Re: printing problems

gfp <[email protected]> Fri, 03 Apr 2026 12:53:01 +0000
Newsgroups	gmane.emacs.help
Message-ID	<[email protected]>
Hi,

thanks very much

please see annotations underneath.


Am 02.04.26 um 17:07 schrieb [email protected]:
> gfp <[email protected]> writes:
> 
>>
>> after changing all my "setq"  to "setopt"
>> today opening emacs
>> I got a backtrace:
>>
>> Debugger entered--Lisp error: (error "Invalid text printer name
>> ‘prt_06a’ for variable ‘pr-txt-name’")
>>     error("Invalid text printer name `%s' for variable `pr-txt-name'"
>> prt_06a)
>>     pr-txt-set-printer(prt_06a)
>>     pr-menu-set-txt-title(prt_06a)
>>     pr-txt-name-custom-set(pr-txt-name prt_06a)
>>     setopt--set(pr-txt-name prt_06a)
>>     load-with-code-conversion("/home/gfp/.config/emacs/init.el"
>> "/home/gfp/.config/emacs/init.el" t t)
>>     load("/home/gfp/.config/emacs/init" noerror nomessage)
>>     #f(compiled-function () #<bytecode 0x810b596305a1f90>)()
>>     startup--load-user-init-file(#f(compiled-function () #<bytecode
>> -0x6238d89e15d8e90>) #f(compiled-function () #<bytecode
>> -0x15951949e52b234f>) t)
>>     command-line()
>>     normal-top-level()
>> ---------------------------------------------------------
>>
> 
> 
> 1. Type C-h f setopt.  The Help text displays
> 
>    Note that ‘setopt’ will emit a warning if the type of a VALUE
>    does not match the type of the corresponding VARIABLE as
>    declared by ‘defcustom’.  (VARIABLE will be assigned the
>    value even if it doesn’t match the type.)
> 
> This is a good reason to use ‘setopt’ instead of ‘setq’ for
> user options (that is, for variables whose help text says
> that the variable can be customized).  After each ‘setopt’
> that you have written in your Emacs Lisp file, type C-x C-e
> to evaluate the expression.  If the type of a VALUE does not
> match the type of the corresponding VARIABLE as declared by
> ‘defcustom’, then ‘setopt’ will emit a warning.
> 
> 2. A good reason to use the Easy Customization is that it
> can write the Emacs Lisp expression for you.  One method for
> starting it is:
> 
>     - C-h v <variable-name>
>     - In the *Help* buffer, locate the ‘Customize’ button and
>       click on it.  If there is no Customize button, then
>       this variable is not a user option.
> 
> Once you have started Easy Customization for that user
> option, locate the ‘State’ button.  Click on it to display a
> menu.  At the bottom of the menu are two radio button
> options: "Show Current Value" and "Show Lisp Saved
> Expression".  You can select between the two options to show
> how your value is displayed.
> 
>    - "Show Current Value" displays the value broken up by
>      fields that you can fill in without having to know the
>      structure of the Lisp expression.
>    - "Show Lisp Saved Expression" shows what you may write as
>      the user option’s ‘setopt’ value.
> 
> 3. You have the expression:
>     (setopt pr-txt-printer-alist
>          '((prt_06a "lpr" nil "prt_06a")
>            (prt_07c nil   nil "prt_07c")
>            ))
> 
> This looks suspiciously like the example for Unix in the
> Easy Customization for this user option.
> 
>     - Do you have two printers named "prt_06a" and "prt_07c"?
>       If you only have one printer, then you can reset your
>       value for ‘pr-txt-printer-alist’ (use the ‘Revert’
>       button in the Easy Customization) to restore the
>       expression that includes ‘default’.
> 
>     - Have you configured your printer?  You will need to
>       have done this outside of Emacs.  How you do this
>       depends on your operating system and what utilities it
>       provides for installing/configuring a printer.  During
>       the installation/configuration of your printer, you will
>       choose a printer "name".  You will need to record that
>       name and provide it to Emacs.
> 
>       Then, using the Easy Customization for
>       ‘pr-txt-printer-alist’, you will have the following:
> 
>       ‘INS’ ‘DEL’ Text Printer:
>              Printer Symbol Name: default
>              Printer Command: lpr
>              Printer Switches:
>              ‘INS’
>              Printer Name: ‘Value Menu’ None
> 
>       You can then click on the ‘Value Menu’ button, select
>       ‘String’ from the button, and then type the your
>       printer’s name in the "String:" field.  You do not need
>       to include double quotes around the name of your
>       printer.
> 
>       Once you have entered your printer’s name, click on the
>       ‘Apply’ button to set the value of
>       ‘pr-txt-printer-alist’ for the current session (ONLY!).

why only for the current session?

>       You can then click on the ‘State’ button, select ‘Show
>       Saved Lisp Expression’ to see what the Lisp expression
>       is that you can use as the value for your ‘setopt’
>       expression.  This expression will have ‘default’ in it,
>       which is all that you need if you have only one printer --
>       your default.

I saved this "default" option in my init.el file.

But if I can set this in my customization
why do I need it in my init.el file?

> 
> You can repeat the steps above for each of your ‘setopt’
> expressions.  This will help you to get the form of each
> expression’s value set correctly.  A reason that the Easy
> Customization was created was to help Emacs users so that
> they do not need to know the form of the values (which can
> be complex).  You can use it exclusively (discarding the use
> of ‘setopt’) or you can use it to help you write your
> ‘setopt’ expressions.
> 
this part in my init.el file looks now like this:
I put the old values after the new value

  (setopt pr-txt-printer-alist
             '((default "lpr" nil "HP-Officejet-J4500-series"))) 
;;'((prt_06a "lpr" nil "prt_06a")
	                                                               ;; 
(prt_07c nil   nil "prt_07c")
  
;;     ))



my init.el file:

(require 'printing)
     (setopt pr-path-alist
	    '((unix      "." "/home/gfp/.guix-profile/bin" ghostview mpage 
PATH)  ;;'((unix      "." "~/bin" ghostview mpage PATH)
	      (ghostview "/home/gfp/.guix-profile/bin/gsview-dir") 
   ;;  (ghostview "$HOME/bin/gsview-dir")
	      (mpage     "/home/gfp/.guix-profile/bin/mpage-dir") 
   ;;  (mpage     "$HOME/bin/mpage-dir")
	      ))
     (setopt pr-txt-printer-alist
             '((default "lpr" nil "HP-Officejet-J4500-series"))) 
;;'((prt_06a "lpr" nil "prt_06a")
	                                                               ;; 
(prt_07c nil   nil "prt_07c")
  
;;     ))
     (setopt pr-txt-name      'prt_06a)
     (setq pr-ps-printer-alist                          ;;bug in emacs 
if warning comes up by setting setopt
           '((lps_06b "lpr" nil "-P" "lps_06b")
             (lps_07c "lpr" nil nil  "lps_07c")
             (lps_08c nil   nil nil  "lps_08c")
             ))
     (setopt pr-ps-name       'lps_06b)
     (setopt pr-temp-dir      "/tmp/")
     (setopt pr-gv-command    "gv")
     (setopt pr-gs-command    "gs")
     (setopt pr-gs-switches '("-q -dNOPAUSE -I/usr/share/ghostscript/5.10"))
     (setopt pr-gs-device     "uniprint")
     (setopt pr-gs-resolution 300)
     (setopt pr-ps-utility    'mpage)
     (setopt pr-ps-utility-alist
     '((mpage "mpage" nil    "-b%s" "-%d" "-l" "-t" "-T" ">" nil)
       (psnup "psnup" ("-q") "-P%s" "-%d" "-l" nil  nil  " " nil
      (inherits-from: . no-duplex))
       ))
    (setopt pr-setting-database
     '((no-duplex
        nil nil nil
	       (pr-file-duplex . nil)
	       (pr-file-tumble . nil))
	      ))
     (pr-update-menus t)		; update now printer and utility menus

thanks

Gottfried
OpenPGP_0xAC95367953582A3C.asc (application/pgp-keys, 636 B)
OpenPGP_signature.asc (application/pgp-signature, 236 B)