xref: /freebsd/share/doc/smm/07.lpd/1.t (revision 9a14aa017b21c292740c00ee098195cd46642730)
Copyright (c) 1983, 1993
The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.

Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
are met:
1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
3. All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software
must display the following acknowledgement:
This product includes software developed by the University of
California, Berkeley and its contributors.
4. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors
may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software
without specific prior written permission.

THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND
ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE
FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS
OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION)
HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT
LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY
OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
SUCH DAMAGE.

@(#)1.t 8.1 (Berkeley) 6/8/93

Overview

The line printer system supports:

\(bu 3
multiple printers,
\(bu 3
multiple spooling queues,
\(bu 3
both local and remote printers, and
\(bu 3
printers attached via serial lines that require line initialization such as the baud rate.

Raster output devices such as a Varian or Versatec, and laser printers such as an Imagen, are also supported by the line printer system.

The line printer system consists mainly of the following files and commands:

/etc/printcap printer configuration and capability data base
/usr/lib/lpd line printer daemon, does all the real work
/usr/ucb/lpr program to enter a job in a printer queue
/usr/ucb/lpq spooling queue examination program
/usr/ucb/lprm program to delete jobs from a queue
/etc/lpc program to administer printers and spooling queues
/dev/printer socket on which lpd listens
The file /etc/printcap is a master data base describing line printers directly attached to a machine and, also, printers accessible across a network. The manual page entry printcap (5) provides the authoritative definition of the format of this data base, as well as specifying default values for important items such as the directory in which spooling is performed. This document introduces some of the information that may be placed printcap .