Mission Impossible: 1:1 PDF printing via GUI

Matthias Urlichs <[email protected]> Thu, 27 Feb 2025 21:37:07 +0100

Newsgroups	gmane.linux.debian.printing,gmane.linux.debian.devel.gtk-gnome,gmane.linux.debian.devel.qt-kde
Message-ID	<[email protected]>

Hello,

apparently it is impossible to print a PDF from the GUI without it 
getting scaled, shifted, or otherwise mutilated.

I generated a PDF file that needs to get printed 1:1 and fed that to an 
IPP laser printer (Brother DCP, nothing special). This worked perfectly 
… with "lpr -o print-scaling=none".

It did not work with Gnome/evince (refused to not scale the output).

It did not work with KDE/okular (didn't scale, but shifted the content 
to the right).

Yes, I did select "no scaling" in both GUI's print dialogs. Yes, the PDF 
in question has full-page content boxes.

I don't think that printing labels is *that* esoteric an endeavour …

I did file upstream bugs, but evince and okular both have >200 open 
issues, which doesn't exactly inspire confidence that this will get 
solved "on its own" so to speak …

I might be a DD, but unfortunately that doesn't mean that I have 
sufficient knowledge of the "how the heck does printing a PDF from 
Gnome/KDE even work" kind. So I'd appreciate if somebody with such 
knowledge could collaborate with me on fixing this …

Proof (i.e. the PDF in question, as well as somewhat-blurry photographic 
evidence) attached, assuming the list manager lets them through. They're 
small enough …

-- 
-- regards
-- 
-- Matthias Urlichs

misprint.jpg (image/jpeg, 14.7 KB) - not displayed

moat.pdf (application/pdf, 1.9 KB) - not displayed

OpenPGP_signature.asc (application/pgp-signature, 840 B)