Large number of job history (c*) and job files (d*) accumulated in /var/spool/cups in Linux

Issue:

Unable to print requests output from Oracle EBS.
There are large number of files accumulated in /var/spool/cups in Linux
Some begins with "d" example d00010 and others begin with "c" c00016

Cause:

cups is not cleaning up the "c" file after the job completes and printing gets stuck due to this.
They are retained until explicitly removed by Administrator.

Solution:

Configure cups to remove the job files (d*) and the job history (c*) files from /var/spool/cups/ after successful jobs have been sent to printer queues.

Configure cups to remove the job files beginning with "c"

The files whose names begin with a "c" are "job history" files.
If you would like to not retain job history, then you have to add the directive to /etc/cups/cupsd.conf

Action plan would be :

1. As a root – take backup of /etc/cups/cupsd.conf
2. Add the parameter below the maxlogsize line in /etc/cups/cupsd.conf –

    PreserveJobHistory Off

3. Then restart CUPS with the command:

    $ service cups restart

When PreserveJobHistory is set to Off, the job history (c*) files should be removed automatically approximately 30 seconds after a print job is completed.


Controlling the number of files stored in /var/spool/cups

The number of files stored in /var/spool/cups is controlled with the MaxJobs directive in /etc/cups/cupsd.conf.
The default value for MaxJobs is 500