Merge changes from CUPS 1.4svn-r7282.

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  Filter and backend programming introduction for the Common UNIX Printing
  System (CUPS).

  Copyright 2007-2008 by Apple Inc.
  Copyright 1997-2006 by Easy Software Products, all rights reserved.

  These coded instructions, statements, and computer programs are the
  property of Apple Inc. and are protected by Federal copyright
  law.  Distribution and use rights are outlined in the file "LICENSE.txt"
  which should have been included with this file.  If this file is
  file is missing or damaged, see the license at "http://www.cups.org/".
-->

<h2 class='title'><a name="OVERVIEW">Overview</a></h2>

<p>Filters, printer drivers, port monitors, and backends use a common interface
for processing print jobs and communicating status information to the scheduler.
Each filter is run with a standard set of command-line arguments:<p>

<dl class="code">

	<dt>argv[1]</dt>
	<dd>The job ID</dd>

	<dt>argv[2]</dt>
	<dd>The user printing the job</dd>

	<dt>argv[3]</dt>
	<dd>The job name/title</dd>

	<dt>argv[4]</dt>
	<dd>The number of copies to print</dd>

	<dt>argv[5]</dt>
	<dd>The options that were provided when the job was submitted</dd>

	<dt>argv[6]</dt>
	<dd>The file to print (first filter only)</dd>
</dl>

<p>The scheduler runs one or more of these programs to print any given job. The
first filter reads from the print file and writes to the standard output, while
the remaining filters read from the standard input and write to the standard
output. The backend is the last filter in the chain and writes to the
device.</p>

<h3><a name="EXITCODES">Exit Codes</a></h3>

<p>Filters must exit with status 0 when they successfully generate print data
or 1 when they encounter an error. Backends can return any of the
<a href="#cups_backend_t"><code>cups_backend_t</code></a> constants.</p>

<h3><a name="ENVIRONMENT">Environment Variables</a></h3>

<p>The following environment variables are defined by the printing system:</p>

<dl class="code">

	<dt>APPLE_LANGUAGES</dt>
	<dd>The Apple language identifier associated with the job
	(Mac OS X only).</dd>

	<dt>CHARSET</dt>
	<dd>The job character set, typically "utf-8".</dd>

	<dt>CLASS</dt>
	<dd>When a job is submitted to a printer class, contains the name of
	the destination printer class. Otherwise this environment
	variable will not be set.</dd>

	<dt>CONTENT_TYPE</dt>
	<dd>The MIME type associated with the file (e.g.
	application/postscript).</dd>

	<dt>CUPS_CACHEDIR</dt>
	<dd>The directory where cache files can be stored.</dd>

	<dt>CUPS_DATADIR</dt>
	<dd>The directory where data files can be found.</dd>

	<dt>CUPS_SERVERROOT</dt>
	<dd>The root directory of the server.</dd>

	<dt>DEVICE_URI</dt>
	<dd>The device-uri associated with the printer.</dd>

	<dt>FINAL_CONTENT_TYPE</dt>
	<dd>The MIME type associated with the printer (e.g.
	application/vnd.cups-postscript).</dd>

	<dt>LANG</dt>
	<dd>The language locale associated with the job.</dd>

	<dt>PPD</dt>
	<dd>The full pathname of the PostScript Printer Description (PPD)
	file for this printer.</dd>

	<dt>PRINTER</dt>
	<dd>The name of the printer.</dd>

	<dt>RIP_CACHE</dt>
	<dd>The recommended amount of memory to use for Raster Image
	Processors (RIPs).</dd>

</dl>

<h3><a name="MESSAGES">Communicating with the Scheduler</a></h3>

<p>Filters and backends communicate wih the scheduler by writing messages
to the standard error file. For example, the following code sets the current
printer state message to "Printing page 5":</p>

<pre class="example">
int page = 5;

fprintf(stderr, "INFO: Printing page %d\n", page);
</pre>

<p>Each message is a single line of text starting with one of the following
prefix strings:</p>

<dl class="code">

	<dt>ALERT: message</dt>
	<dd>Sets the printer-state-message attribute and adds the specified
	message to the current error log file using the "alert" log level.</dd>

	<dt>ATTR: attribute=value [attribute=value]</dt>
	<dd>Sets the named printer or job attribute(s). Typically this is used
	to set the <code>marker-colors</code>, <code>marker-levels</code>,
	<code>marker-names</code>, <code>marker-types</code>,
	<code>printer-alert</code>, and <code>printer-alert-description</code>
	printer attributes.</dd>

	<dt>CRIT: message</dt>
	<dd>Sets the printer-state-message attribute and adds the specified
	message to the current error log file using the "critical" log
	level.</dd>

	<dt>DEBUG: message</dt>
	<dd>Sets the printer-state-message attribute and adds the specified
	message to the current error log file using the "debug" log level.</dd>

	<dt>DEBUG2: message</dt>
	<dd>Sets the printer-state-message attribute and adds the specified
	message to the current error log file using the "debug2" log level.</dd>

	<dt>EMERG: message</dt>
	<dd>Sets the printer-state-message attribute and adds the specified
	message to the current error log file using the "emergency" log
	level.</dd>

	<dt>ERROR: message</dt>
	<dd>Sets the printer-state-message attribute and adds the specified
	message to the current error log file using the "error" log level.</dd>

	<dt>INFO: message</dt>
	<dd>Sets the printer-state-message attribute. If the current log level
	is set to "debug2", also adds the specified message to the current error
	log file using the "info" log level.</dd>

	<dt>NOTICE: message</dt>
	<dd>Sets the printer-state-message attribute and adds the specified
	message to the current error log file using the "notice" log level.</dd>

	<dt>PAGE: page-number #-copies</dt>
	<dt>PAGE: total #-pages</dt>
	<dd>Adds an entry to the current page log file. The first form adds
	#-copies to the job-media-sheets-completed attribute. The second
	form sets the job-media-sheets-completed attribute to #-pages.</dd>

	<dt>STATE: printer-state-reason [printer-state-reason ...]</dt>
	<dt>STATE: + printer-state-reason [printer-state-reason ...]</dt>
	<dt>STATE: - printer-state-reason [printer-state-reason ...]</dt>
	<dd>Sets, adds, or removes printer-state-reason keywords to the
	current queue. Typically this is used to indicate media, ink, and
	toner conditions on a printer.</dd>

	<dt>WARNING: message</dt>
	<dd>Sets the printer-state-message attribute and adds the specified
	message to the current error log file using the "warning" log
	level.</dd>

</dl>

<p>Messages without one of these prefixes are treated as if they began with
the "DEBUG:" prefix string.</p>

<h3><a name="COMMUNICATING">Communicating with the Backend</a></h3>

<p>Filters can communicate with the backend via the
<a href="#cupsBackChannelRead"><code>cupsBackChannelRead</code></a> and
<a href="#cupsSideChannelDoRequest"><code>cupsSideChannelDoRequest</code></a>
functions. The 
<a href="#cupsBackChannelRead"><code>cupsBackChannelRead</code></a> function
reads data that has been sent back from the device and is typically used to
obtain status and configuration information. For example, the following code
polls the backend for back-channel data:</p>

<pre class="example">
#include &lt;cups/cups.h&gt;

char buffer[8192];
ssize_t bytes;

/* Use a timeout of 0.0 seconds to poll for back-channel data */
bytes = cupsBackChannelRead(buffer, sizeof(buffer), 0.0);
</pre>

The
<a href="#cupsSideChannelDoRequest"><code>cupsSideChannelDoRequest</code></a>
function allows you to get out-of-band status information and do synchronization
with the device. For example, the following code gets the current IEEE-1284
device ID string from the backend:</p>

<pre class="example">
#include &lt;cups/sidechannel.h&gt;

char data[2049];
int datalen;
<a href="#cups_sc_status_t">cups_sc_status_t</a> status;

/* Tell cupsSideChannelDoRequest() how big our buffer is, less 1 byte for nul-termination... */
datalen = sizeof(data) - 1;

/* Get the IEEE-1284 device ID, waiting for up to 1 second */
status = <a href="#cupsSideChannelDoRequest">cupsSideChannelDoRequest</a>(CUPS_SC_CMD_GET_DEVICE_ID, data, &amp;datalen, 1.0);

/* Use the returned value if OK was returned and the length is non-zero */
if (status == CUPS_SC_STATUS_OK && datalen > 0)
  data[datalen] = '\0';
else
  data[0] = '\0';
</pre>

<p>Backends communicate with filters using the reciprocal functions
<a href="#cupsBackChannelWrite"><code>cupsBackChannelWrite</code></a>,
<a href="#cupsSideChannelRead"><code>cupsSideChannelRead</code></a>, and
<a href="#cupsSideChannelWrite"><code>cupsSideChannelWrite</code></a>. We
recommend writing back-channel data using a timeout of 1.0 seconds:</p>

<pre class="example">
#include &lt;cups/cups.h&gt;

char buffer[8192];
ssize_t bytes;

/* Use a timeout of 1.0 seconds to give filters a chance to read */
cupsBackChannelWrite(buffer, bytes, 1.0);
</pre>

<p>The <a href="#cupsSideChannelRead"><code>cupsSideChannelRead</code></a>
function reads a side-channel command from a filter, driver, or port monitor.
Backends can either poll for commands using a <code>timeout</code> of 0.0, wait
indefinitely for commands using a <code>timeout</code> of -1.0 (probably in a
separate thread for that purpose), or use <code>select</code> or
<code>poll</code> on the <code>CUPS_SC_FD</code> file descriptor (4) to handle
input and output on several file descriptors at the same time. Backends can pass
<code>NULL</code> for the <code>data</code> and <code>datalen</code> parameters
since none of the commands sent by upstream filters contain any data at this
time.</p>

<p>Once a command is processed, the backend uses the
<a href="#cupsSideChannelWrite"><code>cupsSideChannelWrite</code></a> function
to send its response. For example, the following code shows how to poll for a
side-channel command and respond to it:</p>

<pre class="example">
#include &lt;cups/sidechannel.h&gt;

<a href="#cups_sc_command_t">cups_sc_command_t</a> command;
<a href="#cups_sc_status_t">cups_sc_status_t</a> status;

/* Poll for a command... */
if (!<a href="#cupsSideChannelRead">cupsSideChannelRead</a>(&amp;command, &amp;status, NULL, NULL, 0.0))
{
  char data[2048];
  int datalen;

  switch (command)
  {
    /* handle supported commands, file data/datalen/status with values as needed */

    default :
        status  = CUPS_SC_STATUS_NOT_IMPLEMENTED;
	datalen = 0;
	break;
  }

  /* Send a response... */
  <a href="#cupsSideChannelWrite">cupsSideChannelWrite</a>(command, status, data, datalen, 1.0);
}
</pre>