Important points to know about PaperCut NG/MF version 25

If you're using Job ticketing

You will need to make sure you are running Job Ticketing server version 1.0.3127 or later. See How to check version numbers (Job Ticketing server version) for more information on how to check the version in use.

• Job ticketing version 1.0.3127 (and later) is compatible with PaperCut NG/MF versions 24 and earlier, and with PaperCut NG/MF versions 25 and later.

• PaperCut NG/MF version 25 and later is only compatible with Job Ticketing version 1.0.3127 and later.

If you're running an older version of Job Ticketing

If you’re running an earlier version of Job Ticketing (for example, version 1.0.3126 or earlier), you’ll need to update Job Ticketing before upgrading to Version 25. If Job Ticketing isn’t updated first, it will fail to start after installing MF 25.

You will need to contact your PaperCut partner to get the latest Job Ticketing installer.

Manual workaround

If you’ve already upgraded to PaperCut MF version 25.0 without upgrading Job Ticketing, and Job Ticketing fails to start, we have a manual workaround available:

1. Stop PaperCut MF and Job Ticketing services.

2. Open the pc-job-ticketing.conf file in:
   [PaperCut MF install directory]/job-ticketing/app/vxxx/pc-job-ticketing.conf

3. Add the following line, after the Args line, as shown below in the example.
   "--add-opens=java.base/java.lang=ALL-UNNAMED",

   • Make sure that you include the comma at the end too! It's required.
     
     

4. Start PaperCut MF and Job Ticketing services.

If you're using a payment gateway

(Or if you have the Payment Gateway module installed — even if it's not actively in use.)

You will need to upgrade the payment gateway module immediately after upgrading the Application Server to PaperCut NG/MF version 25. The new version of the payment gateway is not backward compatible with older Application Server versions:

• PaperCut NG/MF version 25 is only compatible with the version 25 payment gateway module plugin.

• Version 25 of the payment gateway module plugin is only compatible with PaperCut NG/MF version 25 and later.

When upgrading the Application Server to version 25 or later, you will receive the following error messages on installation: "Update of your Payment Gateway module is required".

Click ok and then in the next message, confirm whether you want to continue with the installation:

• If you select Yes, the installer resumes installation. The server ignores incompatible plugins, logs error messages in server.log, then proceeds to complete startup.

  • You will then need to upgrade your payment gateway module to continue using payments successfully.

• If you select No, the installation is cancelled.

If you install a 25 version of the payment gateway on an Application Server running version PaperCut NG/MF version 24 or earlier, you'll receive an error message:

Click OK to cancel the installation.

Note that on macOS and Linux, you will not see an error message during installation. The Application Server will start successfully following the upgrade however the Payment Gateway will not function. An error message is printed in the server.log file as well as the Application Log.

To download the updated version of the Payment Gateway module:

See How to set up the Payment Gateway module.

If you're using an older database version

The PaperCut Application Server might fail to start after upgrading to PaperCut NG/MF version 25 or later.

During testing, we found that some End of Life (EOL) database versions will fail on install when upgrading to PaperCut NG/MF version 25.

Note that these are all less than the minimum requirements set out on the System Requirements (MF, NG) pages.

• PostgreSQL version 12 or earlier.

  • Specifically we have confirmed that PostgreSQL 9.4 and 12 will produce the following error PSQLException syntax error.

• MySQL version 7.0 or earlier.

• Oracle 18.4.0 or earlier.

• Microsoft SQL Server 2014 or earlier.

If you're using one of these non-supported database versions, we recommend upgrading to a supported version before upgrading to PaperCut NG/MF version 25 or later. Note that unless specified above, we have not found specific errors with these older versions, however if there are issues identified, we will request that you upgrade to an updated (supported) database version.

Print Scripting with E4X (ECMAScript for XML)

With the release of PaperCut NG/MF version 25, we've updated the underlying JavaScript engine to a modern version of Mozilla Rhino to enhance security. As a consequence of this update, support for the ECMAScript for XML (E4X) standard has been deprecated.

Please note: Most print scripts will not be impacted by this, you only need to take action if you have you've implemented advanced scripting using E4X.

Any print scripts that rely on E4X commands, such as new XML to create or handle XML objects, will no longer function after upgrading to v25.

If your print scripts currently use E4X, you must update them to be compatible with version 25.

Option 1: Rewrite the Script Using the DOMParser API

You can continue using XML by rewriting your script to use modern, standard JavaScript APIs. Instead of the old E4X commands, you should use the DOMParser API to parse the XML string into a workable document.

More information about the DOMParser API can be found here: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/DOMParser

Option 2: Switch from XML to JSON

An alternative is to modify your data source to send a JSON object instead of XML. The new JavaScript engine in v25 has native support for JSON, allowing for straightforward parsing using the standard JSON.parse() command.

Review the version 25 known issues list

See the PaperCut NG/MF version 25 known issues (filtered on 25.0) and confirm that none of the open issues will impact your organization before upgrading.

If you're upgrading from a version older than 24.0.0

For example if you're upgrading from version 23.1.2 to 25.0.1, we highly recommend that you review the important changes made in version 24, in addition to the important changes made in version 25.

For more information, see Important points to know about PaperCut NG/MF version 24.

If you're using an external database

Whether you're upgrading or spinning up a fresh install of PaperCut NG/MF 25.0, there's a new approach to how we handle database drivers.

• Driver Detection:
  PaperCut now warns you if you're using an outdated Microsoft SQL Server database driver. You'll see a pop-up alert with a link to a helpful Knowledge Base article explaining how to update it. See Upgrading the Microsoft SQL JDBC driver (database driver) for more information on how to upgrade your MS SQL DB driver.

• Database version displayed in the Admin Interface:
  In the PaperCut NG/MF admin interface, under About > System info, you can now see the DB information (see DB version info for more):

  • Database version.

  • Database driver version.

• Database drivers don't get overwritten:
  With PaperCut NG/MF version 25 and later, you will no longer have to manually move your updated database drivers in the file system following each upgrade. For example if you're using MS SQL and a more recent driver, you will no longer have to perform step 3 from Upgrading the Microsoft SQL JDBC driver (database driver), after every upgrade.

New Installs (25.0+)

New installations now store recommended database drivers and authentication DLLs in a dedicated [app server install dir]/server/repository/database-drivers folder.

Here's what's new:

• MS SQL driver: Upgraded to mssql-jdbc-12.10.0.jre8.jar

• PostgreSQL driver: Upgraded to postgresql-42.7.5.jar

• Windows Authentication DLL: Upgraded to auth/x64/mssql-jdbc_auth-12.x.x.x64.dll

Upgrades from Earlier Versions

When upgrading to 25.0 or later:

• The system scans your existing server/lib folder for currently installed drivers.

• Up to three existing drivers will be migrated to the new location:
  [app server install dir]/server/lib-ext/

• Authentication DLLs stay in their original locations (/lib-64, /x86).

No action is required as a result of these changes (the Application Server will continue to work after upgrading), however it's worth reviewing these articles depending on which DB platform you're using - especially if you're using the older MS SQL JDBC version 7 driver.

• Upgrading the Microsoft SQL JDBC driver (database driver)

• Configuring Microsoft SQL Server

• Configuring a PostgreSQL database

• Configuring Oracle (and Oracle Express Edition)

• Configuring Azure SQL

If you're using an external card lookup

If you're using an external database for Card ID lookups, it's worth rechecking the configuration after upgrading to PaperCut NG/MF version 25.0 or later.

In the admin interface, go to the Options > Advanced > External User Lookup section and ensure that the Database type and Database connection URL fields are set correctly.

Full setup instructions, including sample queries and connection string details, are in our Configuring an external database for card/ID numbers article.

If you're using an older MFD/device

These devices are coming towards end-of-life, and some of these devices may be incompatible with the new enhancements and technology in PaperCut MF v25.

There are a number of devices that don't exist in either our testing labs or the manufacturer testing labs - due to the age of the devices in question. In these cases, we have been unable to test.

If you have any of the following devices, before upgrading we recommend you test the compatibility of the device by doing a laptop test in a test environment. If it fails to work, you will need to look at staying on an earlier version PaperCut MF (version 24.x or earlier), or reaching out to your PaperCut Partner to look at a path going forward.

Devices include the following;

• Fuji Xerox (EIP)

• HP Chai

• HP OSA

• Toshiba Eraser

• Toshiba eConnect

• Xerox Network Accounting

• OKi

• Sindoh