Solved etc/pf.conf & printer setup (solved)

In this forum under 'localhost:631: printer problem (solved)', thread 87, Trihexagonal suggested that I add the undermentioned code to get my HP printer working. This suggestion came from him after numerous users attempted helpful replies to my posts for help. His suggestion was remarkably helpful & successful. Why! Because it contained information that as a new user I seemingly would never have become aware of, and especially given he said he was not using cups.
I invite Trihexagonal or others to tell me how a new user would would be able to find out that the specifics of this particular code are, in fact, probably the only viable fix. Is the answer buried in the manual or some other BSD documentation?

As such my current thoughts, (and you may be easily able to disabuse me), is that there should be, at least, some rudimentary lead-in to printer setups in the OS setup. However, it seems this would be a no no, and go against the grain of a longstanding traditionally established setup procedures for linux/unix.

I would be interested in your thoughts.

Code:
### CUPS_pf_rules_included
### Macro name for external interface
ext_if = "em0"
netbios_tcp = "{ 22, 23, 25, 110, 111, 123, 512, 513, 514, 515, 6000, 6010 }"
netbios_udp = "{ 123, 512, 513, 514, 515, 5353, 6000, 6010 }"

### Allow CUPS to use tcp ports 80 and udp port 631
cups_tcp = "{ 80, 631 }"
cups_udp = "{ 631 }"

### Allow CUPS to be accessible (change to your other machines ifconfig -a LAN designation )
table <local> { 192.168.1.104 }

### Reassemble fragmented packets
scrub in on $ext_if all fragment reassemble

### Default deny everything
block log all

### Pass loopback
set skip on lo0

### Allow LAN to talk to CUPS on your machine
pass in log quick from <local> to any keep state

### Block spooks
antispoof for lo0
antispoof for $ext_if inet
block in from no-route to any
block in from urpf-failed to any
block in quick on $ext_if from any to 255.255.255.255
block in log quick on $ext_if from { 10.0.0.0/8, 172.16.0.0/12, 192.168.0.0/16, 255.255.255.255/32 } to any

### Block all IPv6
block in quick inet6 all
block out quick inet6 all

### Block to and from port 0
block quick proto { tcp, udp } from any port = 0 to any
block quick proto { tcp, udp } from any to any port = 0

### Block specific ports
block in quick log on $ext_if proto tcp from any to any port $netbios_tcp
block in quick log on $ext_if proto udp from any to any port $netbios_udp

### Allow CUPS to talk to clients on LAN
pass out log on $ext_if proto tcp to any port $cups_tcp keep state
pass out log on $ext_if proto udp to any port $cups_udp keep state

### Keep and modulate state of outbound tcp, udp and icmp traffic

pass out on $ext_if proto { tcp, udp, icmp } from any to any modulate state
 
the pregnant silence here may well indicate there is a supernatural side to BSD that only a few are capable of aspiring to & that they are not willing to share😲.
 
Is the answer buried in the manual or some other BSD documentation?
Nope. It's called experience. Look at my signature. Blindly copy/pasting configurations without actually understanding what they do is a recipe for disaster. It looks like you blindly enabled the firewall, without properly understanding how that firewall was set up. So you failed to spot the fact it was blocking network access to localhost. Which is why you weren't able to connect to it with a browser. At least that's what I gathered from perusing six(!) pages worth of replies.

The new pf.conf you have has a line set skip on lo0 this line alone will allow any and all traffic to and from lo0, better known as localhost or 127.0.0.1 and ::1. Don't know if this was missing from your earlier rules.
 
I invite Trihexagonal or others to tell me how a new user would would be able to find out that the specifics of this particular code are, in fact, probably the only viable fix. Is the answer buried in the manual or some other BSD documentation?
I researched it to find out the syntax needed for the ruleset provided. I didn't know it from memory having never used it so I was that new user your speak of, in this situation.

That's how we learned and what we recommend repetitiously. Do your homework and read the Handbook, search the forums and use google-fu to research it.
 
I already had the Pass loopback rule. Anything that mentions CUPS newly written and learned by researching google.
 
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