Apple's CUPS repo was archived

github.com

6 pointsqrobit3 comments

The repo got archived in march, I wonder whether it means that Apple uses something other than CUPS on their devices? Quick search suggests they still use CUPS, but why would they archive the project then?

They haven’t been actively maintaining it for years. https://mjtsai.com/blog/2025/03/26/apples-dormant-cups/:

“It looks like nothing has happened with Apple’s code since a security fix in 2022, and the repo comment makes it sound like Apple is intentionally leaving its support stuck at an old version:

Apple CUPS is the version of CUPS that is shipped with macOS and iOS. For the current version of CUPS that is used on other operating systems, see https://openprinting.github.io/cups for details.”

The archiving of the repo seems to imply they fully moved to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Printing_Protocol / https://www.pwg.org/ipp/everywhere.html in their next OS release (might be based on CUPS, but also could be a clean sheet implementation)

That's what I wondered as well, whether it is a new implementation, or perhaps they still use their version of cups? Or maybe they use the forked openprinting cups? Would be nice if somebody knowledgeable with a mac device told whether the cups is still used

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