Linux CUPS Printing Fails with Error "Unable To Determine Number Of Pages". (Doc ID 2558326.1)

Last updated on MARCH 08, 2023

Applies to:

Symptoms

When sending a print job to the printer from either Linux Command line or from an Application (EBS  in this case using PASTA Driver) the job fails.

This had been seen with any file format like PDF, PS, etc.  The error received while this issue happens is shown below.

These logs are displayed into the  /var/log/cups/error_log, these LOGS will only be seen after enabling additional debugging into CUPS configuration file as shown below..

D [21/Jun/2019:00:23:53 +0000] [Job 24] ================================================
D [21/Jun/2019:00:23:53 +0000] [Job 24] File: <STDIN>
D [21/Jun/2019:00:23:53 +0000] [Job 24] ================================================
D [21/Jun/2019:00:23:53 +0000] [Job 24] Filetype: PDF
D [21/Jun/2019:00:23:53 +0000] [Job 24] PID 2191 (/usr/lib/cups/filter/pdftopdf) exited with no errors.
D [21/Jun/2019:00:23:53 +0000] [Job 24] Storing temporary files in /var/spool/cups/tmp
D [21/Jun/2019:00:23:53 +0000] cupsdAcceptClient: skipping getpeercon()
D [21/Jun/2019:00:23:53 +0000] [Client 15] Accepted from <IP>:631 (IPv4)
D [21/Jun/2019:00:23:53 +0000] [Client 15] Encrypting connection.
E [21/Jun/2019:00:23:53 +0000] Unable to encrypt connection from <IP>.
E [21/Jun/2019:00:23:53 +0000] error:14094416:SSL routines:ssl3_read_bytes:sslv3 alert certificate unknown
D [21/Jun/2019:00:23:53 +0000] [Client 15] Closing connection.
D [21/Jun/2019:00:23:53 +0000] cupsdSetBusyState: newbusy="Dirty files", busy="Dirty files"
D [21/Jun/2019:00:23:53 +0000] [Job 24] PID 2192 (/usr/lib/cups/filter/foomatic-rip) stopped with status 3. <<<<<<=======
D [21/Jun/2019:00:23:53 +0000] [Job 24] PID 2193 (/usr/lib/cups/backend/lpd) exited with no errors.
D [21/Jun/2019:00:23:53 +0000] [Job 24] Process is dying with "Unable to determine number of pages, page count: -1 <<<<<=====
D [21/Jun/2019:00:23:53 +0000] [Job 24] ", exit stat 3
D [21/Jun/2019:00:23:53 +0000] [Job 24] Cleaning up...
D [21/Jun/2019:00:23:53 +0000] Discarding unused job-state-changed event...
E [21/Jun/2019:00:23:53 +0000] [Job 24] Job stopped due to filter errors; please consult the error_log file for details.
D [21/Jun/2019:00:23:53 +0000] cupsdMarkDirty(---J-)
D [21/Jun/2019:00:23:53 +0000] cupsdSetBusyState: newbusy="Printing jobs and dirty files", busy="Dirty files"
D [21/Jun/2019:00:23:53 +0000] cupsdSetBusyState: newbusy="Printing jobs and dirty files", busy="Printing jobs and dirty files"

To enable debugging on CUPS to gather additional errors, do the following:

1. Edit the /etc/cups/cupsd.conf  file and change the LogLevel  to debug
   
   # Log general information in error_log - change "warn" to "debug"
   # for troubleshooting...
   LogLevel debug <<<<<====

    

2. After this restart the cupsd service
   
   # sudo service cups restart <<<==== OL6

   # sudo systemctl restart cups <<<==== OL7

Cause

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