Xerox WorkCentre 6515dn : “Unable to open PPD file: OpenGroup without a CloseGroup first”
TL;DR: I made a Xerox WorkCentre 6515dn PPD file and tested it working with CUPS on Debian.
So, I bought a fancy multifunction scanner/printer: the Xerox WorkCentre 6515dn – solid gear all around, considerably more so than the damned Canon i-SENSYS MF724Cdw it replaces. But, as usual, great hardware is nothing without software support – and Xerox came short…
First, no PPD file was to be found anywhere on the Web. The Xerox workaround: “The Generic ppd is listed in Windows downloads, so it is packaged as an EXE, but it’s just so it runs self extraction. So download and run on Windows, or within WINE or some such to grab the filles from it. Grab it here !“ – fine, I found an old Windows host and used it to get the file… But why couldn’t they make that file available for download somewhere on their par-for-the-course labyrinthine support site is anyone’s guess.
Anyway, I declared the printer to CUPS and gave it that painfully extracted PPD… No luck: CUPS rejected it with the error message “Unable to open PPD file: OpenGroup without a CloseGroup first”. Here is the full diagnostic:
$ cupstestppd xr6515dn.ppd.orig
xr6515dn.ppd.orig: FAIL
**FAIL** Unable to open PPD file – OpenGroup without a CloseGroup first on line 476.
REF: Pages 45-46, section 5.2.
WARN Non-Windows PPD files should use lines ending with only LF, not CR LF.
Oh well, a PPD is just a text configuration and “open without close” problems feel familiar to anyone who has ever fed parenthesis to a computer. So, after five minutes of tinkering:
$ diff xr6515dn.ppd.orig xr6515dn.ppd
475a476,477
> *CloseGroup: /Paper/Output
>
And it works too:
$ cupstestppd xr6515dn.ppd
xr6515dn.ppd: PASS
WARN Non-Windows PPD files should use lines ending with only LF, not CR LF.
WARN Size “215×315” should be the Adobe standard name “FolioSP”.
WARN Size “B6” should be the Adobe standard name “ISOB6”.
WARN Size “4x6Postcard” should be the Adobe standard name “4×6”.
WARN DefaultGuaranteedMaxSeparations has no corresponding options.
Morale of the story: my fancy paper-processing device now nicely prints from the house’s Debian workstations and the Web is now richer with a Xerox WorkCentre 6515dn PPD file tested working with CUPS on Debian !
7 responses to “Xerox WorkCentre 6515dn : “Unable to open PPD file: OpenGroup without a CloseGroup first””
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I’m trying this with Xerox versalink c7020. No luck. Even when adding the closegroup I get other errors: **FAIL** Missing choice *MediaType Heavyweight in UIConstraints “*PageSize Env10 *MediaType Heavyweight”.
I extracted the ppd from the exe with unrar. It opens fine as a text file.
What CloseGroup did you add? I edited the xrxC7025.ppd file and added:
*CloseGroup: XRXFinishing
on the line before:
*OpenGroup: PrintQuality/Print Quality/Color
and it works for me.
Scratch that. Xerox violated the spec (surprise!) and should have used:
*OpenSubGroup: PrintQuality/Print Quality/Color
and
*CloseSubGroup: PrintQuality
Don’t add the *CloseGroup XRXFinishing as I had suggested above and just fix the two PrintQuality ones to be SubGroups instead of Groups and you should be good.
Thanks for this. Still a relevant post 2 years later, thanks to Xerox. #facepalm
I just did what you demonstrated to a xerox phaser 6600n ppd file and it worked.
I had a similar issue BUT using the “Generic PostScript” driver seems to work straight from CUPs and Xerox could well be listening to you because they have recently posted Linux RPM, Deb downloads:
https://www.support.xerox.com/support/workcentre-6515/file-download/enus.html?operatingSystem=linux&fileLanguage=en&contentId=144040&from=downloads&viewArchived=false
Thanks for sharing Xerox WorkCentre 6515 problem solution. Xerox has many all in one copier machines for business use. Some companies have leasing options for xerox users like Copier Lease Center. visit their website https://www.copierleasecenter.com/xerox-copier-lease/
I also bought the Xerox WorkCentre 6515dn on the good hardware specs the machine has, only to find out that the driver support for Linux (Debian) is bad. All drivers files can be downloaded, except the Debian ones, they just opens. Could be that I tried to download the .deb file with a Debian system (why else would I download these files?), but bottom line is that it isn’t working.
The .deb files are downloadable on an iMac. Problem solved so I thought, only to find out it installs but it still doesn’t print. This PPD-file is working right away. It problaby doesn’t support every fancy option the hardware offers, but it supports the mainstream. Thanks very much for your work! And no thanks to Xerox …