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ipp-usb

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ipp-usb is a daemon that enables the use of IPP-over-USB class USB devices, so that USB-connected printers and multi-function devices can be used with the same driverless ("IPP Everywhere") protocols as network IPP devices.

The IPP-over-USB standard was ratified by the USB forum in 2012. ipp-usb makes the device's IPP service available over a local network socket on localhost, which lets CUPS, applications, and scanning software talk to a USB device exactly as if it were a driverless network printer or scanner.

ipp-usb is the actively maintained successor to the now-discontinued ippusbxd. It is written in Go and has become the standard component for IPP-over-USB support on modern Linux distributions.

ipp-usb has the following advantages:

  1. Exposes the full driverless capabilities of the device, including IPP Everywhere printing and eSCL ("AirScan") scanning, over USB.
  2. Advertises the device on localhost via DNS-SD so it is discovered automatically by CUPS and scanning frontends.
  3. Handles the multiple simultaneous HTTP connections that IPP-over-USB requires.
  4. Integrates cleanly with systemd and udev for automatic, on-demand startup.
  5. Ships with sane defaults and a simple configuration file.