PRINTCAP(5) NetBSD File Formats Manual PRINTCAP(5)
NAME
printcap -- printer capability data base
SYNOPSIS
printcap
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 discus- sion 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) for- mat 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 or lpd(8) is run with the -r flag. 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 liter- ally) 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 corre- sponding 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. NetBSD 10.1 October 21, 2022 NetBSD 10.1
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