pdf2printable default page size

[bdantas]

Sorry to bother again. I noticed that pdf2printable defaults to A4 page size for output files. I was a surprised by that--I expected that if size is not specified, output file would have same page size as input file. What are your thoughts about this?

[attah]

I did tell you this.

What makes you expect that?
The purpose here is to reshape and convert a document for printing.
Arguably the default should follow the locale; but in reality, when used as part of ippclient/SeaPrint it follows the print job choice or printer default.
And i don't want to push any more inch nonsense on people than absolutely necessary, so the fallback default is ISO A4.

Also note that there is no such thing as a "[single] page size as ... file" - each page can be different (MediaBox), and that's really quite bad for printing.

[bdantas]

I did tell you this.

Guilty as charged. You sure did.

The purpose here is to reshape and convert a document for printing. Arguably the default should follow the locale

It's hard to argue with this.

Also note that there is no such thing as a "[single] page size as ... file" - each page can be different (MediaBox), and that's really quite bad for printing.

Yes, I did notice that when MediaBox can be parsed with strings | grep, I found one MediaBox per page. From a printing perspective, the thought of each page having different dimensions is quite horrible.

And i don't want to push any more inch nonsense on people

Haha. I, for one, like inches, teaspoons, and pounds for home and kitchen, kilograms and millimeters for the laboratory and hospital. But it's not hard to imagine how messy our system must seem to folks used to the simplicity of base10 everywhere.

Listen, I could never print reliably from my GNU/Linux boxes to my wireless Brother printer using CUPS+driver (mostly because of computers periodically not being able to find the printer on the WLAN, despite it having a static ip address--go figure). Since switching to driverless printing powered by pdf2printable+ipptool back in September 2023, I've hit 100% reliability. Between my kids being homeschooled and my wife getting her Master's in the Great Books we do quite a bit of printing, so reliability is a must. I'm in your debt.

Happy hacking!

[attah]

pdf2printable+ipptool

I can only recommend ippclient, from this repo, which is now pretty much mature.
Then you don't need to hassle with tmp files or piping or whatever that setup entails.

[bdantas]

My current setup does involve tmp files and could be simpler. I'll get around to refactoring my shell script to use ippclient eventually. But for now I just want to enjoy the fact that printing Just Works for the first time ever. Before that, it was 10+ years of flaky behavior, fruitless troubleshooting, and family complaints. It's no exaggeration to say that this repo has made computing more pleasant for my entire household. If I can make a donation or help support your efforts in any way, please do let me know.

[attah]

You do that in your time of course, but it should be a much better experience.
There should be a Sponsor button and link on the repo page. No pressure though - day job keeps me fed. Bug reports and feature suggestions are of course also helpful.