4.3BSD - /usr/man/cat5/printcap.0

PRINTCAP(5)                                                        PRINTCAP(5)


NAME
       printcap - printer capability data base

SYNOPSIS
       /etc/printcap

DESCRIPTION
       Printcap  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 print‐
       ers.  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,  -Pprinter,  to  allow  explicit  naming  of  a  destination
       printer.

       Refer  to the 4.3BSD Line Printer Spooler Manual for a complete discus‐
       sion on how setup the database for a given printer.

CAPABILITIES
       Refer to termcap(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 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 (3X) 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
       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
       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
       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   ‘‘/usr/spool/lpd’’  spool directory
       sf     bool  false               suppress form feeds
       sh     bool  false               suppress printing of burst page header
       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
       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 ] -wwidth -llength -iindent -n login -h host acct-file

       The -c flag is passed only if the -l flag (pass control characters lit‐
       erally) is specified to lpr.  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.  Acct-file 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 -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  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 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
       termcap(5), lpc(8), lpd(8), pac(8), lpr(1), lpq(1), lprm(1)
       4.3BSD Line Printer Spooler Manual


4.2 Berkeley Distribution        May 14, 1986                      PRINTCAP(5)