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Frustrating printer bug in the latest Xubuntu 20.04

There is a maddening bug that seems to have crept into Xubuntu 20.04. I've now tested and found this issue on every computer I've installed Xubuntu 20.04 on. The problem occurs when you try changing the printer driver for an existing printer.

Printers > Right Click on the Printer > Properties > Beside Make and Model click Change

At this point the printer user interface freezes up and just sits there infinitely. The printer you're choosing doesn't matter. I've had the same experience with a variety of printers, on a variety of different machines.

system-config-printer frozen

The program responsible for this printer dialog on Xubuntu is called system-config-printer. I filed a bug report several days ago, but it's currently sitting at the bottom of the pile of 75 or so bugs for this program dating back several years.

I seem to remember this wasn't an issue on Xubuntu 18.04, but I'm going to install 18.04 to check and see if the issue also crept into updated versions of 18.04.

This is a pretty major bug to have crept into a long term service release and because it affects such an important service, printing, I'm considering looking at other distributions for our project if it doesn't get resolved soon. We help people from all walks of life, and Linux can be intimidating enough without problems like not being able to re-configure a printer driver.

I'll update this post if I see more movement on the printer front.

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