foomatic-rip crashes on titles with some special characters on Ricoh PS PPDs

[akorobkin]

Describe the bug
Job title TPS7A52 2-A, High-Accuracy (0.5%), Low-Noise (4.4 µVRMS), LDO Voltage Regulator datasheet (Rev. A) consistently crashes foomatic-rip filter.

To Reproduce
Steps to reproduce the behavior:

1. Open attached PDF, or generate your own with this title. TPS7A52 2-A, High-Accuracy (0.5%), Low-Noise (4.4 µVRMS), LDO Voltage Regulator datasheet (Rev. A).pdf

2. Print it to a foomatic-rip enabled PPD. In my case Ricoh MP C3004

3. See this error in the logs.

D [02/Jul/2025:18:50:21 +0000] [Job 5009144] New page: %%Page: 1 1
D [02/Jul/2025:18:50:21 +0000] [Job 5009144] \"Setup\" section is missing, inserting it.
D [02/Jul/2025:18:50:21 +0000] [Job 5009144] Found: %%BeginPageSetup
D [02/Jul/2025:18:50:21 +0000] [Job 5009144] Inserting option code into \"PageSetup\" section.
D [02/Jul/2025:18:50:21 +0000] [Job 5009144] New page found but previous not printed, print it now.
D [02/Jul/2025:18:50:21 +0000] [Job 5009144] Found: %%Page: 2 2
D [02/Jul/2025:18:50:21 +0000] [Job 5009144] --> Output goes directly to the renderer now.
D [02/Jul/2025:18:50:21 +0000] [Job 5009144] Starting renderer with command: \"printf \"%%!PS-Adobe-3.0
D [02/Jul/2025:18:50:21 +0000] [Job 5009144] %%%%Title: (TPS7A52 2-A, High-Accuracy 0.5%, Low-Noi)
D [02/Jul/2025:18:50:21 +0000] [Job 5009144] %%
D [02/Jul/2025:18:50:21 +0000] [Job 5009144] %%\\n/usrid(shengwen)def\\n/lppswd()def\\n/dspswd()def\\n/usrcode()def\\nmark\\n/usrcode where{pop}{/usrcode()def}ifelse\\n/usrid where{pop}{/usrid()def}ifelse\\n(shengwen) usrcode (20`date +%y%m%d%R | sed \'s/://\'`) {setuserinfo} stopped\\ncleartomark\\nmark {\\n<<\\n   /JobType 0\\n   /JobInfo <<\\n      /UserID usrid\\n      /Time (20`date +%y%m%d%R | sed \'s/://\'`)\\n      /HostLoginName (shengwen)\\n      /HostName (mp-amer-00.c.papercut-in-the-cloud-prod.internal)\\n   >>\\n>> /RDeviceProcSet /ProcSet findresource /SetJobType get exec\\n}stopped cleartomark\\nmark{\\n<</OutputType null>>setpagedevice\\n} stopped cleartomark\\nmark{\\nuserdict /RPS_BPdict 2 dict put\\nuserdict /RPS_BPdict get begin /RPS_BP_MEDIAPOSITION null def end\\n} stopped cleartomark\\nmark{\\nuserdict /RPS_BPdict get begin\\n/RPS_BP_MEDIATYPE (Auto) def end\\n} stopped cleartomark\\nmark{\\n<<\\n/BannerPageMode false\\n/MediaPosition null\\n/MediaType null\\n>>\\n/RDeviceProcSet\\n/ProcSet findresource\\n/SetBannerPage get exec\\n} stopped cleartomark\\n\"%%%%; cat;\"
D [02/Jul/2025:18:50:21 +0000] [Job 5009144] Starting process \"kid3\" (generation 1)
D [02/Jul/2025:18:50:21 +0000] [Job 5009144] Starting process \"kid4\" (generation 2)
D [02/Jul/2025:18:50:21 +0000] [Job 5009144] Starting process \"renderer\" (generation 2)
D [02/Jul/2025:18:50:21 +0000] [Job 5009144] JCL: \033%-12345X@PJL
D [02/Jul/2025:18:50:21 +0000] [Job 5009144] <job data> 
D [02/Jul/2025:18:50:21 +0000] [Job 5009144] /bin/sh: line 4: printf: `,\': invalid format character
D [02/Jul/2025:18:50:21 +0000] [Job 5009144] renderer exited with status 1
D [02/Jul/2025:18:50:21 +0000] [Job 5009144] Possible error on renderer command line or PostScript error. Check options.Process is dying with \"Encountered error Broken pipe during fwrite\", exit stat 1
D [02/Jul/2025:18:50:21 +0000] [Job 5009144] Cleaning up...

Expected behavior
It prints

System Information:

• OS: Debian Testing 13
• CUPS 2.4.12
• cups-filters: 1.28.17-5

[gnoack]

One thing up front, I do unfortunately lack the time and expertise to fix and verify PPD files, but I think I spotted the bug when I looked at the PPD file:

The PPD file has an entry for *FoomaticRIPCommandLine:

*FoomaticRIPCommandLine: "printf "%%!PS-Adobe-3.0
%%%%Title: (&title;)
%%
%%\n%A%B%C%D"%%%%; cat;"
*End

CUPS replaces &title; with a sanitized document title before running this. But the title is only sanitized to be safe to use within a normal shell command. In this case, the title is placed not only within a command line argument, but more specifically that argument is a printf format string, which is interpreted by the printf(3) tool. Your title contains a % which is misinterpreted by printf as a (faulty) format string and results in the error "invalid format character" which you can see in your logs.

Possible fixes include (a) using echo instead of printf, or (b) using a fixed format string with printf and passing the title as argument (e.g. printf "%s" "My title % with percent signs").

P.S. I am confused what the %A%B%C%D is good for. This is not a valid format string either, from what I can tell.

[ValdikSS]

Yeah, I'd say it's a PPD bug, it should be printf %s ... as @gnoack noticed.

[ValdikSS]

@akorobkin could you please replace *FoomaticRIPCommandLine: "printf "%%!PS-Adobe-3.0 with *FoomaticRIPCommandLine: "printf %s "%%!PS-Adobe-3.0 in the PPD file, and confirm that it still works fine and as expected?

It seems all the Ricoh and Ricoh-brand (Savin, Gestetner, Lanier, Infotec) PS PPD files have this issue.

Edit: oh, it's not that simple.

[akorobkin]

Thank you for the hint. I patched foomatic-rip to omit % as a workaround, and now it works for me in my environment.

--- a/filter/foomatic-rip/util.c
+++ b/filter/foomatic-rip/util.c
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@
 #include <errno.h>
 
 
-const char* shellescapes = "|;<>&!$\'\"`#*?()[]{}";
+const char* shellescapes = "|;<>&!$\'\"`#*?()[]{}%";
 
 const char * temp_dir()
 {

[akorobkin]

Scratch that, I'd better remove %%%%Title: (&title;) from all my local PPDs. Thanks again for the advice.