Knowledge Base
Home » Main » How to Enable Debug in the Release Station

How to Enable Debug in the Release Station

Please also see Reporting Problems

PaperCut has special debug options which cause PaperCut to produce a detailed text log of activity. The log allows our developers to inspect the internal workings of the PaperCut application and pinpoint the cause of problems. Enabling debug logging is only usually required of requested by the PaperCut Support team.

The release station is a standalone component of PaperCut that allows users to log in and release jobs from a hold/release queue. A release station is generally set up next to a printer to ensure that the user is present when their job is printed.

Note: Release stations can be installed using a number of methods, including the local cache method where it is launched from a cache directory such as C:\Cache\, and the zero install method of running it directly from the network. If the release station is running from the network, it will need to be installed locally on a system for the duration of enabling debug. It is possible to enable debug by editing the config file on the server's PCRelease network share, but this would enable debug for every release station running from the network, and may create a lot of debugging output.

To enable debug in the PaperCut Release Station:

1. Open the file:
[app-path]/release/lib/log4j.properties
in a text editor.
2. Find the line that says log4j.logger.biz.papercut=warn and change the warn to debug.
3. Save the file.
4. If the release station is running, exit it and start it again.
5. Perform the problem action. Try to select a situation that is likely to cause the issue being investigated.
6. Record the approximate time of the problem and other relevant information such as the username, document name, etc. This will help the developers match up log entries with your test activity. Additional information such as what was observed or what was expected would also be useful.
7. Compress ("zip up") the resulting log file release-station.log.
On Windows systems, it can be found at:
%USERPROFILE%\release-station.log
(where %USERPROFILE% is the user profile directory of the user running the release station, e.g. C:\Documents and Settings\[username] on Windows XP, or C:\Users\[username] on Windows Vista)
On Mac systems, it can be found in the user's home directory:
/Users/[username]/release-station.log
On Linux systems, it can be found in the user's home directory:
typically /home/[username]/release-station.log

NOTE: If this location is not convenient, then it can be changed by editing the file path line log4j.appender.file.File=${user.home}/release-station.log in log4j.properties

8. Email the compressed log file to support@papercut.com. Include an explanation of the steps taken, along with any other information requested by the PaperCut developers such as event time.
9. Turn off debug logging by reversing the tasks undertaken in step 2.

Categories: Debugging, Troubleshooting

Keywords: event log

Page last modified on February 03, 2011, at 07:08 PM

Comments

Share your findings and experience with other PaperCut users. Feel free to add comments and suggestions about this Knowledge Base article. Please don't use this for support requests.