Printing

This chapter contains spooling printer management systems and ghostscript applications to render PostScript for display on terminals or paper.

CUPS-1.1.20

Introduction to CUPS

The Common Unix Printing System (CUPS) is a print spooler and associated utilities. It is based on the "Internet Printing Protocol" and provides printing services to most PostScript and raster printers.

Package information

Download (HTTP): http://multivac.cwru.edu/mirror/packages/cups-1.1.20-source.tar.bz2
Download (FTP): ftp://ftp.easysw.com/pub/cups/1.1.20/cups-1.1.20-source.tar.bz2
Download size: 3.7 MB
Estimated Disk space required: 24 MB
Estimated build time: 0.67 SBU

CUPS dependencies

Optional

libjpeg-6b, libpng-1.2.5, libtiff-3.6.1, OpenSSL-0.9.7d or GnuTLS (which needs libgpg-error, libgcrypt and opencdk, in that order.), Linux-PAM-0.77, PHP-4.3.6 and Python-2.3.3

Installation of CUPS

Install CUPS by running the following commands:

./configure &&
make &&
make install

Command explanations

The basic default behavior of the installation is appropriate for LFS systems. CUPS files are placed in /usr/bin, /usr/sbin, /var and /etc/cups.

Configuring CUPS

Configuration of CUPS is dependent on the type of printer and can be complex. Generally, PostScript printers are easier. For detailed instructions on configuration and use of CUPS, see http://www.cups.org/documentation.php. The Software Administrators Manual and Software Users Manual are particularly useful.

For non-PostScript printers to print with CUPS you need to install ESP Ghostscript-7.07.1 to convert PostScript to raster images and a driver (e.g. from Gimp-Print-4.2.6) to convert the resulting raster images to a form that the printer understands. Foomatic drivers use Ghostscript to convert PostScript to a printable form directly, but this is considered to be a hack by CUPS developers.

During the install, CUPS created the startup file /etc/rc.d/init.d/cups. The file works, but you may want to change it to a more conventional LFS startup file by installing the script included in the blfs-bootscripts-5.1 package:

make install-cups

CUPS provides accept, cupsaddsmb, cupsd, cupstestppd, lpadmin, lpc, lpinfo, lpmove, reject, cancel, cups-config, disable, enable, lp, lpoptions, lppasswd, lpq, lpr, lprm, lpstat, libcups, libcupsimage and various scripts and filters.

lpc

lpc provides limited control over printer and class queues provided by CUPS .

cupsd

cupsd is the scheduler for the Common Unix Printing System.

accept

accept instructs the printing system to accept print jobs to the specified destinations.

reject

reject reject instructs the printing system to reject print jobs to the specified destinations.

cupsaddsmb

cupsaddsmb exports printers to the SAMBA software for use with Windows clients.

lpadmin

lpadmin configures printer and class queues provided by CUPS.

lpinfo

lpinfo lists the available devices or drivers known to the CUPS server.

lpmove

lpmove moves the specified job to a new destination.

cupstestppd

cupstestppd tests the conformance of PPD files.

lpq

lpq shows the current print queue status on the named printer.

lpr

lpr submits files for printing.

lprm

lprm cancels print jobs that have been queued for printing.

cancel

cancel cancels existing print jobs.

disable

disable stops the named printers or classes.

enable

enable starts the named printers or classes.

lp

lp submits files for printing or alters a pending job.

lpoptions

lpoptions displays or sets printer options and defaults.

lpstat

lpstat displays status information about the current classes, jobs, and printers.

lppasswd

lppasswd adds, changes or deletes passwords in the CUPS digest password file passwd.md5.

cups-config

cups-config is the CUPS program configuration utility.