xref: /netbsd-src/share/man/man5/printcap.5 (revision 946379e7b37692fc43f68eb0d1c10daa0a7f3b6c)
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30.\"     @(#)printcap.5	8.2 (Berkeley) 12/11/93
31.\"
32.Dd April 5, 2012
33.Dt PRINTCAP 5
34.Os
35.Sh NAME
36.Nm printcap
37.Nd printer capability data base
38.Sh SYNOPSIS
39.Nm printcap
40.Sh DESCRIPTION
41The
42.Nm
43data base is used to describe line printers.
44The spooling system accesses the
45.Nm printcap
46file every time it is used, allowing dynamic
47addition and deletion of printers.
48Each entry in the data base is used to describe one printer.
49.Pp
50The default printer is normally
51.Em lp ,
52though the environment variable
53.Ev PRINTER
54may be used to override this.
55Each spooling utility supports an option,
56.Fl P Ar printer ,
57to allow explicit naming of a destination printer.
58.Pp
59Refer to the
60.%T "4.3 BSD Line Printer Spooler Manual"
61for a complete discussion on how to set up the database for a given printer.
62.Sh CAPABILITIES
63Refer to
64.Xr capfile 5
65for a description of the file layout.
66.Bl -column Name Type "/var/spool/output/lpd"
67.It Sy Name	Type	Default	Description
68.It "af	str" Ta Dv NULL Ta No "name of accounting file"
69.It "br	num	none	if lp is a tty, set the baud rate"
70.Pf ( Xr ioctl 2
71call)
72.It "cf	str" Ta Dv NULL Ta No "cifplot data filter"
73.It "df	str" Ta Dv NULL Ta No "tex data filter"
74.Pf ( Tn DVI
75format)
76.It "fc	num	0	if lp is a tty, clear flag bits"
77.Pq Pa sgtty.h
78.It "ff	str" Ta So Li \ef Sc Ta No "string to send for a form feed"
79.It "fo	bool	false	print a form feed when device is opened"
80.It "fs	num	0	like `fc' but set bits"
81.It "gf	str" Ta Dv NULL Ta No "graph data filter"
82.Pf ( Xr plot 3
83format
84.It "hl	bool	false	print the burst header page last"
85.It "ic	bool	false	driver supports (non standard) ioctl to indent printout"
86.It "if	str" Ta Dv NULL Ta No "name of text filter which does accounting"
87.It "lf	str" Ta Pa /dev/console Ta No "error logging file name"
88.It "lo	str" Ta Pa lock Ta No "name of lock file"
89.It "lp	str" Ta Pa /dev/lp Ta No "device name to open for output to local \
90printer, or port@host for remote printer/printer on print server"
91.It "ms	str" Ta Dv NULL Ta No "list of terminal modes to set or clear"
92.It "mx	num	1000	maximum file size (in"
93.Dv BUFSIZ
94blocks), zero = unlimited
95.It "nd	str" Ta Dv NULL Ta No "next directory for list of queues (unimplemented)"
96.It "nf	str" Ta Dv NULL Ta No "ditroff data filter (device independent troff)"
97.It "of	str" Ta Dv NULL Ta No "name of output filtering program"
98.It "pc	num	200	price per foot or page in hundredths of cents"
99.It "pf	str" Ta Dv NULL Ta No "filter for printing"
100.Tn PostScript
101files
102.It "pl	num	66	page length (in lines)"
103.It "pw	num	132	page width (in characters)"
104.It "px	num	0	page width in pixels (horizontal)"
105.It "py	num	0	page length in pixels (vertical)"
106.It "rf	str" Ta Dv NULL Ta No "filter for printing"
107.Tn FORTRAN
108style text files
109.It "rg	str" Ta Dv NULL Ta No "restricted group. Only members of group allowed access"
110.It "rm	str" Ta Dv NULL Ta No "machine name for remote printer or port@host \
111for a remote printer on a port other than the standard port."
112.Po
113also suppress the burst page, see
114.Sx NOTES
115.Pc
116.It "rp	str	``lp''	remote printer name argument"
117.It "rs	bool	false	restrict remote users to those with local accounts"
118.It "rw	bool	false	open the printer device for reading and writing"
119.It "sb	bool	false	short banner (one line only)"
120.It "sc	bool	false	suppress multiple copies"
121.It "sd	str" Ta Pa /var/spool/output/lpd Ta No "spool directory"
122.It "sf	bool	false	suppress form feeds"
123.It "sh	bool	false	suppress printing of burst page header"
124.Po
125local only, see
126.Sx NOTES
127.Pc
128.It "st	str" Ta Pa status Ta No "status file name"
129.It "tf	str" Ta Dv NULL Ta No "troff data filter (cat phototypesetter)"
130.It "tr	str" Ta Dv NULL Ta No "trailer string to print when queue empties"
131.It "vf	str" Ta Dv NULL Ta No "raster image filter"
132.It "xc	num	0	if lp is a tty, clear local mode bits"
133.Pq Xr tty 4
134.It "xs	num	0	like `xc' but set bits"
135.El
136.Pp
137If the local line printer driver supports indentation, the daemon
138must understand how to invoke it.
139.Sh FILTERS
140If a printer is specified via
141.Sy lp
142(either local or remote),
143the
144.Xr lpd 8
145daemon creates a pipeline of
146.Em filters
147to process files for various printer types.
148The pipeline is not set up for remote printers specified via
149.Sy rm
150unless the local host is the same as the remote printer host
151given.
152The filters selected depend on the flags passed to
153.Xr lpr 1 .
154The pipeline set up is:
155.Bd -literal -offset indent
156p	pr | if	regular text + pr(1)
157none	if	regular text
158c	cf	cifplot
159d	df	DVI (tex)
160g	gf	plot(3)
161n	nf	ditroff
162o	pf	PostScript
163f	rf	Fortran
164t	tf	troff
165v	vf	raster image
166.Ed
167.Pp
168The
169.Sy if
170filter is invoked with arguments:
171.Bd -filled -offset indent
172.Cm if
173.Op Fl c
174.Fl w Ns Ar width
175.Fl l Ns Ar length
176.Fl i Ns Ar indent
177.Fl n Ar login
178.Op Fl j Ar jobname
179.Fl h Ar host acct-file
180.Ed
181.Pp
182The
183.Fl c
184flag is passed only if the
185.Fl l
186flag (pass control characters literally)
187is specified to
188.Xr lpr 1 .
189The
190.Ar width
191and
192.Ar length
193specify the page width and length
194(from
195.Cm pw
196and
197.Cm pl
198respectively) in characters.
199The
200.Fl n
201and
202.Fl h
203parameters specify the login name and host name of the owner
204of the job respectively.
205The
206.Fl j
207parameter is optional and specifies the name of the print
208job if available.
209The
210.Ar acct-file
211option is passed from the
212.Cm af
213.Nm printcap
214entry.
215.Pp
216If no
217.Cm if
218is specified,
219.Cm of
220is used instead,
221with the distinction that
222.Cm of
223is opened only once,
224while
225.Cm if
226is opened for every individual job.
227Thus,
228.Cm if
229is better suited to performing accounting.
230The
231.Cm of
232is only given the
233.Ar width
234and
235.Ar length
236flags.
237.Pp
238All other filters are called as:
239.Bd -filled -offset indent
240.Nm filter
241.Fl x Ns Ar width
242.Fl y Ns Ar length
243.Fl n Ar login
244.Op Fl j Ar jobname
245.Fl h Ar host acct-file
246.Ed
247.Pp
248where
249.Ar width
250and
251.Ar length
252are represented in pixels,
253specified by the
254.Cm px
255and
256.Cm py
257entries respectively.
258.Pp
259All filters take
260.Em stdin
261as the file,
262.Em stdout
263as the printer,
264may log either to
265.Em stderr
266or using
267.Xr syslog 3 ,
268and must not ignore
269.Dv SIGINT .
270.Pp
271Filters can communicate errors to lpd by their exit code and by modifying
272the mode of the spool lock file as follows:
273.Bl -tag -width Exit-code -compact -offset indent
274.It Sy Exit code
275.Sy Description
276.It 0
277Success.
278.It 1
279An attempt is made to reprint the job and mail is sent if it fails.
280.It 2
281.Xr lpd 8
282silently discards the job.
283.It n
284.Xr lpd 8
285discards the job and mail is sent.
286.El
287.Bl -tag -width lockxmode -compact -offset indent
288.It Sy lock code
289.Sy Description
290.It u+x
291Stop printing and leave queue disabled (S_IXUSR).
292.It o+x
293Rebuild the queue (S_IXOTH).
294.El
295.Sh LOGGING
296Error messages generated by the line printer programs themselves
297(that is, the lp* programs) are logged by
298.Xr syslog 3
299using the
300.Dv LPR
301facility.
302Messages printed on
303.Em stderr
304of one of the filters are sent to the corresponding
305.Cm lf
306file.
307The filters may, of course, use
308.Xr syslog 3
309themselves.
310.Pp
311Error messages sent to the console have a carriage return and a line
312feed appended to them, rather than just a line feed.
313.Sh SEE ALSO
314.Xr lpq 1 ,
315.Xr lpr 1 ,
316.Xr lprm 1 ,
317.Xr capfile 5 ,
318.Xr lpc 8 ,
319.Xr lpd 8 ,
320.Xr pac 8
321.Rs
322.%T "4.3 BSD Line Printer Spooler Manual"
323.Re
324.Sh NOTES
325The
326.Sy sh
327flag is a function of the spooler with the locally attached printer,
328and so has no effect when used with
329.Sy rm .
330.Nx
331never adds a burst page when used as a remote spooler.
332To suppress the burst page for other systems or dedicated devices,
333refer to the documentation for those systems or devices.
334.Sh HISTORY
335The
336.Nm
337file format appeared in
338.Bx 4.2 .
339