PRINTCAP(5)               OpenBSD Programmer's Manual              PRINTCAP(5)

NAME
     printcap - printer capability data base

SYNOPSIS
     printcap

DESCRIPTION
     The printcap file is a simplified version of the termcap(5) data base
     used to describe line printers.  The spooling system accesses the print-
     cap 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, as is possible for termcap,
     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.

     Refer to the 4.3 BSD Line Printer Spooler Manual for a complete discus-
     sion on how to setup the database for a given printer.

CAPABILITIES
     Refer to termcap(5) for a description of the file layout.

     Name    Type    Default           Description
     af      str     NULL              name of accounting file
     br      num     none              if lp is a tty, set the baud rate
                                       (ioctl(2) call)
     cf      str     NULL              cifplot data filter
     df      str     NULL              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 device is opened
     fs      num     0                 like `fc' but set bits
     gf      str     NULL              graph data filter (plot(3) 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 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 to local
                                       printer, or port@host for remote
                                       printer/printer on print server
     ms      str     NULL              list of terminal modes to set or clear
     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
     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     /var/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.

FILTERS
     If a printer is specified via lp (either local or remote), the lpd(8)
     daemon creates a pipeline of ``filters'' to process files for various
     printer types.  The pipeline is not set up for remote printers specified
     via rm unless the local host is the same as the remote printer host giv-
     en.  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 liter-
     ally) is specified to lpr.  width and length specify the page width and
     length (from pw and pl respectively) in characters.  The -n and -h param-
     eters specify the login name and host name of the owner of the job re-
     spectively.  The acct-file function 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 corre-
     sponding 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.

SEE ALSO
     lpq(1),  lpr(1),  lprm(1),  termcap(5),  lpc(8),  lpd(8),  pac(8)

     4.3 BSD Line Printer Spooler Manual.

HISTORY
     The printcap file format appeared in 4.2BSD.

OpenBSD 2.6                    December 11, 1993                             3
