (Pull request #56)
• Drop unused own_id member of frontend data structure
  (Pull request #46)
• Fixed tons of memory leaks
  • cpdbGetSysConfDir() (Pull request #47)
  • cpdbUnpackOptions() (Pull request #53)
  • cpdb-text-frontend: Fix memory leak in add-setting() (Pull request #54)
  • cpdbGetDefaultPrinterForBackend() (Pull request #57)
  • cpdbCreateBackend() (Pull request #59)
  • cpdbRefreshPrinterList() (Pull request #60)
  • Fixing a memory leak in f->printer hasg table (Pull request #61)
  • cpdbPrintFileWithJobTitle() (Pull request #62)
  • cpdb-text-frontend: Fix memory leak in print-file() (Pull request #63)
  • Unref GVariantBuilder to fix memory leak (Pull request #65)
  • cpdbActivateBackends() (Pull request #66)
  • Log and free GError in call to doListing (Pull request #67)
  • Delete printer objects when deleting hash table (Pull request #71)
  • cpdbDeletePrinterObj() (Pull request #72)
  • cpdbDeleteOption() (Pull request #74)
  • More in cpdb-text-frontend (Pull requests #75, #76)
  • cpdbGet...Translation() (Pull request #77)
• Fix potential double-free in cpdbResurrectPrinterFromFile()
  (Pull request #69)
• README.md: Explained inner workings of CPDB and gave containerization hints
• Documentation for newly added API functions
  Added header comments for auto-generating developer documentation (Pull request #43).

cpdb-libs 2.0b6

In the sixth beta release for cpdb-libs 2.0.0 we have done more changes for sandboxed packaging, job data is streamed through domain sockets now and the frontend not being a D-Bus service any more. Also several crashers got fixed.

• Stream print data through a Unix domain socket
  To ease making a Snap from the CPDB backend for CUPS (and other CPDB backends in the future) we now transfer the print job data from the dialog to the backend via a Unix domain socket and not by dropping the data into a file (PR #30).
• Add newly appearing backends while the dialog is open
  CPDB Backends can get installed or removed at any time, also while a print dialog is open. Now a background thread is added to observe the come and go of backends and to update the printer list appropriately. New API functions are cpdbStartBackendListRefreshing() and cpdbStopBackendListRefreshing(), to start and stop this thread (PR #32).
• Added support for CPDB backends running permanently
  Do not only find backends as registered D-Bus services (*.service) files but also permanently running backends which are not necessarily registered D-Bus services
• Let the frontend not be a D-Bus service, only the backends
  To control hiding temporary or remote printers in the backend's printer list we have added methods to the D-Bus service provided by the backends now. Before, the frontends were also D-Bus services just to send signals to the backends for controling the filtering (PR #32).
• Convenience API functions to start/stop listing printers
  Added convenience API functions cpdbStartListingPrinters() and cpdbStopListingPrinters() to be called when opening and closing the print dialog, resp. (PR #32).
• Removed API functions cpdbGetAllJobs(), cpdbGetActiveJobsCount(), cpdbCancelJob(), and cpdbPrintFilePath() and the corresponding D-Bus methods (PR #30).
• Removed support for the FILE CPDB backend (PR #30).
• cpdbActivateBackends(): Fixed crash caused by wrong unreferencing
• cpdbConnectToDBus(): Use g_main_context_get_thread_default() for wait loop g_main_context_get_thread_default() always returns a valid context and never NULL. This way we avoid crashes.
• Fixed crash when Handling saved settings
  Let cpdbReadSettingsFromDisk() return an empty data structure instead of NULL when there are no saved settings. Also let cpdbIgnoreLastSavedSettings() always output and empty data structure.
• Removed the commands, get-all-jobs, get-active-jobs-count, and cancel-job from the cpdb-text-frontend utility (PR #30).
• cpdb-text-frontend: Removed unnecessary g_main_loop
  The g_main_loop is not actually needed, the main thread can just wait for the background thread using g_thread_join().
• cpdb-text-frontend: Shut down cleanly with stop command
  Instead of committing suicide with exit(0); we actually quit the main loop now.
• cpdb-text-frontend: Spawn command interpreter not before the start of the main loop, to assure that stop command quits main loop and we do not fall into an infinite loop.
• cpdb-text-frontend: acquire_translations_callback(): Only issue the success message and list the translation if the loading of the translations actually succeeded.

cpdb-libs 2.0b5

In the fifth beta release for cpdb-libs 2.0.0 we have made sure frontend/backend communication is pure D-Bus so that everything works also with sandboxed packaging and we have fixes several bugs, including a security issue.

• Removed browsing for backends via file system
  The frontend should only shout into the D-Bus to find out which backends are available and to communicate with them. Depending on the way (for example sandboxed packaging, like Snap) how the frontend and backand are installed the frontend cannot access the host's or the backend's file systems (PR #27).
• Limit scanned string length in scanf()/fscanf() functions
  cpdb-libs uses the fscanf() and scanf() functions to parse command lines and configuration files, dropping the read string components into fixed-length buffers, but does not limit the length of the strings to be read by fscanf() and scanf() causing buffer overflows when a string is longer than 1023 characters (CVE-2023-34095).
• Fixed memory bugs leading to leaks and crashes (PR #26)
• Build system: Removed unnecessary lines in tools/Makefile.am
  Removed the TESTdir and TEST_SCRIPTS entries in tools/Makefile.am. They are not needed and let make install try to install run-tests.sh in the source directory, where it already is, causing an error.

cpdb-libs 2.0b4

In the forth beta release for cpdb-libs 2.0.0 we have now added a make check test and promoted the sample frontend as a developing and testing tool.

• Added test script for make test/make check
  The script tools/run-tests.sh runs the cpdb-text-frontend text mode example frontend and stops it by supplying "stop" to its standard input.
• Allow changing the backend info directory via environment variable
  To make it possible to test backends which are not installed into the system, one can now set the environment variable CPDB_BACKEND_INFO_DIR to the directory where the backend info file for the backend is, for example in its source tree.
• Install sample frontend with make install
  We use the sample frontend cpdb-text-frontend for several tests now, especially make check and also the autopkgtests in the Debian/Ubuntu packages. They are also useful for backend developers for manual testing.
• Renamed develping/debug tools
  As we install the development and debugging tools now, they should be more easily identifiable as part of CPDB. Therefore they get cpdb--prefixed names.
• cpdb-text-frontend: Use larger and more easily adjustable string buffers
• Fixed segfault in the frontend library
  cpdbResurrectPrinterFromFile(), when called with an invalid file name, caused a crash.

cpdb-libs 2.0b3

Third beta release for cpdb-libs 2.0.0

• Added functions to fetch all printer strings translations (PR #23)
  • Added cpdbGetAllTranslations() to synchronously fetch all
    printer string translations
  • Added cpdbAcquireTranslations() to asychronously fetch them.
  • Removed get-human-readable-option/choice-name methods
  • Removed cpdb_async_obj_t from cpdb-frontend.h as that is meant
    for internal use.

cpdb-libs 2.0b2

Second beta release for cpdb-libs 2.0.0

• Options groups: To allow better structuring of options in print dialogs, common options are categorized in groups, like media, print quality, color, finishing, ... This can be primarily done by the backends but the frontend library can do fallback/default assignments for options not assigned by the backend.
• Many print dialogs have a "Color" option group (usually shown on one tab), so also have one in cpdb-libs to match with the dialogs and more easily map the options into the dialogs.
• Add macros for new options and choices, also add "Color" group
• Synchronous printer fetching upon backend activation (PR #21)
  Made cpdbConnectToDbus() wait until all backends activate
• Backends will automatically signal any printer updates instead of the frontend having to manually ask them (PR #21)
• Add printer-state-changed signal (PR #21)
  • Changed function callback type definition for printer updates
  • Added callback to frontends for changes in printer state
• Translation support: Translations of option, choice, and group names are now supported, not only English human-readable strings. And translations can be provided by the backends (also polling them from the print service) and by the frontend library.
• Use autopoint instead of gettextize
• Enable reconnecting to dbus (PR #14)
• Debug logging: Now backends forward their log messages to the frontend library for easier debugging.
• Use <glib/gi18n.h> instead of redefining macros (Issue #20)
• Add functions to free objects (PR #15)
• Remove hardcoded paths and follow XDG base dir specs (PR #14)
• Added javadoc comments to function declarations (PR #21)
• Build system: Let make dist also create .tar.bz2 and .tar.xz
• Add the dependency on libdbus to README.md
  libdbus-1-dev is needed to configure pkg-config variables for backends
• COPYING: Added Priydarshi Singh

cpdb-libs 2.0b1

First beta release for cpdb-libs 2.0.0

• Added interfaces to get human readable option and settings names
  Print attributes/options and their choices are usually defined in a machine-readable form which is more made for easy typing in a command line, not too long, no special characters, always in English and human-readable form for GUI (print dialogs), more verbose for easier understanding, with spaces and other special characters, translated, ...
  Older backends without human-readable strings can still be used. In such a case it is recommended that the dialog does either its own conversion or simply shows the machine-readable string as a last mean.
• Added get_media_size() function to retrieve media dimensions for a given "media" option value
• Support for media sizes to have multiple margin variants (like standard and borderless)
• Support for configurable user and system-wide default printers
• Acquire printer details asynchronously (non blocking)
• Made cpdb-libs completely CUPS-neutral
  Removed CUPS-specific functions from the frontend library functions and the dependency on libcups, renamed CUPS-base function and signal names
• Use const qualifiers on suitable function parameters
• DBG_LOG now includes error-message
• Renamed all API functions, data types and constants
  To make sure that the resources of libcpdb and libcpdb-frontend do not conflict with the ones of any other library used by a fronte or backend created with CPDB, all functions, data types, and constants of CPDB got renamed to be unique to CPDB.
  Here we follow the rules of CUPS and cups-filters (to get unique rules for all libraries by OpenPrinting): API functions are in camelCase and with cpdb prefix, data types all-lowercase, with _ as word separator, and constants are all-uppercase, also with _ as word separator, and with CPDB_ prefix.
• Renamed and re-organized source files to make all more standards-conforming and naming more consistent.
• All headers go to /usr/include/cpdb now: Base API headers cpdb.h and cpdb-frontend.h, interface headers (and also part of the API) backend-interface.h and frontend-interface.h, and the convenience header files backend.h and frontend.h (include exactly the headers needed).
• Check settings pointer for NULL before freeing it
• NULL check on input parameters for many functions
• Fixed incompatibility with newer versions of glib. glib.h cannot get included inside 'extern "C" { ... }'
• Corrected AC_INIT() in configure.ac: Bug report destination, directory for make dist.
• README.md: Fixed typos and updated usage instructions
• Updated .gitignore

cpdb-libs 1.2.0

Release for the introduction of the new print-to-file backend

• Added extra option final_file_path for the "file" backend
• Bug fixes on the demo/test frontend
• Mention dependency on libtool in README.md

cpdb-libs 1.1.2

Bug fix release:

• Do not sprintf() into fixed-size string buffers

cpdb-libs 1.1.1

Bug fix release:

• Fix get-all-jobs() crash