LPADMIN(1M) (Line Printer Spooling Utilities) LPADMIN(1M)
NAME
lpadmin - configure the LP print service
SYNOPSIS
/usr/lib/lpadmin -p printer -Ffault recovery -c class -D
comment -e printer -f allow:form-list -f deny:form-list -h
-i interface -I content-type-list -I -M -fform-name[-a[-o
filebreak]] -M -S print-wheel -m model -o printing-option -o
nobanner -o banner -r class -S list -T printer-type -u
allow:user-list -u deny:user-list -Udail-info -vdevice
-Aalert-type[-Winteger]
/usr/lib/lpadmin -x dest
/usr/lib/lpadmin -d [dest]
/usr/lib/lpadmin -S print-wheel -A alert-type [-W integer1]
[-Q integer2]
DESCRIPTION
lpadmin configures the LP print service by defining printers
and devices. It is used to add and change printers, to
remove printers from the service, to set or change the
system default destination, and to define alerts for print
wheels.
Adding or Changing a Printer
The first form of the lpadmin command (lpadmin -p printer
options) is used to configure a new printer or to change the
configuration of an existing printer. The following options
are used, and may appear in any order. For ease of
discussion, the printer will be referred to as P below.
-F fault-recovery
Restore the LP print service after 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.
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beginning
Start printing the request again from the
beginning.
wait Disable printing on the 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. If no change request
is made before printing is enabled, printing
will resume at the top of the page where
stopped, if the filter allows; otherwise, the
request will be printed from the beginning.
This option specifies the recovery to be used for any
print request that is stopped because of a printer
fault.
-c class
Insert printer P into the specified class. Class will
be created if it does not already exist.
-D comment
Save this comment for display whenever a user asks for
a full description of the printer P (see lpstat(1)).
The LP print service does not interpret this comment.
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-e printer
Copy an existing printer's interface program to be the
interface program for printer P.
-f allow:form-list
-f deny:form-list
Allows (-f allow) or denies (-f deny) the forms in
form-list to be printed on printer P.
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
shouldn't 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 removed from the allow-
list and added to the deny-list.
If the allow-list is not empty, the forms in the list
can be used with the printer and all others cannot,
regardless of the content 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 having an
empty allow-list and putting the word any in the deny-
list. All forms can be used on a printer by having an
empty deny-list and specifying any for the allow-list,
provided the printer can handle all the characteristics
of the forms.
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
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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
notified by mail.
If an administrator tries to name a form as acceptable
for use on a printer that doesn't have the capabilities
needed by the form, the command is rejected.
Note the other use of -f below.
-h Indicates that the device associated with P is
hardwired. This option is assumed when adding a new
printer unless the -l option is supplied.
-i interface
Establishes a new interface program for P. Interface
is the path name of the new program.
-I content-type-list
Assigns P to handle print requests with content of a
type listed in content-type-list.
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The type simple is recognized as the default content-
type of files in the UNIX system. Such a data stream
contains only printable ASCII characters and the
following control characters.
Control Character Octal Value Meaning
____________________________________________________________________
backspace 108 move back to previous column,
except at beginning of line
tab 118 move to next tab stop
linefeed (newline) 128 move to beginning of next line
form feed 148 move to beginning of next page
carriage return 158 move to beginning of current line
To force the print service to not consider simple as a
valid type for the printer, give an explicit value
(e.g., the printer type) in the content-type-list.
Vice versa, if you do want simple included along with
other types, you must include simple in the content-
type-list.
Each printer automatically has its printer type
included in the list of content types it will accept.
Except for simple, each content-type name is freely
determined by the administrator. If names given as
content types are also printer types, the names are
accepted without comment, because the LP print service
recognizes all printer types as potential content types
as well.
-l Indicates that the device associated with P is a login
terminal. The LP scheduler, lpsched, disables all
login terminals automatically each time it is started.
Before re-enabling P, its current device should be
established using lpadmin.
-M -f form-name [-a [-o filebreak]]
Mounts the form form-name on P. Print requests to be
printed with the pre-printed form form-name will be
printed on P. If more than one printer has the form
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mounted and the user has specified any (with the -d
option of the lp command) as the printer destination,
then the print request will be printed on the one 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(4) 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 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.
A form is "unmounted" by mounting a new form in its
place using the -f option or the -f none option. By
default, a new printer has no form mounted.
Note the other use of -f above.
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-M -S print-wheel
Mounts the print wheel print-wheel on P. Print
requests to be printed with print-wheel will be printed
on P. 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 will be printed on the one 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" by mounting a new print
wheel in its place or by using the option -S none.
By default, a new printer has no special print wheel
mounted. Until this is changed, a print request that
asks for a specific print wheel will not be printed on
P.
Note the other uses of the -S option described below.
-m model
Selects a model interface program, provided with the LP
print service, for printer P.
-o printing-option
Each -o option in the list below is the default given
to an interface program if the option is not taken from
a preprinted form description or is not explicitly
given by the user submitting a request (see lp(1)).
The only -o options that can have defaults defined are
listed below.
length=scaled-decimal-number
width=scaled-decimal-number
cpi=scaled-decimal-number
lpi=scaled-decimal-number
stty='stty-option-list'
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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), i.e.,
lines, columns, lines per inch, or characters per inch.
The first four default option values should agree with
the capabilities of the type of physical printer, as
defined in the terminfo(4) database for the printer
type. If they do not, the command is rejected.
The stty-option-list is not checked for allowed values,
but is passed directly to the stty(1) program by the
standard interface program. Any error messages
produced by stty(1) when a request is processed (by the
standard interface program) are mailed to the user
submitting the request.
For each printing option not specified, the defaults
for the following attributes are defined in the
Terminfo entry for the specified printer type.
length
width
cpi
lpi
The default for stty is
stty=9600 cs8 -cstopb -parenb -paroff ixon
-ixany opost -olcuc -onlcr -ocrnl -onocr
-onlret -ofill nl0 cr0 tab0 bs0 vt0 ff0
You can set any of the -o options to the default values
(which vary for different types of printers), by typing
them without assigned values, as follows:
length=
width=
cpi=
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lpi=
stty=
-o nobanner
Allows users to submit a print request that asks that
no banner page be printed.
-o banner
Forces a banner page to be printed with every print
request, even when a user asks for no banner page.
This is the default; you must specify -o nobanner if
you want to allow users to specify -o nobanner with the
lp command.
-r class
Removes printer P from the specified class. If P is
the last member of the printer class class, then class
will be removed.
-S list
Allows the print wheels or aliases for character sets
named in list to be used with P.
If the printer is a type that takes print wheels, then
list is a comma or space separated list of print wheel
names. (Enclose the list with quotes if it contains
blanks.) These will be the only print wheels
considered mountable on the printer. (You can always
force a different print wheel to be mounted, however.)
Until the option is used to specify a list, no print
wheels will be considered mountable on the printer, and
print requests that ask for a particular print wheel
with this printer will be rejected.
If the printer is a type that has selectable character
sets, then list is a comma or separated list of
character set name "mappings" or aliases. (Enclose the
list with quotes if it contains blanks.) Each
"mapping" is of the form
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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 csnm entry. (See
terminfo(4) in the Programmer's Reference Manual.) 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 will be acceptable for the
printer.
If list is the word none, any existing print wheel list
or character set aliases will be removed.
Note the other uses of the -S option
-T printer-type
Assigns the given printer-type, a representation of a
physical printer of type printer-type. Printer-type is
used to extract data from terminfo(4); this data is
used to initialize the printer before printing each
user's request. Some filters may also use printer-type
to convert content for the printer. If this option is
not used, the default printer-type will be unknown; no
useful information will be extracted from terminfo(4)
so each user request will be 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.
-u allow:user-list
-u deny:user-list
Allows (-u allow) or denies (-u deny) the users in
user-list access to P.
For normal access to each printer the LP print service
keeps two lists of users: an "allow-list" of people
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allowed to use the printer, and a "deny-list" of people
denied access to the printer. With the -u allow
option, the users listed are added to the allow-list
and removed from the deny-list. With the -u deny
option, the users listed are removed from the allow-
list and added to the deny-list.
If the allow-list is not empty, the users in the list
are allowed access to the printer and all others are
denied access, regardless of the content of the deny-
list. If the allow-list is empty, but the deny-list is
not, the users in the deny-list are denied access and
all others are allowed. If both lists are empty, all
users are allowed access. Access can be denied to all
users, except the LP print service administrator, by
putting any in the deny-list. To allow everyone access
to P and effectively empty both lists, put any in the
allow-list.
-U dial-info
Assign the "dialing" information dial-info to the
printer. Dial-info is used with the dial(3) routine to
call the printer. Any network connection supported by
the Basic Networking Utilities will work. 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 will take 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
/usr/lib/uucp/Systems or related files. The Basic
Networking Utilities are required to support this
option. By default, -U direct is assumed.
-v device
Associates a device with printer P. Device is the path
name of a file that is writable by lp. Note that the
same device can be associated with more than one
printer.
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-A alert-type [-W integer]
The -A option is used to define an alert-type to inform
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 via mail (see mail(1))
to the administrator who issues this command.
write 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.
quiet 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 will
again be sent when another fault occurs with
the printer.
none Do not send messages; any existing alert
definition for the printer will be removed. No
alert will be sent when the printer faults
until a different alert-type (except quiet) is
used.
shell-command
The shell-command is run each time the alert
needs to be sent. The shell command should
expect the message as standard input. If there
are blanks embedded in the command, enclose the
command in quotes. Note 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 will be the
login name of the person submitting this
command unless he or she has used the su(1)
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command to change to another user ID. If the
su(1) command has been used to change the user
ID, then the user-name for the new ID is used.
list The type of the alert for the printer fault is
displayed on the standard output. No change is
made to the alert.
The message sent appears as follows:
The printer printer-name has stopped printing for the
reason given below. Fix the problem and bring the
printer back on line. Printing has stopped, but will
be restarted in a few minutes; issue an enable
command if you want to restart sooner. Unless
someone issues a change request
lp -i request-id -P ...
to change the page list to print, the current request
will be reprinted from the beginning.
The reason(s) it stopped (multiple reasons indicate
reprinted attempts):
reason
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 the printer-name is all, the alerting defined in
this command applies to all existing printers.
If the -W option is not used to arrange fault alerting
for a printer, the default procedure is to mail one
message to the administrator of the printer per fault.
Similarly, if integer is zero, only one message will be
sent per fault. If integer is a non-zero number, an
alert will be sent every integer minute(s).
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LPADMIN(1M) (Line Printer Spooling Utilities) LPADMIN(1M)
Restrictions
When creating a new printer, either the -v or the -U
option must be supplied. In addition, only one of the
following may be supplied: -e, -i, or -m; if none of
these three options is supplied, the model standard is
used. The -h and -l keyletters are mutually exclusive.
Printer and class names may be no longer than 14
characters and must consist entirely of the characters
A-Z, a-z, 0-9 and (underscore).
Removing a Printer Destination
The -x dest option removes the destination dest from the LP
print service. If dest is a printer and is the only member
of a class, then the class will be deleted, too. If dest is
all, all printers and classes are removed. No other options
are allowed with -x.
Setting/Changing the System Default Destination
The -d [dest] option makes dest, an existing destination,
the new system default destination. If dest is not
supplied, then there is no system default destination. No
other options are allowed with -d.
Setting an Alert for a Print Wheel
-S print-wheel -A alert-type [-W integer1] [-Q integer2]
The -S print-wheel option is used with the -A alert-
type option to send the alert alert-type to the
administrator to mount the print wheel when there is
one or more jobs queued for it. If this command is not
used to arrange alerting for a print wheel, no alert
will be sent for the print wheel. The alert-types are:
mail Send the alert message via mail (see mail(1))
to the administrator who issues this command.
write Write the message to the terminal on which the
administrator is logged in. If the
administrator is logged in on several
terminals, one is arbitrarily chosen.
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LPADMIN(1M) (Line Printer Spooling Utilities) LPADMIN(1M)
quiet 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 will again be sent when the number of
print requests again exceeds the threshold.
none Do not send messages until the -A option is
given again with a different alert-type (other
than quiet).
shell-command
The shell-command is run each time the alert
needs to be sent. The shell command should
expect the message as standard input. If there
are blanks embedded in the command, enclose the
command in quotes. Note 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 will be the
login name of the person submitting this
command unless he or she has used the su(1)
command to change to another user ID. If the
su(1) command has been used to change the user
ID, then the user-name for the new ID is used.
list The type of the alert for the print wheel is
displayed on the standard output. No change is
made to the alert.
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The message sent appears as follows:
The print wheel print-wheel needs to be mounted
on the printer(s):
printer (integer3 requests)
integer4 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 (integer3) listed next to each
printer is the number of requests eligible for the
printer. The number (integer4) shown after the printer
list is the total number of requests awaiting the print
wheel. It will be 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 or integer1 is zero
(which is interpreted as once and is also the default),
only one message will be sent per need to mount a print
wheel. If integer1 is a non-zero number, an alert will
be sent every integer1 minute(s).
If the -Q option is also given, the alert will be sent
when integer2 print requests that need the print wheel
are waiting. If the -Q option is not given, or
integer2 is 1 or the word 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.
The -S option has a different meaning when used with
the -p option.
FILES
/usr/spool/lp/*
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SEE ALSO
accept(1M), lpsched(1M).
enable(1), lp(1), lpstat(1), stty(1) in the User's Reference
Manual.
dial(3), terminfo(4) in the Programmer's Reference Manual.
Page 17 May 1989