http://hpinkjet.sourceforge.net/install.php#debian_env
Going over this setup for installing all the proper requirements to get HP printing working (because i can't seem to get cups to work on it's own), and I got to the step of installing HPLIP itself. This is what i got:

aopen25:/home/daniel/hpijs-2.1.4# ./configure --prefix=/usr
<several lines of things that are successfully detected>
checking for jpeg_set_defaults in -ljpeg... no
configure: error: "cannot find libjpeg support"

I installed libjpeg:

/usr/bin/install -c cjpeg /usr/local/bin/cjpeg
/usr/bin/install -c djpeg /usr/local/bin/djpeg
/usr/bin/install -c jpegtran /usr/local/bin/jpegtran
/usr/bin/install -c rdjpgcom /usr/local/bin/rdjpgcom
/usr/bin/install -c wrjpgcom /usr/local/bin/wrjpgcom
/usr/bin/install -c -m 644 ./cjpeg.1 /usr/local/man/man1/cjpeg.1
/usr/bin/install -c -m 644 ./djpeg.1 /usr/local/man/man1/djpeg.1
/usr/bin/install -c -m 644 ./jpegtran.1 /usr/local/man/man1/jpegtran.1
/usr/bin/install -c -m 644 ./rdjpgcom.1 /usr/local/man/man1/rdjpgcom.1
/usr/bin/install -c -m 644 ./wrjpgcom.1 /usr/local/man/man1/wrjpgcom.1

Tried it again and got the same message. Do I have to add some special arguments to the ./configure command or something?

By default, debian does not look in /usr/local/lib for libraries. You have to add that. Here is how:

Edit /etc/ld.so.conf and add the following line to the bottom:

/usr/local/lib

Then, run the following command:

$ ldconfig

Whenever you add new libraries to /usr/local/lib, you will need to run this command.

i read that, but apprently it looks for a variable ($ac_cv_lib_jpeg_jpeg_set_defaults) to test if the libs are there or not. It's not there, so the config script spits at me.

Any other solutions?

apt-get install libjpeg-devel