NAME

lpd, lpdrestart − line printer daemon, restart downed daemons at reboot time

SYNOPSIS

/usr/lib/lpd printer
/usr/lib/lpdrestart

DESCRIPTION

Lpd is the line printer daemon (spool area handler) invoked by lpr(1). It uses the printer name argument to determine the spooling directory, and other pertinent information.  The file lock in that directory is used to prevent multiple daemons from becoming active simultaneously, and to store information about the daemon process for lpq(1) and lprm(1). After the daemon has succesfully set the lock, it scans the directory for files beginning with cf.  Lines in each cf file specify files to be printed or non-printing actions to be performed.  Each such line begins with a key character to specify what to do with the remainder of the line. 

JJob Name.  String to be used for the job name on the burst page. 

CClassification.  String to be used for the classification line on the burst page. 

LLiteral.  The line contains identification info from the password file and causes the banner page to be printed. 

TTitle.  String to be used as the title for pr(1). 

HHost Name.  Name of the machine where lpr was invoked. 

PPerson.  Login name of the person who invoked lpr.  This is used to verify ownership by lprm. 

MSend mail to the specified user when the current print job completes. 

fFormatted File.  Name of a file to print which is already formatted. 

lLike ‘f’ but passes control characters and does not make page breaks. 

pName of a file to print using pr(1) as a filter.

tTroff File.  The file contains troff(1) output.

cCifplot File. The file contains data produced by cifplot. 

vVplot File.  The file contains data produced by vplot. 

1Troff Font R. Name of the font file to use instead of the default. 

2Troff Font I. Name of the font file to use instead of the default. 

3Troff Font B. Name of the font file to use instead of the default. 

4Troff Font S. Name of the font file to use instead of the default. 

IIndent.  The number of characters to indent the output by (in ascii). 

UUnlink.  Name of file to remove upon completion of printing. 

NFile name.  The name of the file which is being printed, or a blank for the standard input (when lpr is invoked in a pipeline). 

Inability to open a file will result in a message being printed in the log file (normally the console).  lpd will try up to 20 times to reopen a file it expects to be there, after which it will skip the file to be printed. 

Lpd uses flock(2) to provide exclusive access to the lock file and to prevent multiple deamons from becoming active simultaneously. If the daemon should be killed or die unexpectedly, the lock file need not be removed. The lock file is maintained in a character format and contains two lines. The first is the process id of the daemon and the second is the control file name of the current job being printed.  The second line is updated to reflect the current status of lpd for the programs lpq(1) and lprm(1).

lpdrestart is normally placed in the rc(8) file to automatically restart spooling daemons after a crash. It makes a single pass through the printcap(5) file to find out about the existing printers.

FILES

/etc/printcapprinter description file
/usr/spool/∗spool directories
/dev/lp∗line printer devices

SEE ALSO

lpr(1), lpq(1), lprm(1), printcap(5)

Sun System Release 0.3  —  27 March 1983