PRINTCAP(4) Printing Tools PRINTCAP(4)NAMEprintcap - BSD printer capability data base
SYNOPSIS
/etc/printcap
DESCRIPTION
Printcap is a 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 printers. Each entry in the data base is used
to describe one printer. This data base may not be substituted for,
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.
CAPABILITIES
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)
du num 1 default uid under which filters are run
fc num 0 if lp is a tty, clear flag bits (see FLAG BITS below)
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 (see FLAG BITS below)
gf str NULL graph data filter
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
Page 1
PRINTCAP(4) Printing Tools PRINTCAP(4)
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.
FLAG BITS
In order to provide compatibility with BSD-based systems, the flag bits
supplied as part of the fc and fs printcap entries are based on
Berkeley's sgtty structure. The following table summarizes the meanings
of these bits (note that all values are in octal):
ALLDELAY 0177400 Delay algorithm selection
BSDELAY 0100000 Select backspace delays
BS0 0 No delay
BS1 0100000 0.10 second delay
VTDELAY 0040000 Select form-feed and vertical-tab delays:
FF0 0 No delay
FF1 0040000 2.0 second delay
CRDELAY 0030000 Select carriage-return delays:
CR0 0 No delay
CR1 0010000 Delay dependent on current column.
CR2 0020000 0.10 second delay
CR3 0030000 0.15 second delay
TBDELAY 0006000 Select tab delays:
TAB0 0 No delay
TAB1 0002000 Delay dependent on current column.
TAB2 0004000 0.10 second delay
XTABS 0006000
NLDELAY 0001400 Select new-line delays:
NL0 0 No delay
NL3 0001400 0.15 second delay
EVENP 0000200 Even parity allowed on input
ODDP 0000100 Odd parity allowed on input
RAW 0000040 Raw mode: wake up on all characters, 8-bit interface
CRMOD 0000020 Map CR into LF; output LF as CR-LF
ECHO 0000010 Echo (full duplex)
LCASE 0000004 Map upper case to lower on input and lower to upper on output
CBREAK 0000002 Return each character as soon as typed
TANDEM 0000001 Automatic flow control
Page 2
PRINTCAP(4) Printing Tools PRINTCAP(4)FILTERS
The lpd(1M) 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
literally) 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
corresponding 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.
Page 3
PRINTCAP(4) Printing Tools PRINTCAP(4)COMPATIBILITY NOTES
In an attempt to provide compatibility with existing BSD printcap
entries, the SGI version of the lpd spooler emulates the output bits in
the BSD tty flag word (defined in the BSD include file <sgtty.h>) via
IRIX termio.
SEE ALSOlpc(1M), lpd(1M), pac(1M), lpr(1), lpq(1), lprm(1)
Page 4
