man/cups.man

   1 .\"
   2 .\" "$Id$"
   3 .\"
   4 .\" cups (intro) man page for CUPS.
   5 .\"
   6 .\" Copyright 2007-2014 by Apple Inc.
   7 .\" Copyright 1997-2006 by Easy Software Products.
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   9 .\" These coded instructions, statements, and computer programs are the
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  13 .\" file is missing or damaged, see the license at "http://www.cups.org/".
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  15 .TH cups 1 "CUPS" "4 March 2014" "Apple Inc."
  16 .SH NAME
  17 cups \- a standards-based, open source printing system
  18 .SH DESCRIPTION
  19 .B CUPS
  20 is the software you use to print from applications like word processors, email readers, photo editors, and web browsers. It converts the page descriptions produced by your application (put a paragraph here, draw a line there, and so forth) into something your printer can understand and then sends the information to the printer for printing.
  21 .LP
  22 Now, since every printer manufacturer does things differently, printing can be very complicated.
  23 .B CUPS
  24 does its best to hide this from you and your application so that you can concentrate on printing and less on how to print. Generally, the only time you need to know anything about your printer is when you use it for the first time, and even then
  25 .B CUPS
  26 can often figure things out on its own.
  27 .SS HOW DOES IT WORK?
  28 The first time you print to a printer,
  29 .B CUPS
  30 creates a queue to keep track of the current status of the printer (everything OK, out of paper, etc.) and any pages you have printed. Most of the time the queue points to a printer connected directly to your computer via a USB port, however it can also point to a printer on your network, a printer on the Internet, or multiple printers depending on the configuration. Regardless of where the queue points, it will look like any other printer to you and your applications.
  31 .LP
  32 Every time you print something,
  33 .B CUPS
  34 creates a job which contains the queue you are sending the print to, the name of the document you are printing, and the page descriptions. Job are numbered (queue-1, queue-2, and so forth) so you can monitor the job as it is printed or cancel it if you see a mistake. When
  35 .B CUPS
  36 gets a job for printing, it determines the best programs (filters, printer drivers, port monitors, and backends) to convert the pages into a printable format and then runs them to actually print the job.
  37 .LP
  38 When the print job is completely printed,
  39 .B CUPS
  40 removes the job from the queue and moves on to any other jobs you have submitted. You can also be notified when the job is finished, or if there are any errors during printing, in several different ways.
  41 .SS WHERE DO I BEGIN?
  42 The easiest way to start is by using the
  43 .B CUPS
  44 web interface to configure your printer. Go to "http://localhost:631" and choose the Administration tab at the top of the page. Click/press on the Add Printer button and follow the prompts.
  45 .LP
  46 When you are asked for a username and password, enter your login username and password or the "root" username and password.
  47 .LP
  48 After the printer is added,
  49 .B CUPS
  50 will ask you to set the default printer options (paper size, output mode, etc.) for the printer. Make any changes as needed and then click on the Set Default Options button to save them. Some printers also support auto-configuration - click on the Query Printer for Default Options button to update the options automatically.
  51 .LP
  52 Once you have added the printer, you can print to it from any application. You can also choose Print Test Page from the maintenance menu to print a simple test page and verify that everything is working properly.
  53 .LP
  54 You can also use the
  55 .BR lpadmin (8)
  56 and
  57 .BR lpinfo (8)
  58 commands to add printers to
  59 .BR CUPS .
  60 Additionally, your operating system may include graphical user interfaces or automatically create printer queues when you connect a printer to your computer.
  61 .SS HOW DO I GET HELP?
  62 The
  63 .B CUPS
  64 web site (http://www.CUPS.org) provides access to the
  65 .B CUPS
  66 user mailing list, additional documentation and resources, and a bug report database. Most vendors also provide online discussion forums to ask printing questions for your operating system of choice.
  67 .SH ENVIRONMENT
  68 .B CUPS
  69 commands use the following environment variables to override the default locations of files and so forth. For security reasons, these environment variables are ignored for setuid programs:
  70 .TP 5
  71 CUPS_SERVER
  72 The hostname/IP address and port number of the CUPS scheduler (hostname:port or ipaddress:port).
  73 .TP 5
  74 CUPS_ANYROOT
  75 Whether to allow any X.509 certificate root (Y or N).
  76 .TP 5
  77 CUPS_CACHEDIR
  78 The directory where semi-persistent cache files can be found.
  79 .TP 5
  80 CUPS_DATADIR
  81 The directory where data files can be found.
  82 .TP 5
  83 CUPS_ENCRYPTION
  84 The default level of encryption (Always, IfRequested, Never, Required).
  85 .TP 5
  86 CUPS_EXPIREDROOT
  87 Whether to allow expired X.509 certificate roots (Y or N).
  88 .TP 5
  89 CUPS_EXPIREDCERTS
  90 Whether to allow expired X.509 certificates (Y or N).
  91 .TP 5
  92 CUPS_GSSSERVICENAME
  93 The Kerberos service name used for authentication.
  94 .TP 5
  95 CUPS_SERVERBIN
  96 The directory where server helper programs, filters, backend, etc. can be found.
  97 .TP 5
  98 CUPS_SERVERROOT
  99 The root directory of the server.
 100 .TP 5
 101 CUPS_STATEDIR
 102 The directory where state files can be found.
 103 .TP 5
 104 CUPS_USER
 105 Specifies the name of the user for print requests.
 106 .TP 5
 107 HOME
 108 Specifies the home directory of the current user.
 109 .TP 5
 110 IPP_PORT
 111 Specifies the default port number for IPP requests.
 112 .TP 5
 113 LOCALEDIR
 114 Specifies the location of localization files.
 115 .TP 5
 116 LPDEST
 117 Specifies the default print queue (System V standard).
 118 .TP 5
 119 PRINTER
 120 Specifies the default print queue (Berkeley standard).
 121 .TP 5
 122 TMPDIR
 123 Specifies the location of temporary files.
 124 .SH FILES
 125 ~/.cups/client.conf, ~/.cups/lpoptions
 126 .SH CONFORMING TO
 127 .B CUPS
 128 conforms to the Internet Printing Protocol version 2.1 and implements the Berkeley and System V UNIX print commands.
 129 .SH SEE ALSO
 130 .BR cancel (1), client.conf (7), cupsctl (8), cupsd (8), lp (1), lpadmin (8), lpinfo (8), lpoptions (1), lpr (1), lprm (1), lpq (1), lpstat (1),
 131 http://localhost:631/help,
 132 http://www.CUPS.org,
 133 http://www.pwg.org/ipp
 134 .SH COPYRIGHT
 135 Copyright \[co] 2007-2014 by Apple Inc.
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