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lpadmin -p printer {options}
lpadmin -x dest
lpadmin -d [dest]
lpadmin -S print-wheel -T [-A alert-type] [-W minutes] [-Q requests]
lpadmin configures the LP print service by defining printers and devices. It is used to add and change printers, to remove printers from service, to set or change the system default destination, to define alerts for printer faults, and to mount print wheels.
The lpadmin command has options for:
Adding or changing a printer
Removing a printer destination
Setting or changing the system default destination
Setting an alert for a print wheel
The options for each of the above categories are specified in the following subsections.
Several options support the use of lists. A list might contain, for example, user names, printers, printer forms, or content types. A list of multiple items can have the form of either comma-separated names or have the entire list enclosed by double quotes with a space between each name. For example, both lists below are acceptable:
one,two,three "one two three"
The first form of the lpadmin command (lpadmin -p printer {options}) configures a new printer or changes the configuration of an existing printer. It also starts the print scheduler.
When creating a new printer, one of three options (-v, -U, or -s) must be supplied. In addition, only one of the following can be supplied: -e, -i, or -m; if none of these three options is supplied, the model standard is used. The -h and -l options are mutually exclusive. Printer and class names must be no longer than 14 characters and must consist entirely of the characters A-Z, a-z, 0-9, dash (-) and underscore (_). If -s is specified, the following options are invalid: -A, -e, -F, -h, -i, -l, -M, -m, -o, -U, -v, and -W.
The following options can appear in any order. -A alert-type [-W minutes]
The -A option is used to define an alert that informs the administrator when a printer fault is detected, and periodically thereafter, until the printer fault is cleared by the administrator. The alert-types are: mail
Send the alert message using mail (see mail(1)) to the administrator.
Write the message to the terminal on which the administrator is logged in. If the administrator is logged in on several terminals, one is chosen arbitrarily.
Do not send messages for the current condition. An administrator can use this option to temporarily stop receiving further messages about a known problem. Once the fault has been cleared and printing resumes, messages are sent again when another fault occurs with the printer.
Attempt to execute a fault handler on each system that has a print job in the queue. The fault handler is /etc/lp/alerts/printer. It is invoked with three parameters: printer_name, date, file_name. The file_name is the name of a file containing the fault message.
Do not send messages; any existing alert definition for the printer is removed. No alert is sent when the printer faults until a different alert-type (except quiet) is used.
Run the shell-command each time the alert needs to be sent. The shell command should expect the message in standard input. If there are blank spaces embedded in the command, enclose the command in quotes. Notice that the mail and write values for this option are equivalent to the values mail user-name and write user-name respectively, where user-name is the current name for the administrator. This is the login name of the person submitting this command unless he or she has used the su command to change to another user ID. If the su command has been used to change the user ID, then the user-name for the new ID is used.
Display the type of the alert for the printer fault. No change is made to the alert.
% lp -i request-id -P ...For a given print request, the presence of multiple reasons for failure indicate multiple attempts at printing. The LP print service can detect printer faults only through an adequate fast filter and only when the standard interface program or a suitable customized interface program is used. Furthermore, the level of recovery after a fault depends on the capabilities of the filter. If, instead of a single printer, the keyword all is displayed in an alert, the alert applies to all printers. If the -W option is not used to arrange fault alerting for printer, the default procedure is to mail one message to the administrator of printer per fault. This is equivalent to specifying -W once or -W 0. If minutes is a number greater than zero, an alert is sent at intervals specified by minutes.
Insert printer into the specified class. class is created if it does not already exist. This option requires the -U dial-info or -v device options.
Save this comment for display whenever a user asks for a full description of printer (see lpstat(1)). The LP print service does not interpret this comment.
Copy the interface program of an existing printer to be the interface program for printer. (Options -i and -m must not be specified with this option.)
-f deny:form-list
Allow or deny the forms in form-list to be printed on printer. By default no forms are allowed on a new printer. For each printer, the LP print service keeps two lists of forms: an ``allow-list'' of forms that can be used with the printer, and a ``deny-list'' of forms that cannot be used with the printer. With the -f allow option, the forms listed are added to the allow-list and removed from the deny-list. With the -f deny option, the forms listed are added to the deny-list and removed from the allow-list. If the allow-list is not empty, only the forms in the list can be used on the printer, regardless of the contents of the deny-list. If the allow-list is empty, but the deny-list is not, the forms in the deny-list cannot be used with the printer. All forms can be excluded from a printer by specifying -f deny:all. All forms can be used on a printer (provided the printer can handle all the characteristics of each form) by specifying -f allow:all. The LP print service uses this information as a set of guidelines for determining where a form can be mounted. Administrators, however, are not restricted from mounting a form on any printer. If mounting a form on a particular printer is in disagreement with the information in the allow-list or deny-list, the administrator is warned but the mount is accepted. Nonetheless, if a user attempts to issue a print or change request for a form and printer combination that is in disagreement with the information, the request is accepted only if the form is currently mounted on the printer. If the form is later unmounted before the request can print, the request is canceled and the user is notified by mail. If the administrator tries to specify a form as acceptable for use on a printer that does not have the capabilities needed by the form, the command is rejected. Notice the other use of -f, with the -M option, below. The -T option must be invoked first with lpadmin to identify the printer type before the -f option can be used.
This option specifies the recovery to be used for any print request that is stopped because of a printer fault, according to the value of fault-recovery: continue
Continue printing on the top of the page where printing stopped. This requires a filter to wait for the fault to clear before automatically continuing.
Start printing the request again from the beginning.
Disable printing on printer and wait for the administrator or a user to enable printing again. During the wait, the administrator or the user who submitted the stopped print request can issue a change request that specifies where printing should resume. (See the -i option of the lp command.) If no change request is made before printing is enabled, printing resumes at the top of the page where stopped, if the filter allows; otherwise, the request is printed from the beginning.
Indicate that the device associated with the printer is hardwired. If neither of the mutually exclusive options, -h and -l, is specified, -h is assumed.
Establish a new interface program for printer. interface is the pathname of the new program. (The -e and -m options must not be specified with this option.)
Allow printer to handle print requests with the content types listed in a content-type-list. The type simple is recognized as the default content type for files in the UNIX system. A simple type of file is a data stream containing only printable ASCII characters and the following control characters:
| Control Char Octal Value Meaning |
| BACKSPACE 10 Move back one char, except |
| at beginning of line |
| TAB 11 Move to next tab stop |
| LINEFEED 12 Move to beginning of |
| (newline) next line |
| FORMFEED 14 Move to beginning of |
| next page |
| RETURN 15 Move to beginning of |
| current line |
Indicate that the device associated with printer is a login terminal. The LP scheduler (lpsched) disables all login terminals automatically each time it is started. (The -h option must not be specified with this option.)
Select model interface program, provided with the LP print service, for the printer. (Options -e and -i must not be specified with this option.)
Mount the form form-name on printer. Print requests that need the pre-printed form form-name is printed on printer. If more than one printer has the form mounted and the user has specified any (with the -d option of the lp command) as the printer destination, then the print request is printed on the one printer that also meets the other needs of the request. The page length and width, and character and line pitches needed by the form are compared with those allowed for the printer, by checking the capabilities in the terminfo database for the type of printer. If the form requires attributes that are not available with the printer, the administrator is warned but the mount is accepted. If the form lists a print wheel as mandatory, but the print wheel mounted on the printer is different, the administrator is also warned but the mount is accepted. If the -a option is given, an alignment pattern is printed, preceded by the same initialization of the physical printer that precedes a normal print request, with one exception: no banner page is printed. Printing is assumed to start at the top of the first page of the form. After the pattern is printed, the administrator can adjust the mounted form in the printer and press return for another alignment pattern (no initialization this time), and can continue printing as many alignment patterns as desired. The administrator can quit the printing of alignment patterns by typing q. If the -o filebreak option is given, a formfeed is inserted between each copy of the alignment pattern. By default, the alignment pattern is assumed to correctly fill a form, so no formfeed is added. If the -t tray-number option is specified, printer tray tray-number is used. A form is ``unmounted'' either by mounting a new form in its place or by using the -f none option. By default, a new printer has no form mounted. Notice the other use of -f without the -M option above.
Mount the print-wheel on printer. Print requests that need the print-wheel are printed on printer. If more than one printer has print-wheel mounted and the user has specified any (with the -d option of the lp command) as the printer destination, then the print request is printed on the one printer that also meets the other needs of the request. If the print-wheel is not listed as acceptable for the printer, the administrator is warned but the mount is accepted. If the printer does not take print wheels, the command is rejected. A print wheel is ``unmounted'' either by mounting a new print wheel in its place or by using the option -S none. By default, a new printer has no print wheel mounted. Notice the other uses of the -S option without the -M option described below.
Specify a PPD file for creating and modifying printer queues. ppdfilename is the full path and file name to the PPD file. Used in conjunction with the -p, -d, -x, or -S options.
The -o option defines default printer configuration values given to an interface program. The default can be explicitly overwritten for individual requests by the user (see lp(1)), or taken from a preprinted form description (see lpforms(1M) and lp(1)). There are several options which are predefined by the system. In addition, any number of key-value pairs can be defined. See the section "Predefined Options Used with the -o Option", below.
Specify a paper type list that the printer supports.
Remove printer from the specified class. If printer is the last member of class, then class is removed.
Allow either the print wheels or aliases for character sets named in list to be used on the printer. If the printer is a type that takes print wheels, then list is a comma or space separated list of print wheel names. These are the only print wheels considered mountable on the printer. (You can always force a different print wheel to be mounted.) Until the option is used to specify a list, no print wheels are considered mountable on the printer, and print requests that ask for a particular print wheel with this printer are rejected. If the printer is a type that has selectable character sets, then list is a list of character set name ``mappings'' or aliases. Each ``mapping'' is of the form known-name=alias The known-name is a character set number preceded by cs (such as cs3 for character set three) or a character set name from the terminfo database entry csnm. See terminfo(4). If this option is not used to specify a list, only the names already known from the terminfo database or numbers with a prefix of cs is acceptable for the printer. If list is the word none, any existing print wheel lists or character set aliases are removed. Notice the other uses of the -S with the -M option described above. The -T option must be invoked first with lpadmin to identify the printer type before the -S option can be used.
The -s option can be used for both remote or local printers. For remote printers: -s system-name[!printer-name] (UUCP format)
-s printer-name@system-name (RCMD format)
Make a remote printer (one that must be accessed through another system) accessible to users on your system. system-name is the name of the remote system on which the remote printer is located it. printer-name is the name used on the remote system for that printer. For example, if you want to access printer1 on system1 and you want it called printer2 on your system:
-p printer2 -s system1!printer1
-p printer2 -s printer1@system1
Make a remote printer (one that must be accessed through another system) accessible to users on your system. The supported schemes include lpd and ipp. Specify URI's using the lpd format as follows:
lpd://server/printers/queue[#Solaris]URI's using the ipp format are defined by the remote print server. They are generally of the format:
ipp://server/printers/queueIn either case, server specifies the hostname or IP address of the remote print server, queue specifies the name of the print queue on the remote print server, and the optional #Solarisspecifies that the remote print server is a Solaris server when lpd URI format is being used. For example:
-p printer -s lpd://server/printers/queue#Solaris -p printer -s ipp://server/printers/queue
Use localhost for the system-name to be used by the print service. In an environment where the nodename is variable, print queues are invalidated when the nodename changes. Using localhost as the system-name allows print queues to be maintained across changing nodenames. The system-name, as used by the print service, is only set to localhost when explicitely set with this option; by default, lpadmin sets system-name to nodename. For example, if you want to configure a new printer on the local system, and want it called printer3: -p printer3 -s localhost -v device This option should never be used when creating name service maps.
Identify the printer as being of one or more printer-types. Each printer-type is used to extract data from the terminfo database; this information is used to initialize the printer before printing each user's request. Some filters might also use a printer-type to convert content for the printer. If this option is not used, the default printer-type is unknown. No information is extracted from terminfo so each user request is printed without first initializing the printer. Also, this option must be used if the following are to work: -o cpi, -o lpi, -o width, and -o length options of the lpadmin and lp commands, and the -S and -f options of the lpadmin command. If the printer-type-list contains more than one type, then the content-type-list of the -I option must either be specified as simple, as empty (-I ""), or not specified at all.
Specify the number of trays when creating the printer.
-u deny:login-ID-list
Allow or deny the users in login-ID-list access to the printer. By default all users are allowed on a new printer. The login-ID-list argument can include any or all of the following constructs: login-ID
a user on any system
a user on system system-name
all users on system system-name
a user on all systems
all users on all systems
The -U option allows your print service to access a remote printer. (It does not enable your print service to access a remote printer service.) Specifically, -U assigns the ``dialing'' information dial-info to the printer. dial-info is used with the dial routine to call the printer. Any network connection supported by the Basic Networking Utilities works. dial-info can be either a phone number for a modem connection, or a system name for other kinds of connections. Or, if -U direct is given, no dialing takes place, because the name direct is reserved for a printer that is directly connected. If a system name is given, it is used to search for connection details from the file /etc/uucp/Systems or related files. The Basic Networking Utilities are required to support this option. By default, -U direct is assumed.
Associate a device with printer. device is the path name of a file that is writable by lp. Notice that the same device can be associated with more than one printer.
Associate a network attached device with printer. scheme is the method or protocol used to access the network attached device and end-point is the information necessary to contact that network attached device. Use of this device format requires the use of the uri interface script and can only be used with the smb scheme at this time. For example:
# lpadmin -p queue -v smb://smb-service/printer -m uriSee the /usr/sfw/man/man1m/smbspool.1m man page for details.
The -x dest option removes the destination dest (a printer or a class), from the LP print service. If dest is a printer and is the only member of a class, then the class is deleted, too. If dest is all, all printers and classes are removed. If there are no remaining local printers and the scheduler is still running, the scheduler is shut down.
No other options are allowed with -x.
The -d [dest] option makes dest (an existing printer or class) the new system default destination. If dest is not supplied, then there is no system default destination. No other options are allowed with -d.
The -S print-wheel option is used with the -A alert-type option to define an alert to mount the print wheel when there are jobs queued for it. If this command is not used to arrange alerting for a print wheel, no alert is sent for the print wheel. Notice the other use of -A, with the -p option, above. The alert-types are: mail
Send the alert message using the mail command to the administrator.
Write the message, using the write command, to the terminal on which the administrator is logged in. If the administrator is logged in on several terminals, one is arbitrarily chosen.
Do not send messages for the current condition. An administrator can use this option to temporarily stop receiving further messages about a known problem. Once the print-wheel has been mounted and subsequently unmounted, messages are sent againwhen the number of print requests reaches the threshold specified by the -Q option.
Do not send messages until the -A option is given again with a different alert-type (other than quiet).
Run the shell-command each time the alert needs to be sent. The shell command should expect the message in standard input. If there are blanks embedded in the command, enclose the command in quotes. Notice that the mail and write values for this option are equivalent to the values mail user-name and write user-name respectively, where user-name is the current name for the administrator. This is the login name of the person submitting this command unless he or she has used the su command to change to another user ID. If the su command has been used to change the user ID, then the user-name for the new ID is used.
Display the type of the alert for the print wheel on standard output. No change is made to the alert.
The print wheel print-wheel needs to be mounted on the printer(s): printer(integer1requests) integer2 print requests await this print wheel.The printers listed are those that the administrator had earlier specified were candidates for this print wheel. The number integer1 listed next to each printer is the number of requests eligible for the printer. The number integer2 shown after the printer list is the total number of requests awaiting the print wheel. It is less than the sum of the other numbers if some requests can be handled by more than one printer. If the print-wheel is all, the alerting defined in this command applies to all print wheels already defined to have an alert. If the -W option is not given, the default procedure is that only one message is sent per need to mount the print wheel. Not specifying the -W option is equivalent to specifying -W once or -W 0. If minutes is a number greater than zero, an alert is sent at intervals specified by minutes. If the -Q option is also given, the alert is sent when a certain number (specified by the argument requests) of print requests that need the print wheel are waiting. If the -Q option is not given, or requests is 1 or any (which are both the default), a message is sent as soon as anyone submits a print request for the print wheel when it is not mounted.
A number of options, described below, are predefined for use with -o. These options are used for adjusting printer capabilities, adjusting printer port characteristics, configuring network printers, and controlling the use of banner. The -o also supports an arbitrary keyword=value format, which is referred to below as an undefined option.
The length, width, cpi, and lpi parameters can be used in conjunction with the -o option to adjust printer capabilities. The format of the parameters and their values is as follows:
length=scaled-decimal-number width=scaled-decimal-number cpi=scaled-decimal-number lpi=scaled-decimal-number
The term scaled-decimal-number refers to a non-negative number used to indicate a unit of size. The type of unit is shown by a ``trailing'' letter attached to the number. Three types of scaled-decimal-numbers can be used with the LP print service: numbers that show sizes in centimeters (marked with a trailing c); numbers that show sizes in inches (marked with a trailing i); and numbers that show sizes in units appropriate to use (without a trailing letter), that is, lines, characters, lines per inch, or characters per inch.
The option values must agree with the capabilities of the type of physical printer, as defined in the terminfo database for the printer type. If they do not, the command is rejected.
The defaults are defined in the terminfo entry for the specified printer type. The defaults can be reset by:
lpadmin -p printername -o length=
lpadmin -p printername -o width=
lpadmin -p printername -o cpi=
lpadmin -p printername -o lpi=
You use the stty keyword in conjunction with the o option to adjust printer port characteristics. The general form of the stty portion of the command is:
stty="'stty-option-list'"
The stty-option-list is not checked for allowed values, but is passed directly to the stty program by the standard interface program. Any error messages produced by stty when a request is processed (by the standard interface program) are mailed to the user submitting the request.
The default for stty is:
stty="'9600 cs8 -cstopb -parenb ixon -ixany opost -olcuc onlcr -ocrnl -onocr -onlret -ofill nl0 cr0 tab0 bs0 vt0 ff0'"
The default can be reset by:
lpadmin -p printername -o stty=
The dest, protocol, bsdctrl, and timeout parameters are used in conjunction with the -o option to configure network printers. The format of these keywords and their assigned values is as follows:
dest=string protocol=string bsdctrl=string \e timeout=non-negative-integer-seconds
These four options are provided to support network printing. Each option is passed directly to the interface program; any checking for allowed values is done there.
The value of dest is the name of the destination for the network printer; the semantics for value dest are dependent on the printer and the configuration. There is no default.
The value of option protocol sets the over-the-wire protocol to the printer. The default for option protocol is bsd. The value of option bsdctrl sets the print order of control and data files (BSD protocol only); the default for this option is control file first. The value of option timeout sets the seed value for backoff time when the printer is busy. The default value for the timeout option is 10 seconds. The defaults can be reset by:
lpadmin -p printername -o protocol= lpadmin -p printername -o bsdctrl= lpadmin -p printername -o timeout=
Use the following commands to control the use of the banner page:
lpadmin -p printer -o nobanner lpadmin -p printer -o banner lpadmin -p printer -o banner=always lpadmin -p printer -o banner=never lpadmin -p printer -o banner=optional
The first and fifth commands (-o nobanner and -o banner=optional) are equivalent. The default is to print the banner page, unless a user specifies -o nobanner on an lp command line.
The second and third commands (-o banner and -o banner=always) are equivalent. Both cause a banner page to be printed always, even if a user specifies lp -o nobanner. The root user can override this command.
The fourth command (-o banner=never) causes a banner page never to be printed, even if a user specifies lp -o banner. The root user can override this command.
The -o option supports the use of arbitrary, user-defined options with the following format: key=value
Each key=value is passed directly to the interface program. Any checking for allowed values is done in the interface program. Any default values for a given key=value option are defined in the interface program. If a default is provided, it can be reset by typing the key without any value:
lpadmin -p printername -o key=
Sets boolean values foo=true | foo=false.
In the following examples, prtr can be any name up to 14 characters and can be the same name as the ping(1M) name.
Example 1 Configuring an HP Postscript Printer with a Jet Direct Network Interface
The following example configures an HP postscript printer with a jet direct network interface:
example# lpadmin -p prtr -v /dev/null -m netstandard \e -o dest=ping_name_of_prtr:9100 -o protocol=tcp -T PS -I \e postscript example# enable prtr example# accept prtr
Example 2 Configuring a Standard Postscript Network Printer
The following example configures a standard postscript network printer:
example# lpadmin -p prtr -v /dev/null -m netstandard \e -o dest=ping_name_of_prtr -T PS -I postscript example# enable prtr example# accept prtr
The following exit values are returned: 0
Successful completion.
An error occurred.
Fault handler for lpadmin
System printer configuration database
See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attributes:
| ATTRIBUTE TYPE ATTRIBUTE VALUE |
| Interface Stability Obsolete |
enable(1), lp(1), lpstat(1), mail(1), stty(1), accept(1M), lpforms(1M), lpsched(1M), lpsystem(1M), ping(1M), dial(3NSL), terminfo(4), attributes(5)
When using lpadmin to provide access to a remote printer, remote configuration data is stored in /etc/printers.conf. This data includes a bsdaddr and a printer-uri-supported attribute. The data in this file can be shared through the use of a network name service or replicated across multiple systems. If the data is shared, it is important to make sure that the bsdaddr and printer-uri-supported contain hostname information that is correctly resolved on all hosts sharing this data. Also, the printer-uri-supported is the preferred means of accessing remote print service. The bsdaddr is supplied for backward compatability with Solaris 2.6-10 systems.