Tuesday, January 4, 2011

tabloid landscape printing issues on mac osx 10.6.5

the issue:
tabloid size printing (11x17) landscape does not work properly, the print is done in portrait mode when it should be landscape, all other paper sizes work with landscape mode without issue

the reason:
apple changed some files in the printing subsystem they are using (cups) between mac osx 10.6.4 and 10.6.5

the fix:
replace /usr/libexec/cups/filter/pstops on the 10.6.5 installation with the same file from a 10.6.4 installation. i have an archive of that file for my own purposes here:
http://natefrogg.com/tools/pstops.zip

make sure you are root or sudo to a bash shell, we are going to shut down the print server (cupsd), move the old pstops file, pop the new file in, correct permissions on the new pstops, then restart, here we go:

mkdir /tmp
cd /tmp
curl -O http://natefrogg.com/tools/pstops.zip
unzip pstops
launchctl unload /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/org.cups.cupsd.plist
mv /usr/libexec/cups/filter/pstops /usr/libexec/cups/filter/pstops-OLD-10.6.4
cp pstops /usr/libexec/cups/filter/pstops
chown root:wheel /usr/libexec/cups/filter/pstops
chmod 0555 /usr/libexec/cups/filter/pstops
shutdown -r now

once the system reboots, give it a try and you should be printing tabloid size in landscape mode without issues...well, at least until 10.6.6 comes out ;)