Capturing a Novell Spool file

PaperCut Support may ask you to supply a spool file. This is a little more difficult on the Novell/Linux platform and involves “capturing” a spool file using one of the following procedures:

Snapshot Method (available from release 11.5)

1. Enable snapshot level debug logging in the Print Provider layer by adding the line:

debug=snapshot

to the file at ~papercut/providers/print/linux-[arch]/print-provider.conf

2. Print a problem document that demonstrates the issue and wait for it to spool.

3. As root on the PaperCut server, enter the command:

cp /tmp/spool-snapshot.spl ~/10-pages-grayscale.spl

(Note: Replace 10-pages-grayscale.spl with an appropriate name).

4. Repeat the 2 and 3 again as required to demonstrate the issue.

5. Compress the *.spl files in the root home directory as well as

~papercut/providers/print/linux-[arch]/print-provider.log

Then send to us via PaperCut Support.

Manual Method

1. Enable debug (or leave on snapshot from above) level logging in the Print Provider layer by adding the line:

debug=on

to the file at ~papercut/providers/print/linux-[arch]/print-provider.conf

2. Temporarily pause the printer output, by going to the problem printer in Novell Manage Printer

3. Click on Pause Output

4. Issue a print job to the problem printer

5. Look for lines of the form “Analysis results from spool file…” in

~papercut/providers/print/linux-[arch]/print-provider.log

6. Using the spool file path that you found in the log file, copy the spool file to somewhere appropriate.

7. Go back to the Novell Manage Printer page and click on “Resume Output”

8. Then send to us via PaperCut Support.

See also:

• Troubleshooting page count and color detection issues
• Capturing a Windows Spool File
• Capturing a Mac Spool File
• Capturing a Linux Spool File
• Capturing Spool Files with Mobility Print

Analyze your spool file

Curious to find out how PaperCut interprets that print job? Now that you’ve collected your spool file you can head over to our Spool File Analysis page to get the results yourself, and even compare how different versions of PaperCut stack up.