NAME
foomatic-rip - Universal print filter/RIP wrapper
SYNOPSIS
General Options:
foomatic-rip [-v] [-q] <spooler-specific options>
Spooler-less printing/CPS (older versions) filter:
foomatic-rip [-P <printer> | --ppd <ppdfile> ] [-J <jobtitle> ] [-o
<option>=<value> [...]] [<files>]
CUPS filter:
foomatic-rip <jobid> <user> <jobtitle> <numcopies> <options> [<file>]
LPRng filter:
foomatic-
rip --lprng [-J<jobtitle>][-Z<option>=<value>[,<option>=<value>[, ...]] <ppdfile>
foomatic-
rip [-J<jobtitle>][-Z<option>=<value>[,<option>=<value>[, ...]]
(printcap :pdd=<ppdfile>)
foomatic-
rip --ppd <ppdfile>[-J<jobtitle>] [-Z<option>=<value>[,<option>=<value>[, ...]]
LPD/GNUlpr filter:
foomatic-
rip [-w <number>] [-l <number>] [-x <number>] [-y <number>] [-i <number>] [-c] [-n <string>] [-h <string>] [-j|-J <jobtitle>|<options>] <ppdfile>
PPR RIP:
foomatic-rip [<option>=<value> [...]]
PPR interface:
foomatic-
rip <queue> <destaddress> <options> <jobbreak> <feedback> <codes> <jobname> <routing> <for> <filetype> [<file>]
PDQ driver file generation:
foomatic-
rip [--ppd <ppdfile>] [-o <option>=<value> [...]] --genpdq|--appendpdq|--genrawpdq|--appendrawpdq
PDQ filter:
foomatic-rip --pdq --ppd <ppdfile>] [-o <option>=<value> [...]] <file>
CPS (newer versions) filter:
foomatic-
rip --cps -P <printer> [-J <jobtitle>] [-o <option>=<value> [...]] [<files>]
DESCRIPTION
foomatic-rip is a universal print filter which works with every known
free software printer spooler. It has the following features:
It translates PostScript and PDF (and also other file formats) from
standard input to the printer's native language (usually put to
standard output).
The translation is done with an external renderer, usually Ghostscript
(gs(1)). If no translation is needed (PostScript printer) the
renderer's command line reduces to cat(1). The way how this translation
is done is described in a PPD file.
Printer capabilities, how to handle user options, and how to build the
renderer command line is always described by PPD files, these PPD files
usually come from Foomatic or can be the ones supplied by the
manufacturers of PostScript printers. The PPD files are the same for
all spoolers.
foomatic-rip works with every known spooler (CUPS, LPRng, LPD, GNUlpr,
PPR, PDQ, CPS, and without spooler). It auto-detects the spooler from
which it was called by the command line options and environment
variables which were supplied by the spooler.
Non-PostScript/PDF files are translated to PostScript before they are
passed to the renderer. This is usually done by a2ps(1), enscript(1),
or mpage(1). foomatic-rip auto-detects which program is installed, but
manual configuration is also possible.
foomatic-rip does not only apply option settings supplied by the user
through the command line of the printing command, but also searches the
entire job for embedded option settings (only PostScript jobs). Here
not only settings affectimg the whole job are taken into account, but
also settings in the page headers, which are only valid for the page
where they were found, so applications which produce PostScript code
with page-specific printer option settings are fully supported.
SPOOLER-LESS PRINTING
Options
-v verbose mode for debugging. WARNING: This will create a file
in /tmp that contains the debugging information. This opens
a security loophole and should not be used in production.
-q quiet mode - minimal information output
-P <printer>
<printer> is the configured printer which should be used for
this job.
--ppd <ppdfile>
The PPD file <ppdfile> should be applied for processing this
job.
-J <jobtitle>
The <jobtitle> will be printed in the head line of every page
of a plain text job.
-o <option>=<value>
Option settings for this job, do
foomatic-rip -P <printer> -o docs <file>
(<file> can be an arbitrary existing file, as .bashrc, will
not be printed) to print a list of available options for the
specified <printer>.
<files> The file(s) to be printed.
foomatic-rip will print from standard input unless at least one file to
be printed is specified on the command line. If your printer PPD file
is stored as /etc/direct/<printer>.ppd or
~/.foomatic/direct/<printer>.ppd you can use it by simply specifying
"-P <printer>".
Put a line
*FoomaticRIPPostPipe: "| <command>"
into the PPD file, right after *PPD-Adobe: "4.3", where <command> is a
command into which you wnat to re-direct the output data. Due to the
restrictions of PPD files <, >, and " are not allowed in the <command>,
replace them as follows:
Character Replacement
---------------------
< <
> >
" "
' '
& &
This way you can print directly to your printer, use
*FoomaticRIPPostPipe: "| cat > /dev/lp0"
or
*FoomaticRIPPostPipe: "| cat > /dev/usb/lp0"
for local parallel or USB printers. To make normal users able to print
this way add them to the group lp and make sure that the appropriate
printer device file /dev/... is group-writable for the lp group.
for a TCP/Socket/JetDirect printer with the host name printer listening
on port 9100 you need this:
*FoomaticRIPPostPipe: "| /usr/bin/nc -w 1 printer 9100"
Note the "-w 1" in the "nc" command line, it makes "nc" exiting
immediately after the data is transferred to the printer.
*FoomaticRIPPostPipe: "| rlpr -Plp@printserver"
directs your jobs to the LPD printer queue lp on the machine named
printserver.
See also http://www.openprinting.org/direct-doc.html
PRINTING WITH SPOOLER
See the documentation on the OpenPrinting Web site:
http://www.openprinting.org/
CONFIGURATION FILE
The file /etc/foomatic/filter.conf is read whenever foomatic-rip is
executed. It allows to configure the behavior of foomatic-rip as
follows (lines beginning with # are comments and therefore get
ignored):
textfilter: <command>
Selects the filter for input files which are not PostScript
or PDF. <command> is one of a2ps, enscript, or mpage.
foomatic-rip auitomatically selects the needed command line
options.
debug: 0|1
Turns on (1) or off (0) the debug mode. This is equivalent to
supplying the --debug command line option. Default setting is
0.
ps_accounting: 0|1
Turns on (1) or off (0) inserting PostScript code for page
accounting into PostScript jobs. The inserted PostScript code
makes Ghostscript generating accounting output on stderr and
CUPS can this way log each page which got printed. The code
will only be inserted if CUPS is the spooler. Default setting
is 1.
echo: [<path>/]<executable>
Sets the path to an echo(1) executable which supports -n.
gspath: [<path>/]<executable>
Sets the path to the Ghostscript (gs(1)) executable. To be
used if Ghostscript is at a non-standard location or if an
alternative Ghostscript should be used.
execpath: <path>[:<path>]...
Sets the $PATH variable to be used by foomatic-rip.
cupsfilterpath: <path>[:<path>]...
Sets the directories (colon-separated) in which foomatic-rip
searches for CUPS filters.
preferred_shell: [<path>/]<executable>
Sets the preferred shell to use when executing
FoomaticRIPCommandLine and friends. Several PPD files use
shell constructs that require a more modern shell like bash,
zsh, or ksh.
FILES
/etc/cups/ppd/<printer>.ppd
/etc/lpd/<printer>.ppd
/etc/ppr/<printer>.ppd
/etc/pdq/<printer>.ppd
/etc/direct/<printer>.ppd
The PPD files of the currently defined printers
/etc/foomatic/filter.conf
Configuration file for foomatic-rip
EXIT STATUS
foomatic-rip returns 0 unless something unexpected happens.
AUTHOR
Till Kamppeter <till.kamppeter@gmail.com> with parts of Manfred
Wassmanns's <manolo@NCC-1701.B.Shuttle.de> man pages for the Foomatic
2.0.x filters.
BUGS
None so far.
Please send bug reports to the Foomatic mailing list:
http://lists.freestandards.org/mailman/listinfo/printing-foomatic