When you add an older non-ipp printer it may, depending on the method used, prompt the user for a .ppd file which describes the printer options. Having tried lpoptions and lpinfo I took a punt on this being the source of the information and used nautilus file manager to find them on my system.
find / -iname Stylus-Photo-R360.ppd 2>/dev/null
/etc/cups/ppd/Stylus-Photo-R360.ppd
ls /etc/cups/ppd
Name_Docs_R360.ppd Photo_R360.ppd Photo_R360.ppd.O Stylus-Photo-R360.ppd Stylus-Photo-R360-2.ppd
If the user does not create unique names the system appends a number to the name and creates the .ppd file in the /etc/cups/ppd directory. I believe the .O extension denotes a backup file. If the user does provide a unique name when installing such as Name_Docs_R360 this becomes the filename Name_Docs_R360.ppd.
NB. Renaming this file does not change the printer name, it breaks the link to the .ppd file and reduces the options available on the printer.
To try and find where the printer name is stored and the .ppd file named I experimented, altering the printer name in the Printers panel by clicking the cogwheel beside the printer selecting Printer Details from the dropdown and altering the Name field, then monitoring which files were altered with
ls -lat /etc/cups/ppd
total 832
drwxr-xr-x 5 root lp 4096 Jan 19 19:02 ..
drwxr-xr-x 2 root lp 4096 Jan 19 18:41 .
-rw-r----- 1 root lp 33541 Jan 16 19:30 Name_Docs_R360.ppd
-rw-r----- 1 root lp 192435 Jan 15 17:56 Photo_R360.ppd
-rw-r----- 1 root lp 192430 Jan 14 19:26 Photo_R360.ppd.O
ls -lat /etc/cups/
total 120
drwxr-xr-x 5 root lp 4096 Jan 19 19:02 .
-rw-r----- 1 root lp 965 Jan 19 19:02 subscriptions.conf
-rw-r----- 1 root lp 965 Jan 19 18:53 subscriptions.conf.O
-rw------- 1 root lp 2041 Jan 19 18:45 printers.conf
drwxr-xr-x 2 root lp 4096 Jan 19 18:41 ppd
-rw------- 1 root lp 2109 Jan 19 18:39 printers.conf.O
-rw------- 1 root lp 108 Jan 16 19:31 classes.conf
-rw-r----- 1 root lp 108 Jan 16 19:27 classes.conf.O
drwxr-xr-x 148 root root 12288 Jan 16 19:07 ..
-rw-r----- 1 root lp 4745 Jan 15 20:35 cupsd.conf
-rw-r----- 1 root lp 4740 Jan 15 20:35 cupsd.conf.O
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 18 Jan 15 17:49 lpoptions
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 240 Jan 14 16:59 raw.convs
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 211 Jan 14 16:59 raw.types
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 30199 Oct 8 12:41 cups-browsed.conf
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Sep 26 12:27 interfaces
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 142 Sep 26 12:27 snmp.conf
drwx------ 2 root lp 4096 Sep 17 2023 ssl
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 2860 May 27 2022 cups-files.conf
These files are root protected so
sudo cat /etc/cups/ppd/Name_Docs_R360.ppd
[sudo] password for user:
*PPD-Adobe: "4.3"
%
% This PPD file is intended for Epson Inkjet Printer Driver (ESC/P-R).
% Epson Inkjet Printer Driver (ESC/P-R) for Linux is presented by Seiko Epson.
% Copyright (C) Seiko Epson Corporation 2005-2011.
%
% LastUpdate: 2011/11/07
%
% This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
% it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
% the Free Software Foundation, either version 2 of the License or, at
% your option, any later version.
%
% This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
% but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
% MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
% GNU General Public License for more details.
%
% You ought to have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
% along with this program. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
%
FormatVersion: "4.3"
FileVersion: "1.1"
LanguageVersion: English
LanguageEncoding: ISOLatin1
PCFileName: "ESCPR.PPD"
Manufacturer: "Epson"
Product: "(Inkjet Printer)"
cupsVersion: 1.2
cupsManualCopies: True
cupsModelNumber: 1
cupsFilter: "application/vnd.cups-raster 0 epson-escpr-wrapper"
cupsLanguages: "en ja nl fr de it pt es ko zh_CN zh_TW"
ModelName: "Epson Stylus Photo R360"
ShortNickName: "Epson Stylus Photo R360"
NickName: "Epson Stylus Photo R360, Epson Inkjet Printer Driver (ESC/P-R) for Linux"
PSVersion: "(3010.000) 550"
LanguageLevel: "3"
ColorDevice: True
DefaultColorSpace: RGB
FileSystem: True
Throughput: "1"
LandscapeOrientation: Plus90
VariablePaperSize: False
TTRasterizer: Type42
*1284DeviceID: "MFG:EPSON;MDL:Stylus Photo R360;DES:EPSON Stylus Photo R360;"
(truncated)
sudo cat /etc/cups/printers.conf
# Printer configuration file for CUPS v2.4.1
# Written by cupsd
# DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE WHEN CUPSD IS RUNNING
NextPrinterId 38
<DefaultPrinter Name_Docs_R360>
PrinterId 33
UUID urn:uuid:e16254e4-912e-3dc1-5c73-d23d946ec041
Info EPSON Stylus Photo R360
Location office
MakeModel Epson Stylus Photo R360, Epson Inkjet Printer Driver (ESC/P-R) for Linux
DeviceURI usb://EPSON/Stylus%20Photo%20R360?serial=W39030609191205230&interface=1
State Idle
StateTime 1737055847
ConfigTime 1737055847
Type 4108
Accepting Yes
Shared Yes
JobSheets none none
QuotaPeriod 0
PageLimit 0
KLimit 0
OpPolicy default
ErrorPolicy retry-job
</DefaultPrinter>
(truncated)
Altering the name in gnome-control-center renames the /etc/cups/ppd/Name_Docs_R360.ppd filename and then cups updates the DefaultPrinter or Printer fields in /etc/cups/printers.conf. Location is set here too.
Quick back up
sudo cp /etc/cups/ppd/Docs_R360.ppd ~/Desktop/edited_Docs_R360_ppd.txt
and edit some of the .ppd file lines to try and find where those printer names are used.
sudo nano /etc/cups/ppd/Docs_R360.ppd
*ModelName: "ModelName - Epson Stylus Photo R360"
*ShortNickName: "ShortNickName - Epson Stylus Photo R360"
*NickName: "NickName - Epson Stylus Photo R360 - Epson Inkjet Printer Driver (ESC/P-R) for Linux"
The relevant info can be accessed using:
sudo grep -i 'name
location' /etc/cups/Name_Docs.ppd
*PCFileName: "ESCPR.PPD"
*ModelName: "ModelName - Epson Stylus Photo R360"
*ShortNickName: "ShortNickName - Epson Stylus Photo R360"
*NickName: "NickName - Epson Stylus Photo R360 - Epson Inkjet Printer Driver (ESC/P-R) for Linux"
sudo grep -i 'name
location' /etc/cups/printers.conf
<DefaultPrinter Name_Docs_R360>
Location Location_office
MakeModel NickName - Epson Stylus Photo R360 - Epson Inkjet Printer Driver (ESC/P-R) for Linux
Now we have a printer named Docs_R360 in the Printers panel and one called ModelName - Epson Stylus Photo R360 in the Device Colour Profiles panel!
Some notes.
- Nicknames are truncated at commas. for some reason the Stylus-Photo-R360.ppd uses
*NickName: "Epson Stylus Photo R360, Epson Inkjet Printer Driver (ESC/P-R) for Linux" which gets truncated to Epson Stylus Photo R360 in gnome-control-center. Change it for a hyphen and the full name appears as gutenprint format theirs *NickName: "Epson Stylus Photo R360 - CUPS+Gutenprint v5.3.3"
gnome-control-center - Settings - Printers - Additional Printer Settings opens CUPS system-config-printer- CUPS
system-config-printer - Properties - Settings reads / writes the Description field to / from Info EPSON Stylus Photo R360 and the Location field to Location office in /etc/cups/printers.conf.
- It reads
*NickName: "Epson Stylus Photo R360, Epson Inkjet Printer Driver (ESC/P-R) for Linux" from /etc/cups/ppd/Stylus-Photo-R360.ppd for the Make and Model field.
- Stylus-Photo-R360.ppd contains warnings # Printer configuration file for CUPS v2.4.1 # Written by cupsd # DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE WHEN CUPSD IS RUNNING
gnome-control-center - Settings - Device Colour Profiles - uses ModelName - Epson Stylus Photo R360 Printer to name the device- CUPS web page localhost:631/printers/
| Queue Name |
Description |
Location |
Make and Model |
Status |
| Name - Stylus-Photo-R360 |
Description- EPSON Stylus Photo R360 |
Location - office |
Nickname - Epson Stylus Photo R360, Epson Inkjet Printer Driver (ESC/P-R) for Linux |
Idle |
| printers.conf "Printer Name" |
printrs.conf "Info" |
printers.conf "Location" |
.ppd "NickName" |
- |
- CUPS web page localhost:631/printers/Stylus-Photo-R360
Description: Description - EPSON Stylus Photo R360
Location: Location - office
Driver: NickName - Epson Stylus Photo R360, Epson Inkjet Printer Driver (ESC/P-R) for Linux (color)
- lpoptions reports
copies=1 device-uri=usb://EPSON/Stylus%20Photo%20R360?serial=W39030609191205230&interface=1 finishings=3 job-cancel-after=10800 job-hold-until=no-hold job-priority=50 job-sheets=none,none marker-change-time=0 number-up=1 print-color-mode=color printer-commands=none printer-info='Description - EPSON Stylus Photo R360' printer-is-accepting-jobs=true printer-is-shared=true printer-is-temporary=false printer-location=office printer-make-and-model='NickName - Epson Stylus Photo R360, Epson Inkjet Printer Driver (ESC/P-R) for Linux' printer-state=3 printer-state-change-time=1736876146 printer-state-reasons=none printer-type=135180 printer-uri-supported=ipp://localhost/printers/Docs_R360
- to restart the CUPS daemon use
systemctl restart cups
