Cannot Print Docs

[westms]

Thanks, yes that is all fine and good and known, only it does not
explain why that "Print" window goes blank. Nothing of that sort
in the man ages. I suspect it is in that Print Preview.

In the meantime I made a small script that puts the back-up file
back in its proper place when Print blanks-out.

I regret that I have bored you. But I do not know your skills, so I tried to give you a clue for the search. Unfortunately, I was not concrete.

Of course the solution to your problem is not available in the man pages. But the designated programs, and more could help you.

My idea was to find out the differences between the original and the faulty file ld.so.cache. It could have turned out that after installing Firefox 25.0.1 a library is not registered. This library would be to register later. Maybe it would've been that. This is of course only one attempt to get the error on the track. It can also be a wrong track. But if you have overwritten the bad file, it is too late anyway.

Did I understand correctly, everything was going well until you have installed Firefox 25.0.1? Once, I also had installed system-wide the newest version of Firefox (20.0), because I have professionally and personally to do with HTTP servers that do not accept the current and at least as safe 17th version. The nice new gadgets, called features, of newer versions I do not need.

I never thought that newer versions may confuse the system, until I read it recently. In future I will follow gapan's advice and put the binaries in the user's home directory, if necessary.

[Atip]

After I deleted atril there were much fewer occasions of blank Print window.
Now if I understand you would like to compare the file ld.so.cache with blank
Print window against a file with printers showing.

I now deliberatly made again a blank. Reinstalled atril opened medit, Print Preview> Print
and Print window is blank. At that moment ld.so.cache changed.

Before:

Code: Select all

$ ll /etc/ld.so.cache
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 133824 Nov 29 10:42 /etc/ld.so.cache

After:

Code: Select all

$ ll /etc/ld.so.cache
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 143381 Dec  5 10:36 /etc/ld.so.cache

I will put this changed file now asside waiting for your instruction.

Further:

I now deleted atril again. Copied good ld.so.cache back. Medit now has
blank Print Preview. Clicking Print does not change ld.so.cache.

Previous to that I installed qpdfview which is now used by gedit,
leafpad etc. and using Print Preview and then Print will not blank
Print window nor change ld.so.cache.

[Atip]

I just found that running /sbin/ldconfig causes the Print window
to blank which prevents printing with certain applications.
The problem seems to lie in /usr/local/lib. If I disable in ld.so.conf
the line /usr/local/lib Print window is not blanked.

[westms]

After I deleted atril there were much fewer occasions of blank Print window.
Now if I understand you would like to compare the file ld.so.cache with blank
Print window against a file with printers showing.

I assume that your difficulties caused by the installtion of Firefox 25.0.1. The installation process may have replaced or removed one or more programs or more likely one or more shared libraries.
In these libraries, other programs, like Atril, are dependent. These programs now also show interferences. Atril, for example, is one of the bereaved programs and not the cause. Atril is particularly affected because it is also used for the print preview. If you remove Atril then for many programs the print preview no longer works. That's all.

I now deliberatly made again a blank. Reinstalled atril opened medit, Print Preview> Print
and Print window is blank. At that moment ld.so.cache changed.

Before:

Code: Select all

$ ll /etc/ld.so.cache
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 133824 Nov 29 10:42 /etc/ld.so.cache

After:

Code: Select all

$ ll /etc/ld.so.cache
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 143381 Dec  5 10:36 /etc/ld.so.cache

My /etc/ld.so.cache was changed the last time on Nov. 23th. This was carried out as Gslapt/slapt-get did latest updates.

Code: Select all

$ ls -lt /var/log/packages/
insgesamt 9456
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   1732 Nov 23 17:29 seamonkey-solibs-2.22-x86_64-1_slack14.0
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  37301 Nov 23 17:29 samba-3.6.20-x86_64-1_slack14.0
[...]
$
$ ls -l /etc/ld.so.cache
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 90283 Nov 23 17:29 /etc/ld.so.cache
$

The /etc/ld.so.cache file is not changed when a program starts. But I can imagine well that the programs that do manage and use the ld.so.cache have seen that there are discrepancies and have cleaned them.

I will put this changed file now asside waiting for your instruction.

Further:

I now deleted atril again. Copied good ld.so.cache back. Medit now has
blank Print Preview. Clicking Print does not change ld.so.cache.

Previous to that I installed qpdfview which is now used by gedit,
leafpad etc. and using Print Preview and then Print will not blank
Print window nor change ld.so.cache.

Installing qpdfview changed ld.so.cache quite sure if the program uses shared libraries.

The instructions that you expect, I can not give you. But I have a recommendation for you:

De-install all what you installed after Firefox 25.0.1 and Firefox itself too. Then restore your system to the point before installing Firefox 25.0.1. Also restore your personal Firefox settings somewhere in your home directory. Live with this until the Salix team releases the Salix OS 14.1 final.

Once everything works again, and if you see an absolute necessity, that is something personally or professionally absolutely essential to life, and if you have enough courage, perseverance and time, then:

1. save ld.so.cache (the now good one).
2. list all librayies in it, I don't know how is the best way, but "strings /etc/ld.so.cache" will do it
3. search all dependencies that the old Firefox has, also everything from an editor and from Atril, with ldd /usr/bin/firefox (there are more Firefox files)
4. install the new Firefox and DO NOT START it.
5. save the newer ld.so.cache too, the now perhaps wrong updated one
6. list all librayies in it, too
7. search all dependencies that the new Firefox has, also everything from the editor and from Atril
8. find the differences in the two ld.so.cache listing files
9. find the differences in the two groups of dependencies that Firefox generates
10. find out if libraries that are needed by the new Firefox, have not been registered
11. find out if libraries that have been brought by the new Firefox, have replaced older libraries, but which are needed by Atril and other programs
12. find out if the missing library can also be installed and registered in ld.so.cache, too
13. do what you need to do
14. now start Firefox and find out if it and all the other programs work well enough
15. if it do not work, do steps 8 and 9 again and search for the new differences

The foregoing is by no means a precise guide to action, but only a coarse pattern.

If that does not work, go back to 0 which would mean, find the real problem and do restart at 1 (latest from here stamina is required).

Good luck.

[Atip]

Besten Dank!

That might keep me busy during the coming holidays.

[westms]

Besten Dank!

Keine Ursache.