qconfig
Purpose
Configures a printer queueing system.
Description
The /etc/qconfig file describes the queues and devices
available for use by the print command, which places
requests on a queue, and the qdaemon command, which
removes requests from the queue and processes them. The
/etc/qconfig file is an attribute file. See "attributes"
for details about the format of attribute files.
Some stanzas in this file describe queues, and other
stanzas describe devices. Every queue stanza requires
that one or more device stanzas immediately follow it in
the file. The first queue stanza describes the default
queue. The print command uses this queue when it
receives no queue parameter.
The name of a queue stanza must be 1 to 3 characters
long. The following table shows some of the field names
along with some of the possible values that appear in
this file:
acctfile Identifies the file used to save print
accounting information. FALSE, the default,
indicates suppress accounting. If the named
file does not exist, no accounting is done.
argname Identifies the queue name identifier that is
used in the print command to specify the
queue.
device Identifies the symbolic name that refers to
the device stanza.
discipline Defines the queue serving algorithm. fcfs,
the default, means first come first served.
sjn means shortest job next.
friend Indicates whether the backend updates the
status file and responds to terminate
signals. TRUE is the default. FALSE indi-
cates it does not.
up Defines the state of the queue. TRUE, the
default, indicates that it is running.
FALSE indicates that it is not running.
If a field is omitted, its default value is assumed. The
default values for a queue stanza are:
friend = TRUE
discipline = fcfs
up = TRUE
acctfile = FALSE
Also, the default argname value is the name of the stanza
preceded by a "-" (dash). The device field cannot be
omitted.
The name of a device stanza is arbitrary. The fields
that can appear in it stanza are:
access Specifies the type of access the backend has to
the file specified by the file field. The
value of access is write if the backend has
write access to the file, or both if it has
both read and write access. This field is
ignored if the file field has the value FALSE.
align Specifies whether the backend sends a form-feed
control before starting the job if the printer
was idle. The default is FALSE.
backend Specifies the full path name of the backend,
optionally followed by flags and parameters to
be passed to it.
feed Specifies the number of separator pages to
print when the device becomes idle, or the
value never, which indicates that the backend
is not to print separator pages.
file Identifies the special file where the output of
backend is to be redirected. FALSE, the
default, indicates no redirection. In this
case, the backend opens the output file.
header Specifies whether a header page prints before
each job or group of jobs. never, the default,
indicates no header page at all. always means
a header page before each job. group means a
header before each group of jobs for the same
user.
trailer Specifies whether a trailer page prints after
each job or group of jobs. never, the default,
means no trailer page at all. always means a
trailer page after each job. group means a
trailer page after each group of jobs for the
same user.
The qdaemon places the information contained in the feed,
header, trailer, and align fields into a status file that
is sent to the backend. Backends that do not update the
status file do not use the information it contains.
If a field is omitted, its default value is assumed. The
backend field cannot be omitted. The default values in a
device stanza are:
file = FALSE
access = write
feed = never
header = never
trailer = never
align = FALSE
The print command automatically converts the ASCII
qconfig file to binary when the binary version is missing
or older than the ASCII version. The binary version is
found in /etc/qconfig.bin.
Unlike the format of the ports file, the qconfig file
format does not allow default stanzas.
Examples
1. The batch queue supplied with the AIX system might
contain these stanzas:
bsh:
argname = bsh
friend = FALSE
discipline = fcfs
device = bshdev
bshdev:
backend = /bin/sh
To run a shell procedure called "myproc" using this
batch queue, type:
print bsh myproc
The queuing system runs the files one at a time, in
the order submitted. The qdaemon process redirects
standard input, standard output, and standard error
to the /dev/null file.
2. To allow two batch jobs to run at once:
bsh:
argname = save
friend = FALSE
discipline = fcfs
device = bsh1,bsh2
bsh1:
backend = /bin/sh
bsh2:
backend = /bin/sh
Files
/etc/qconfig
/etc/qconfig.bin
/usr/lpd/digest
Related Information
In this book: "attributes."
The print, lp, and qdaemon commands in AIX Operating
System Commands Reference.