I installed a new, FreeBSD 4.11-RELEASE system and compiled a custom kernel, but now when I try to print something to a printer connected to the parallel port like this:

lpr /etc/printcap

nothing is printed, but lpq shows this:

lp:
queuing is enabled
printing is enabled
1 entry in spool area
waiting for lp to become ready (offline?)

I doublechecked that the printer is connected, and it is online. So that should not be a problem.

The relevant part of the /etc/printcap is:
lp|hp|epson|laserjet:\
:lp=/dev/lpt0:sd=/var/spool/output/lpd/epson:lf=/var/log/lpd-errs:\
:vf=/usr/libexec/ifsimple.sh:sh:sf:

The filter script ifsimple.sh is executable for anyone, and it just contains this:
# Simply copies stdin to stdout. Ignores all filter arguments.
/bin/cat && exit 0
exit 2

Maybe did I miss something when I compiled my custom kernel? Here are my kernel options:
# Parallel port
#device ppc0 at isa? irq 7
device ppbus # Parallel port bus (required)
device lpt # Printer
#device plip # TCP/IP over parallel
#device ppi # Parallel port interface device
#device vpo # Requires scbus and da

So I enabled ppbus and lpt, but disabled ppc0, plip and ppi. Should I enable them in order that the lp daemon can work correctly? Or this has nothing to do with my problem?

Could you help me with any hints how to debug this?

I realized that the ppc0 device is required for printing via the parallel port, so I recompiled my kernel with the following option:
device ppc0 at isa?

(according to the FreeBSD handbook, this should enable the parallel port device, and it should also set it up to polled communication mode)

But not mine :-(

After the recompilation I have still no /dev/ppc0 device (though I enablet it in the kernel config file); meanwhile I noticed that I had a /dev/ppi0 device, which had been disabled in my kernel config file (as shown in my previous post).

Despite this, lpd now starts together with the system (I had to start it manually previously).

However, the situation is worse: now even the printer queue does not work anymore, or at least lpq -a never shows any jobs in it.
(I wonder if this is due to the fact that I chowned the spool directory to daemon:daemon and permission 770, as recommended in the FreeBSD handbook)

Any hints?

Edit:
Problem solved: the missing ppc device option was the culprit