Till and Tim, The reason why there are 2 methods to retrieve the default papersize is historical. The LC_PAPER environment variable was not part of the original POSIX standard. To tackle the default papersize problem the Debian operation system gave birth to libpaper (/etc/papersize), most programs in Debian/Ubuntu use libpaper to retrieve the paper size, CUPS is also compiled with libpaper support. Later a DRAFT specification of a newer POSIX standard included the LC_PAPER environment variable, glibc was based on this DRAFT specification. But the FINAL version of this POSIX standard didn't include the LC_PAPER environment variable, this is also the current POSIX standard version.
So both methods can be used by application developers depending if they target POSIX compliance or only Linux compliance. In Debian/Ubuntu we could agree on any of these methods and adapt all programs to use this method. As some heavy discussion will be needed here I don't think this bug report is the best place to discuss. Furthermore this effort would be limited to Debian/Ubuntu only as long as there is no new POSIX standard that clearly describes how the default papersize should be retrieved. With bug #104160 being closed in Gutsy, I think most users won't even notice there are 2 methods to retrieve the papersize since /etc/papersize will match the locale selected at install time. Can we close the original bug reported by Paul Flint? -- Printer installation paper type does not follow locale https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/150691 You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Bugs, which is the bug contact for Ubuntu. -- ubuntu-bugs mailing list ubuntu-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-bugs
