PRINTCAP

Section: File Formats (5)
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BSD mandoc
BSD 4.2

NAME

printcap - printer capability data base

SYNOPSIS

printcap

DESCRIPTION

The Printcap function is a simplified version of the termcap(5) data base used to describe line printers. The spooling system accesses the printcap file every time it is used, allowing dynamic addition and deletion of printers. Each entry in the data base is used to describe one printer. This data base may not be substituted for, as is possible for termcap, because it may allow accounting to be bypassed.

The default printer is normally lp though the environment variable PRINTER may be used to override this. Each spooling utility supports an option, -P printer to allow explicit naming of a destination printer.

Refer to the "4.3 BSD Line Printer Spooler Manual" for a complete discussion on how setup the database for a given printer.

CAPABILITIES

Refer to termcap(5) for a description of the file layout.

"af str" Ta NULL Ta name of accounting file
"br numnoneif lp is a tty, set the baud rate": (ioctl (2) call)
"cf str" Ta NULL Ta cifplot data filter
"df str" Ta NULL Ta tex data filter: ( DVI format)
"fc num 0 if lp is a tty, clear flag bits": (sgtty.h )
"ff str" Ta So \f Sc Ta string to send for a form feed
"foboolfalseprint a form feed when device is opened"
"fsnum0like `fc' but set bits"
"gfstr" Ta NULL Ta graph data filter: ( plot(3) format
"hl bool false print the burst header page last"
"ic bool false driver supports (non standard) ioctl to indent printout"
"ifstr" Ta NULL Ta name of text filter which does accounting
"lfstr" Ta /dev/console Ta error logging file name
"lostr" Ta lock Ta name of lock file
"lpstr" Ta /dev/lp Ta device name to open for output
"mxnum1000maximum file size (in": BUFSIZ blocks), zero = unlimited
"nd str" Ta NULL Ta next directory for list of queues (unimplemented)
"nf str" Ta NULL Ta ditroff data filter (device independent troff)
"ofstr" Ta NULL Ta name of output filtering program
"pcnum200price per foot or page in hundredths of cents"
"plnum66page length (in lines)"
"pwnum132page width (in characters)"
"pxnum0page width in pixels (horizontal)"
"pynum0page length in pixels (vertical)"
"rfstr" Ta NULL Ta filter for printing: FORTRAN style text files
"rg str" Ta NULL Ta restricted group. Only members of group allowed access
"rm str" Ta NULL Ta machine name for remote printer
"rpstr``lp''remote printer name argument"
"rsboolfalserestrict remote users to those with local accounts"
"rwboolfalseopen the printer device for reading and writing"
"sbboolfalseshort banner (one line only)"
"scboolfalsesuppress multiple copies"
"sdstr" Ta /var/spool/lpd Ta spool directory
"sfboolfalsesuppress form feeds"
"shboolfalsesuppress printing of burst page header"
"ststr" Ta status Ta status file name
"tfstr" Ta NULL Ta troff data filter (cat phototypesetter)
"trstr" Ta NULL Ta trailer string to print when queue empties
"vfstr" Ta NULL Ta raster image filter

If the local line printer driver supports indentation, the daemon
must understand how to invoke it.

FILTERS

The lpd(8) daemon creates a pipeline of filters to process files for various printer types. The filters selected depend on the flags passed to lpr(1). The pipeline set up is:

p       pr | if regular text + pr(1)
none    if      regular text
c       cf      cifplot
d       df      DVI (tex)
g       gf      plot(3)
n       nf      ditroff
f       rf      Fortran
t       tf      troff
v       vf      raster image

The if filter is invoked with arguments:

if [-c ] -w width -l length -i indent -n login -h host acct-file

The -c flag is passed only if the -l flag (pass control characters literally) is specified to lpr. The Width function and length specify the page width and length (from pw and pl respectively) in characters. The -n and -h parameters specify the login name and host name of the owner of the job respectively. The Acct-file function is passed from the af printcap entry.

If no if is specified, of is used instead, with the distinction that of is opened only once, while if is opened for every individual job. Thus, if is better suited to performing accounting. The of is only given the width and length flags.

All other filters are called as:

filter -x width -y length -n login -h host acct-file

where width and length are represented in pixels, specified by the px and py entries respectively.

All filters take stdin as the file, stdout as the printer, may log either to stderr or using syslog(3), and must not ignore SIGINT .

LOGGING

Error messages generated by the line printer programs themselves (that is, the lpNs* programs) are logged by syslog(3) using the LPR facility. Messages printed on stderr of one of the filters are sent to the corresponding lf file. The filters may, of course, use syslog themselves.

Error messages sent to the console have a carriage return and a line feed appended to them, rather than just a line feed.

HISTORY

The printcap file format appeared in BSD 4.2 ..

This document was created by man2html, using the manual pages.
Time: 14:10:40 GMT, January 15, 2001