# TurboPrint in Guix

**URL:** <https://forum.systemcrafters.net/t/turboprint-in-guix/2128>\
**Category:** Guix\
**Created:** [October 6, 2026, 7:17pm UTC](https://forum.systemcrafters.net/t/turboprint-in-guix/2128 "2026-10-06T19:17:49Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![kimothy](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/forum.systemcrafters.net/kimothy/32/1260_2.png) [@kimothy](https://forum.systemcrafters.net/u/kimothy)\
**Post date:** [October 6, 2026, 7:17pm UTC](https://forum.systemcrafters.net/t/turboprint-in-guix/2128/1 "2026-10-06T19:17:49Z")

</div>

Hi! I’m running Guix for a few weeks now, and all in all I enjoy it. One challenge that has been greater then expected is my photo printer, a Canon PRO-100S. I use the turboprint driver since it supports the printer very well, and I have special papers and paper profiles made for them. Turboprint is basically the only viable option for high quality and color accurate printing on GNU/Linux.

But it’s proprietary software distributed as .deb and/or .rpm. They also have a .tgz that is ment for other distros. However, Guix does not follow the FHS standard, nor does it directly use a supported init daemon.

I’ve tried working with a virtual machine and distrobox without success (all sorts of errors). Now I’m trying to use Guix shell instead, and it seems I’m very very close to a solution. I’ve installed the driver into ~/.local/usr/bin by modifing the system.cfg file in the turboprint .tgz, and running the following command launches the turboprint monitor:

```shell
guix shell
  --container \
  --network \
  --emulate-fhs \
  --expose=/dev/bus/usb \
  --expose=/run/dbus \
  --expose=$XDG_RUNTIME_DIR/$WAYLAND_DISPLAY \
  --preserve='^WAYLAND_DISPLAY$' \
  --preserve='^XDG_RUNTIME_DIR$' \
  --preserve='^QT_QPA_PLATFORM$' \
  --share=$HOME/.local/etc/turboprint=/etc/turboprint \
  coreutils tar gzip gtk+@2 bash patchelf cups qtbase@5 qtwayland@5 gcc-toolchain libxcb xcb-util xcb-util-wm xcb-util-image xcb-util-keysyms xcb-util-renderutil \
  -- bash -c '
    export QT_QPA_PLATFORM=wayland
    mkdir -p ~/.local/etc/turboprint
    ~/.local/usr/bin/turboprint
  '

```

However, when I try to add the printer, it fails:

 ![Screenshot From 2026-10-06 21-04-35](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/uploads/systemcrafters/original/2X/c/cdd1b326c28e21534f94bbd78bd68afbd7ab977f.png)

Does anyone have a clue what I could do as a next step?

Anyone else interested in getting turboprint running on Guix?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![sudheer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@sudheer](https://forum.systemcrafters.net/u/sudheer)\
**Post date:** [October 8, 2026, 12:09pm UTC](https://forum.systemcrafters.net/t/turboprint-in-guix/2128/2 "2026-10-08T12:09:13Z")

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ur container may not have access to cups directories

add

--share=/var/run/cups=/var/run/cups \

--share=/usr/lib/cups/backend=/usr/lib/cups/backend \

--share=/usr/share/cups/model=/usr/share/cups/model

and see

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![sudheer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@sudheer](https://forum.systemcrafters.net/u/sudheer)\
**Post date:** [October 8, 2026, 12:27pm UTC](https://forum.systemcrafters.net/t/turboprint-in-guix/2128/3 "2026-10-08T12:27:40Z")

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> [@kimothy](#):
>
> Canon PRO-100S

or try --expose=/var/run/cups cups

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![kimothy](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/forum.systemcrafters.net/kimothy/32/1260_2.png) [@kimothy](https://forum.systemcrafters.net/u/kimothy)\
**Post date:** [October 8, 2026, 2:13pm UTC](https://forum.systemcrafters.net/t/turboprint-in-guix/2128/4 "2026-10-08T14:13:41Z")

</div>

Thanks a lot for your response!

I tired what you said, the backend and model directories does not exist, so I could not expose those, but the /var/run/cups could be exposed. I got the exact same error though, so non the wiser just yet.