LPADMIN(ADM) UNIX System V
Name
lpadmin - configure the print service
Syntax
/usr/lib/lpadmin -p printer options
/usr/lib/lpadmin -x dest
/usr/lib/lpadmin -d [dest]
/usr/lib/lpadmin -S print-wheel -A alert-type [-W integer ]
[-Q integer ] 1
2
Description
lpadmin configures the LP print service to describe 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. and to define printers for remote printing
services.
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
Restores the LP print service after a printer fault
according to the value of fault-recovery:
continue
Continues printing on the top of the page where
printing stopped. This requires a filter to
wait for the fault to clear before
automatically continuing.
beginning
Starts printing the request again from the
beginning.
wait Disables printing on the printer and waits 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
Inserts printer P into the specified class. class will be
created if it does not already exist.
-D comment
Saves comment for display whenever a user asks for a full
description of the printer P [see lpstat(C)]. The LP print
service does not interpret this comment.
-e printer
Copies an existing printer's interface program to be the new
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 li``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 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 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.
The type simple is recognized as the default content-type of
files on the 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. 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 mounted and the
user has specified any (with the -d option of the lp
command) as the printer destination, then each print request
will be printed on the one that 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(F)
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, press return for another alignment pattern (no
initialization this time), and 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. The -f none option can be used to
specify no form. By default, a new printer has no form
mounted.
Note the other use of -f above.
-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 the print-wheel mounted and the user
has specified any (with the -d option of the lp command) as
the printer destination, then each print request will be
printed on the one that 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 -S none option.
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(C)]. 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
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 are discussed for 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(F) 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(C) program by the standard
interface program. Any error messages produced by stty(C)
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=
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 machine-list
Sets up remote machines in machine-list to share print
services. The LP print service arranges for the advertising
and mounting of all necessary resources and for automatic
recovery of shared print services when the machine is
brought to a state where RFS is run.
The LP Spooler keeps the parts of the print service owned by
each machine separate, so that the administrator on one
machine can change only the service provided by his or her
machine. The LP Spooler provides for no centrally managed
print service using RFS.
-r class
Removes printer P from the specified class. If P is the
last member of the class, then the class will be removed.
-S list
Allows the aliases for character sets or print wheels named
in list to be used with P.
If the printer is a type that takes print wheels, then list
is a list of print wheel names separated by commas or
spaces. 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 list of character set name mappings or
aliases separated by commas or spaces. Each mapping is of
the form
known-name = synonym
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(F) 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, the previous 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(F); 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(F), 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 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
Assigns the dialing information dial-info to the printer.
dial-info is used with the dial(S) 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 new 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.
-A alert-type [-W integer]
The -A option is used to send the alert alert-type to 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 Sends the alert message via mail [see mail(C)] to the
administrator who issues this command.
write
Writes 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
Does 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 Does not send messages until this command is given
again with a different alert-type; removes any existing
alert definition. No alert will be sent when the
printer faults until a different alert-type is used
(except quiet).
shell-command
shell-command is run each time the alert needs to be
sent. 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 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.
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 print wheel print-wheel needs to be mounted
on the printer(s):
printer-list
number-of-requests print requests await this print-wheel.
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 repeated 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 given or integer1 is zero (which
represents once and is also the default), only one message
will be sent per fault. If this command 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.
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 are 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.
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 as soon as the print-wheel needs to be
mounted and periodically thereafter. The alert-types
are
mail Sends the alert message via mail [see mail(C)]
to the administrator who issues this command.
write Writes 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 Does 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 Does not send messages until this command 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
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.
list The type of the alert for the print wheel is
displayed on the standard output. No change is
made to the alert.
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.
Only one administrator per print wheel can be alerted.
If this command is run by more than one administrator
for the same print wheel, the last command run applies.
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 this command is not used to arrange alerting
for a print wheel, no alerts will be sent for the print
wheel.
If the -Q option is also given, the alert will be made
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, 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.
Defining Remote Printers
for Remote Printing Services
The fourth form of the lpadmin command is used to define the
remote printer, printer-name2, and its machine, machine-
name, that will handle remote print requests from the local
machine. The remote printer will be be referred to as
printer-name1 on the local machine.
Files
/usr/spool/lp/*
See Also
accept(ADM), enable(C), lp(C), lpstat(C), stty(C),
lpsched(ADM), terminfo(F)
Authorization
Permission to use this utility is assigned with the lp
authorization, which is usually reserved for system
administrators.
(printed 8/23/89) LPADMIN(ADM)