osf1 printcap man page on unix.com

printcap(4) Kernel Interfaces Manual printcap(4)

NAME
printcap - Printer capability data base

SYNOPSIS
/etc/printcap

DESCRIPTION
The printcap file is used to describe printer characteristics. The format of the printcap file is a simplified version of the /etc/termcap
database format.

The lpd line printer daemon accesses the /etc/printcap file every time a file is passed to the spooler for printing. The print spooling
system uses the printcap file to obtain information about each printer attached to the system and about remote printers. Each entry in the
printcap file describes a single printer.

When the local line printer driver supports indentation, the lpd line printer daemon must understand how to invoke this capability.

The default printer for your system usually has the device reference lp, although environment variable PRINTER can be used to override the
default printer reference. The print commands (for example, lpr, lpq, and lprm) support the -Pprinter option, which enables you to specify
a specific printer. See the RESTRICTIONS section for information on using printconfig.

Printer Characteristic Symbols
Each printer has various characteristics that tell the lpd line printer daemon how to communicate with the printing device defined in the
/dev directory. A table in this section lists the printer characteristic symbols and provides the following information for each: The sym-
bol, which is a 2-character mnemonic. The symbol must be specified exactly as it appears in this column. Type of data expressed by the
entry as str, num, or bool. When the characteristic defined by the symbol is referenced as a string variable (str) in the Type column, it
must be followed by an = (equal sign) together with a string value; when you do not define the string value, it either remains a NULL
string and contains no data or takes the value specified in the Default column. When the Type column defines a symbol type as bool, it may
only be logically true (yes) or logically false (no).

When the parameter you define is a numerical variable, it must be followed with a # (pound sign) together with the numerical value
you assign; when you do not define the numerical parameter it takes the value specified in the Default column of the table. A sum-
mary of the printer characteristic that the symbol specifies.

Symbols whose descriptions are followed by "(I18N)" are provided to meet country-specific printing requirements. Refer to
i18n_printing(5) for information about when these symbols are valid in a printer entry.

The following is an example of a printcap entry:

myprinter|lp0:
:af=/usr/adm/lpacct:
:br#9600:
:ct=dev:
:fc#0177777:
:fs#023:
:if=/usr/lbin/la75of:
:lf=/usr/adm/lperr:
:lp=/dev/tty00:
:mx#0:
:of=/usr/lbin/la75of:
:pl#66:
:pw#80:
:sd=/usr/spool/lpd:
:xc#0177777:
:xf=/usr/lbin/xf:
:xs#044000:

Entries can continue onto multiple lines by specifying the backslash () as the last character of a line. Empty fields can be
included for readability (here between the last field on a line and the first field on the next line).

Comments can be included on lines beginning with the pound sign (#).

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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 The cifplot data filter.
ct str dev The connection type. The choices are: dev, LAT,
and tcp (networked).
df str NULL The 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 the device is opened.
fs num 0 Like fc, but set bits.
gf str NULL The graph data filter (plot 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 that does accounting.
lf str /dev/console Error logging filename.
lo str lock Name of lock file.
lp str /dev/lp Device name to open for output. For network
(TCP/IP) printers, enter the name a @hostname/ser-
vicename. The servicename is defined in /etc/ser-
vices with the port number.
mj num 1000 Maximum number of jobs that can be submitted to a
print queue. The limit is 1,000,000 (ranging from
0 to 999,999).
mx num 1000 Maximum file size (in BUFSIZ blocks). Zero = unlim-
ited.

nf str NULL The ditroff data filter (for device independent
troff).
of str NULL Name of output filtering program.
on str NULL Supported in clusters only. Valid entries are
localhost and/or a comma-separated list of cluster
member (host) names.
pl num 66 Page length (in lines).
pw num 132 Page width (in columns).
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.
rm str NULL Machine name for remote printer. (Required for
remote printers.) Use the string @dpa to define an
inbound gateway for the Advanced Printing Software.
rp str lp Remote printer name argument. (Required for remote
printers.) Specify a logical printer name, such as
lpr1, for the Advanced Printing Software.
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. (Required for LAT and remote
printers.)
sf bool false Suppress form feeds.
sh bool false Suppress printing of burst page header.
st str status Status filename.
tf str NULL The troff data filter (for the cat phototypeset-
ter).
tr str NULL Trailer string to print when queue empties.
vf str NULL The raster image filter.
xc num 0 If lp is a tty, clear local mode bits (tty).
xf str NULL Pass-through filter.
xs num 0 Like xc, but set bits.
ya str NULL Additional parameters for print filter (I18N).
yd str NULL Secondary device name for font faulting (I18N).
yp str NULL Printer ID conforming to Wototo standard (I18N).

ys num 0 Size of SoftODL character cache (I18N).
yt str "fifo" SoftODL character replacement strategy (I18N).
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When the local line printer driver supports indentation, the lpd line printer daemon must understand how to invoke this capability.

LAT Printing Characteristics
The following table lists the LAT printing characteristics:

------------------------------------------------------------
Name Type Default Description
------------------------------------------------------------
ct str LAT Remote printing using LAT as the
transport.
lp str /dev/ttyWX Device name to open for output
where WX is a LAT device.
------------------------------------------------------------

Network (TCP/IP) Printing Characteristics
The following table lists typical TCP/IP printing characteristics for a DEClaser3500 printer. The entry in the /etc/services file reads:
dlaser35 10001/tcp Examples of print symbol settings are set as follows: Has a value of tcp to specify network printing using TCP/IP Has
a value of @prthub/dlaser35 which specifies service name dlaser35 on node prthub

Compaq Advanced Printing Software
If Compaq Advanced Printing Software is installed you must specify the string @dpa for the rm characteristic and specify a queue name for
the rp characteristic.

Refer to the Compaq Advanced Printing Software documentation for more information on setting up the printing environment.

Filter and Flags
The lpd line printer daemon creates a pipeline of filters to process files for various different printer device. The filters you select
depend on the flags that are passed to the lpr command. The pipeline setup is:

-----------------------------------
Flag Filter Description
-----------------------------------
none if regular text
-p pr | if regular text + pr
-c cf cifplot
-d df DVI (tex)
-g gf plot
-n nf ditroff
-f rf FORTRAN
-t tf troff
-v vf raster image
-----------------------------------

The if filter is invoked with arguments according to the following format:

if [-c] -wwidth -llength -iindent -nlogin -hhost acct-file

The xf pass-through filter is specified when output is preformatted and does not require special filtering.

The -c flag is passed only when the -l flag (pass control-characters literally) is specified to the lpr command. The -wwidth and -llength
parameters specify the page width and length (from the assigned or default values of pw and pl respectively in the printcap file) in char-
acters. The -n and -h flags specify the login name and hostname of the owner of the job, respectively. The acct-file is passed from the af
entry in the printcap file.

The if filter is opened for all individual jobs, which makes it suitable for accounting. When the if filter is not specified, the system
uses the of filter as the default value. The of filter however, is opened only once and is only given the -wwidth and -llength flags.

All other filters are called according to the following format:

filter -xwidth -ylength -nlogin -h host acct-file

In this format, -xwidth and -ylength are represented in pixels as specified by the px and py entries, respectively, in the printcap file.

All filters take standard input (stdin) as the source file and standard output (stdout) as the destination. The printer may log either to
standard error (stderr) or use syslogd, and must not ignore the SIGINT signal.

ERROR LOGGING
Error messages generated by the line printer programs (that is, the lp* programs) are logged by syslogd using the lpr facility. Messages
printed on the stderr of one of the filters are sent to the corresponding lf file specified in the printcap file. The filters may, of
course, also use syslogd.

Error messages sent to the console have a carriage return and a line feed appended to them, rather than just a line feed.

RESTRICTIONS
The following restrictions apply when using older versions of printcap files, at DIGITAL UNIX Version 3.2 or earlier: The system assigns
printers names lp[0-9]*, [0-9]*, and for the default printer, lp. For example, the default printer may have a name field such as
lp0|0|lp|default|declaser3500:... and another printer may be lp7|7|some_alias|another alias:.... As a result, the system will have diffi-
culty with printers that have less than two names or that use these reserved names as aliases. Some of the attribute value checking is
different. For example, some fields that were not required now are, and some attributes values that were legal no longer are. The print-
config utility requires that all comments be associated with a printer. As a result, comments appearing after the last printer will be
truncated (deleted). As a work around, invoke printconfig with the menu interface as follows: printconfig -ui menu this command invokes
lprsetup which is fully compatible with earlier printcap files.

RELATED INFORMATION
Commands: lpq(1), lpr(1), lprm(1), lpc(8), lpd(8), lprsetup(8), pac(8)

Files: termcap(4)

Others: i18n_printing(5)

System Administration

Network Administration delim off

printcap(4)

osf1 man page for printcap