Comment 44 for bug 283811

>** (gedit:9584): WARNING **: NOT IMPLEMENTED: We need to prompt for authorization
> What does it mean?

The truth is ... I don't know... I am just an advance user trying to help.

Well... Maybe it could help if I was reformulating this bug in my own words.

The following is just how *I* understand this bug right now.

The fact that "AuthInfoRequired username,password" keeps being added to the /etc/cups/printers.conf file is not a bug but a feature.
The bug is that when we remove it, printing does work, at least one time. ;-)

Why keeping adding "AuthInfoRequired username,password" is a feature?
It is a feature, that auto-detect that the remote system requires authentication for printing.
Basically, when CUPS received an authentication error on trying to print, it keeps the information in the /etc/cups/printers.conf file that authentication is required.

The fact that removing this line, the job is printed once, suggest that the remote system have accepted to print the job, but have also sent
an authentication error... which sure does looks like a bug of the remote printing system to me.

Often, people does not describe much the remote printing system they use... because the bug seems to be on the Ubuntu client side.
My feeling is that most if not all of the remote system, are either Windows or Samba shared printer.
My guess is that none of the reporter is having this on a CUPS shared printer.

It is a bit unclear to me what is a remote printer that does not need a password.
I means... I guess this means it does use the 'guest' username, with an empty password, but I am not much an administrator to know much about this stuff.

Then also, I now know that there is an application on Samba to deals with 'remote' password.
While writing this, I am taking a look at 'man 8 smbpasswd' about which I have almost no other knowledge that it does exist.

Then, my FEELING is that /etc/printers.conf probably supports some kind of:
AuthInfo Joe,MyPassword
to set the username and password to send, once it had discovered that a remote password is needed.
But this is just a guess from me... CUPS documentation about authentification seems... missing in my opinion.

Obviously, if the "AuthInfoRequired username,password" but the supposedly existing "AuthInfo" line is not there.
Then the system (Gnome, KDE) should be able to ask the username and password to the user.
From duplicate bug, Gnome teams would have said that they do not support asking username and password for now.
(In http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=384940 ?).

The:
** (gedit:9584): WARNING **: NOT IMPLEMENTED: We need to prompt for authorization
line seen in previous message, for me seems like Gedit saying: I know the remote printer need a username and password, that this info have not been obtained (like in AuthInfo line if that exists), but I don't know ... yet ... how to ask this information to the user.

Hope this long comment can help have a more common picture of the problem.