[sane-devel] Scan server = saned + xinetd?

[Grant]

>> I've had a scan server set up for a while which uses saned via xinetd.
>>  Is there a simpler way to set up a scan server with fewer permissions
>> to grant?  The configuration seems a lot more complex than my printer
>> server which has only cupsd.conf config on the server and client.conf
>> config on the client.
>
> That's partly because the CUPS daemon is running independently and
> continuously.  With a xinetd + saned setup, xinetd is listening for
> requests and starts saned every time it gets a request on port 6566.
>
> You could try a setup where you have saned running independently, just
> like cupsd, without xinetd.

I use Gentoo and they don't have a saned initscript in /etc/init.d for
some reason.

> Note that with saned your scan server still communicates with a local
> USB device.  That is, saned is the scan server's SANE frontend of
> choice.  The client then uses the SANE net backend (via the client's
> SANE frontend of choice) to talk to the server.
>
>> I noticed that /etc/sane.d/* has network ability, but that's for
>> communicating with a network scanner directly, right?
>
> Depends on what * stands for ;-)

How about /etc/sane.d/epkowa.conf and /etc/sane.d/epson2.conf?

>> I tried to set up network scanning with epkowa and my Epson Artisan
>> 710 but I couldn't get it to work, I think because I don't know which
>> port to define on the scanner's IP.  Does anyone have any suggestions
>> for that?
>
> First of all, you need the (binary-only, non-free) iscan-network-nt
> package installed.  Second, you need to follow the instructions in
> /etc/sane.d/epkowa.conf WRT configuring a network scanner.  There is no
> need to specify a port number, the default (1865) should do.  Follow the
> instructions in the product manual to determine/assign the IP address of
> the device.

Is iscan-network-nt available for free?  I had assumed
iscan-network-nt was included in Gentoo's iscan package but I must
have been wrong.  Does anbody here know if there is an ebuild
available?  If not, I'll file a bug with Gentoo.

> Note that with this setup your SANE frontend of choice communicates with
> the device via the epkowa backend over a network connection.  Neither
> saned nor the SANE net backend are involved.
>
> If that still does not make things work, your client machine's network
> setup (or a router somewhere on the way to the device) may be blocking
> the network traffic.  Darned firewalls.
> Another reason we are aware of is the epson2 backend getting in the way.
>  Disabling that in /etc/sane.d/dll.conf may help.
>
> FWIW, the epson2 backend may also support the device's network interface
> but that will not work with Image Scan! for Linux.  As Alesh pointed out
> earlier, iscan only caters to the epkowa backend.

Could the epson2 backend work via "net" even though the Artisan 710 is
listed as unsupported on the SANE website?

- Grant