[Openicc] Print-colormanagement, application->CUPS->gutenprint

[Michael Sweet]

Hal V Engel wrote:
> ...
> I think some of us are confusing getting fairly good colors on
> printed output with color management.  ...

No, I'm not, but that is, quite frankly, the ultimate goal of
any color management.

Your complaint that you can't plug in any profile and any ink
set into your printer and get Gimp/Gutenprint to take it without
hacking the driver isn't valid, IMHO, since at the driver level
you need to manage printer-specific details including the valid
modes and inks that the printer supports.  The trend in modern
inkjet printers is movement AWAY from third-party ink set support,
and so any device you use with a custom ink set usually must be
treated as a custom device - you can't always just plug in a
different profile that maps the inks differently and expect
everything to work.

(I speak from nearly 20 years of experience writing printer
drivers and printer software in general...)

> ...
> So the symlink makes the users custom profiles available to CUPS
> which still leaves the work flow issues unresolved.  Got it.

Right - CUPS is only part of the workflow.  Publishing the profiles
where CUPS and the various filters CUPS runs to get a job printed
can read them allows a user or application to implement the
workflow...

> ...
> I guess that I just added two new requirements for the CUPS
> interface.  The ability to receive and for CUPS to handle rendering
> intent and black point compensation.  Sorry but these will be needed
> in the long run.  Maybe these could be added in CUPS 1.2.1?

Rendering intent is coming in 1.2.

I'm not sure what you mean about a black point compensation option.
The black point is usually specified as part of the source profile
in the application/document, so CUPS will get that information
(black point, white point, and other profile info) in the print
job, too.  Similarly, the printer profile specifies the black
point (and white point) for the given combo of media, inkset,
and resolution...

Are you looking for an option to disable gamut expansion?

Couldn't that be handled by the rendering intent option?

> By the way when will CUPS 1.2 be released for us non-Mac users?

I'm hoping that betas will be available within a month (I've been
saying that for a while now, but I've been busy) with a production
release this fall.

I suspect that Apple won't be adopting CUPS 1.2 until MacOS X 10.5
at the earliest (you'd have to ask them for an official answer,
although I suspect you won't get one at this point... :)

-- 
______________________________________________________________________
Michael Sweet, Easy Software Products           mike at easysw dot com
Internet Printing and Document Software          http://www.easysw.com