Crazy Page counts from cups

Running 14.2 & printing ok, but the page count is CRAZY. This particilar job, I started printing 99 pages (I'm printing addresses only on invitations).

The output on localhost:631 under jobs started

ID:                                     Name             User         Size     Pages    State   
HP_LaserJet_Professional_P_1102w-504  	Unknown  	Withheld  	50k  	5742  	processing since
                                                                                       Fri Mar 3 10:28:06 2017 
                                                                                       "Processing page 59..."

The 99 pages started as 2871 pages, then 4059, then 5742, now 9063 as I refresh the output. "Processing page" count is equally wild:15 (after 3 pages), 17 (1 page later), then 30, 30, 30, 42, 96, now saying it's finished but it clearly isn't. I know 'processing' is not 'printing' I get that much. Is it too much to ask for sanity from cups?

I have never seen that. I suggest that you file an issue upstream.

Also, I have read that raw pages counting is difficult. Anyway if you want anyone to help, you need to provide either the document to be printed as an attachment, or a link allowing to download it if it's heavy.

The file is HERE on Google Drive and prints landscape on a page 228mm x 170mm, hence the unusual positioning.
As you see, it is a trivial printing job.

I will file an issue upstream, but will wait until I return next week in case replies start coming and people desire me to try things.

The file is HERE on Google Drive and prints landscape on a page 228mm x 170mm, hence the unusual positioning.
As you see, it is a trivial printing job. I'm doing lots of 100, or 1 to check & 99 copies, and it's the same info on each page

I will file an issue upstream, but will wait until I return next week in case replies start coming and people desire me to try things.

I have never had accurate figures from cups. Look at the log of today's print jobs

▲ ID ▲	                                Name	        User	        Size	Pages	State	Control
HP_LaserJet_Professional_P_1102w-511  	Unknown  	Withheld  	50k  	10000  	completed at
Fri Mar 3 15:30:46 2017  	 
HP_LaserJet_Professional_P_1102w-510  	Unknown  	Withheld  	50k  	10000  	completed at
Fri Mar 3 14:54:29 2017  	 
HP_LaserJet_Professional_P_1102w-509  	Unknown  	Withheld  	50k  	10000  	completed at
Fri Mar 3 14:16:20 2017  	 
HP_LaserJet_Professional_P_1102w-508  	Unknown  	Withheld  	50k  	900  	completed at
Fri Mar 3 13:51:43 2017  	 
HP_LaserJet_Professional_P_1102w-507  	Unknown  	Withheld  	50k  	10000  	completed at
Fri Mar 3 12:49:57 2017  	 
HP_LaserJet_Professional_P_1102w-506  	Unknown  	Withheld  	50k  	10000  	completed at
Fri Mar 3 12:31:48 2017  	 
HP_LaserJet_Professional_P_1102w-505  	Unknown  	Withheld  	50k  	10000  	completed at
Fri Mar 3 11:28:39 2017  	 
HP_LaserJet_Professional_P_1102w-504  	Unknown  	Withheld  	50k  	9801  	completed at
Fri Mar 3 10:46:42 2017  	 
HP_LaserJet_Professional_P_1102w-503  	Unknown  	Withheld  	50k  	1  	completed at
Fri Mar 3 10:28:03 2017  	 
HP_LaserJet_Professional_P_1102w-502  	Unknown  	Withheld  	50k  	9801  	completed at
Fri Mar 3 10:19:21 2017  	 
HP_LaserJet_Professional_P_1102w-501  	Unknown  	Withheld  	50k  	1  	completed at
Fri Mar 3 10:03:20 2017

From memory, the following conversions apply
1 Page = 1 Page Printed
9801 Pages = 99 Pages Printed
10,000 Pages = 100 Pages Printed

It's actually counting the SQUARE of the pages :-)). Do the math :-)

Attached is content of the downloaded document. It pretends to be an odt document but file see it as html. I am not surprised that cups be puzzled. So am I. Actually I see no indication in it to split it in pages...

PS As an aside I am not keen to encourage proselytism of any kind, even very indirectly

I can understand your position on proslytism. Hence I withheld the document until pressed for it. What the document you received was merely the addresses of 2 meetings. It came by email as a windows .docx, which I opened, modified, and saved as .odt. Grepping those originals for html doesn't show anything, I downloaded my own link; file calls it an opendocument text, There's no html, and it's headed as a 'mimetypeapplication/vnd.oasis.opendocument.text.' Have we got the same file?

It's just smaller than most of the print jobs that go through here, and cups doesn't complain. But there's a certain intelligence to the error that squares the page count.

All I would like is a simple "printing page 23 of 47" or something of that nature. There's no point telling me what page it's processing.

So I am assuming that the Google Drive engine added this html + javascript stuff. Would you mind either send me (myfirstname @ slint dot fr) the .docx you received by email (or attach it you your next post adding a .txt extension, as you like). Then I will try to reproduce.

Documents attached to your email. I sent every copy on disk. The docx will be for an A4 page in all likelihood.

This is the latest bit of the print log:

ID                                       Name           User            Size    Pages 
HP_LaserJet_Professional_P_1102w-516  	Unknown  	Withheld  	50k  	10000  	completed at
Sat Mar 4 11:10:35 2017  	 
HP_LaserJet_Professional_P_1102w-517  	Unknown  	Withheld  	50k  	10000  	completed at
Sat Mar 4 14:54:10 2017  	 
HP_LaserJet_Professional_P_1102w-518  	Unknown  	Withheld  	50k  	3000  	canceled at
Sat Mar 4 15:48:06 2017  	 
HP_LaserJet_Professional_P_1102w-519  	Unknown  	Withheld  	50k  	8836  	completed at
Sat Mar 4 16:07:40 2017  	 
HP_LaserJet_Professional_P_1102w-520  	Unknown  	Withheld  	50k  	100  	completed at
Sat Mar 4 16:19:20 2017  	 
HP_LaserJet_Professional_P_1102w-521  	Unknown  	Withheld  	50k  	8100  	completed at
Sat Mar 4 16:53:36 2017

Interestingly, the cancelled job shows a number that is not a mathematical integer square. 8836 is the square of 94, a number which I never printed.But the printer jammed and restarted the job after I cleared it. The 100 & 8100 represent 10 & 90, which are correct mathematical squares.

It seems to log the square, but output gibberish in between. It's cups; Why am I not surprised? :-).

I have no clue, just that 228x170 mm is a rather unusual paper size (never saw it yet).
How did you set the page size in CUPS?

Here (old HP Deskjet 6540) the closer paper size I see in the CUPS web interface (http://localhost:631):
Printers =>Administration => Set Default Options =>Media Size is B5 (176x250 mm).

I didn't set page size in cups. I set it with Format/Page in Libreoffice. I don't believe cups takes page size seriously - it gets it from the Document. Of course, I have a 'Love to Hate' relationship with cups. I'm in landscape also. If cups had all that programmed in, you'd never be able to do WYSIWYG printing.
I notice it's "Default Options," not "Document Options." It will probably default to A4 if something dumb spools to the printer (e.g. vim or mutt).
I really feel the document & paper size is irrelevant. They're probably options to ghostcript. For me, page count was always funny but I ignored it. But I want to stack these in 100s. That's messed up if the printing job stops midway. That's what got me exercised over this.

Originally Posted by business_kid I didn't set page size in cups. I set it with Format/Page in Libreoffice. I don't believe cups takes page size seriously - it gets it from the Document. Of course, I have a 'Love to Hate' relationship with cups. I'm in landscape also. If cups had all that programmed in, you'd never be able to do WYSIWYG printing. I notice it's "Default Options," not "Document Options." It will probably default to A4 if something dumb spools to the printer (e.g. vim or mutt). I really feel the document & paper size is irrelevant. They're probably options to ghostcript. For me, page count was always funny but I ignored it. But I want to stack these in 100s. That's messed up if the printing job stops midway. That's what got me exercised over this.

I think that you shouldn't make assumptions about CUPS settings, bur rather try to use them. Is really 228x170 mm your paper size? Really?

To further investigate, I suggest that you export your file from Libre Office to pdf then the print the pdf.

The printing is _not_ the problem. The page count is. I'll export to pdf after this 100 is done and report back if it behaves differently. Otherwise you can take it it's the same, and we swap Adobe Reader's print engine for the Libreoffice one, which further complicates the issue.

You clearly are having difficulty believing what's going on here. I have a career in Electronics behind me, and am totally at ease with the concept of "Rubbish Out." It can be because rubbish was put in, or the software is lacking. I suspect the latter. But I would, given my bias against cups.

EDIT: Yes, 228 x170mm is the page size. It may be 169, or even 168mm. It can be difficult to measure with only one working hand. We have 15k of them, I imagine there's been anything up to a billion printed for worldwide distribution. I'd send a copy, except you hardly want to see it :-|.

Adobe's print engine prints landscape the other way around from Libreoffice. Libreoffice is doing Right side --> Left side. Adobe Reader does Left side --> Right side. Exporting to pdf also messed with my page margins, so layout is less than optimal. It still logs the square of the pages, e.g. a 2 page run logs 4 pages printed.

To run, I'm back in Libreoffice.