NAME
printcap —
printer capability data
base
SYNOPSIS
DESCRIPTION
The
printcap data base is 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.
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 to set up the database for a given printer.
CAPABILITIES
Refer to
capfile(5) for a
description of the file layout.
Name |
Type |
Default |
Description |
af |
str |
NULL |
name of accounting file |
br |
num |
none |
if lp is a tty, set the baud rate
(ioctl(2) call) |
cf |
str |
NULL |
cifplot data filter |
df |
str |
NULL |
tex data filter (DVI
format) |
fc |
num |
0 |
if lp is a tty, clear flag bits
(sgtty.h) |
ff |
str |
‘\f ’ |
string to send for a form
feed |
fo |
bool |
false |
print a form feed when device is opened |
fs |
num |
0 |
like `fc' but set bits |
gf |
str |
NULL |
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 |
if |
str |
NULL |
name of text filter which does
accounting |
lf |
str |
/dev/console |
error logging file name |
lo |
str |
lock |
name of lock file |
lp |
str |
/dev/lp |
device name to open for output to
local printer, or port@host for remote printer/printer on print
server |
ms |
str |
NULL |
list of terminal modes to set or
clear |
mx |
num |
1000 |
maximum file size (in BUFSIZ
blocks), zero = unlimited |
nd |
str |
NULL |
next directory for list of queues
(unimplemented) |
nf |
str |
NULL |
ditroff data filter (device
independent troff) |
of |
str |
NULL |
name of output filtering
program |
pc |
num |
200 |
price per foot or page in hundredths of cents |
pf |
str |
NULL |
filter for printing PostScript
files |
pl |
num |
66 |
page length (in lines) |
pw |
num |
132 |
page width (in characters) |
px |
num |
0 |
page width in pixels (horizontal) |
py |
num |
0 |
page length in pixels (vertical) |
rf |
str |
NULL |
filter for printing FORTRAN
style text files |
rg |
str |
NULL |
restricted group. Only members of
group allowed access |
rm |
str |
NULL |
machine name for remote printer or
port@host for a remote printer on a port other than the standard
port. (also suppress the burst page, see
NOTES) |
rp |
str |
``lp'' |
remote printer name argument |
rs |
bool |
false |
restrict remote users to those with local
accounts |
rw |
bool |
false |
open the printer device for reading and writing |
sb |
bool |
false |
short banner (one line only) |
sc |
bool |
false |
suppress multiple copies |
sd |
str |
/var/spool/output/lpd |
spool directory |
sf |
bool |
false |
suppress form feeds |
sh |
bool |
false |
suppress printing of burst page header (local only,
see NOTES) |
st |
str |
status |
status file name |
tf |
str |
NULL |
troff data filter (cat
phototypesetter) |
tr |
str |
NULL |
trailer string to print when queue
empties |
vf |
str |
NULL |
raster image filter |
xc |
num |
0 |
if lp is a tty, clear local mode bits
(tty(4)) |
xs |
num |
0 |
like `xc' but set bits |
If the local line printer driver supports indentation, the daemon must
understand how to invoke it.
FILTERS
If a printer is specified via
lp (either local or remote), the
lpd(8) daemon creates a pipeline of
filters to process files for various printer types. The
pipeline is not set up for remote printers specified via
rm
unless the local host is the same as the remote printer host given. 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
o pf PostScript
f rf Fortran
t tf troff
v vf raster image
The
if filter is invoked with arguments:
if
[-c]
-wwidth
-llength
-iindent -n
login [-j
jobname] -h
host acct-file
The
-c flag is passed only if the
-l flag
(pass control characters literally) is specified to
lpr(1). The
width 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
-j parameter is optional and specifies the
name of the print job if available. The
acct-file option
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
-xwidth
-ylength -n
login [-j
jobname] -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
.
Filters can communicate errors to lpd by their exit code and by modifying the
mode of the spool lock file as follows:
- Exit
code
- Description
- 0
- Success.
- 1
- An attempt is made to reprint the job and mail is sent if
it fails.
- 2
- lpd(8) silently
discards the job.
- n
- lpd(8) discards
the job and mail is sent.
- lock
code
- Description
- u+x
- Stop printing and leave queue disabled (S_IXUSR).
- o+x
- Rebuild the queue (S_IXOTH).
LOGGING
Error messages generated by the line printer programs themselves (that is, the
lp* 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(3) themselves.
Error messages sent to the console have a carriage return and a line feed
appended to them, rather than just a line feed.
SEE ALSO
lpq(1),
lpr(1),
lprm(1),
capfile(5),
lpc(8),
lpd(8),
pac(8)
4.3 BSD Line Printer Spooler
Manual.
NOTES
The
sh flag is a function of the spooler with the locally
attached printer, and so has no effect when used with
rm.
NetBSD never adds a burst page when used as a remote
spooler. To suppress the burst page for other systems or dedicated devices,
refer to the documentation for those systems or devices.
HISTORY
The
printcap file format appeared in
4.2BSD.