ksublondie has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

Hi monks!

I'm needing to use the Printer module on a linux web server. If I try to print from a script run from the command line it works like a charm. However, if I try that same code (actually the same file, not just a copied portion of the script somewhere else), 

my $prn= new Printer('linux' => 'lp');
$prn->print($text);

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I get the following error: 
Internal exception error - Insecure $ENV{PATH} while running with -T s
+witch

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I'm not a linux expert. I only know enough to be dangerous. I've tracked it down to failing at the following line: 
open PRINTER, $pr_cmd
         or Carp::croak
         "Can't open printer connection to $self->{'printer'}{$OSNAME}
+: $!";

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in the print sub inside Printer::Unix. Any ideas on how I can get this to work?

Yes, I need to be using a specific printer from the server, not the locally installed printers on the workstation.

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: Printer module from web interface
by GrandFather (Saint) on Mar 07, 2011 at 23:39 UTC

    You've hit a Taint issue. How is $pr_cmd formed? You should be able to untaint $pr_cmd by running it through a regex match and using a matched string as the value for $pr_cmd.

    True laziness is hard work
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      $pr_cmd is set in the Printer::Unix module: 
      my $pr_cmd = "| lpr -P $self->{'printer'}{$OSNAME}";

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      I've added: 
      $pr_cmd=~/^(.*)$/;
$pr_cmd=$1;

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      and I've even tried hard-coding $pr_cmd="| lpr -P lp" but I'm still getting the same error. Interesting observation: 
      open PRINTER, $pr_cmd
          or warn
          "Can't open printer connection to lp: $!";

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      Doesn't show my warning text. Is that to be expected?
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[d/l]
[select]

        Oh!. Maybe you need to untaint $ENV{PATH}. If it's used by open, which is likely, then you'd get that error and your script would die horribly before hitting the warning.

        True laziness is hard work
[reply]
Re: Printer module from web interface
by wind (Priest) on Mar 08, 2011 at 00:17 UTC
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