</HEAD>
<BODY>
-<P>Printing within UNIX has historically been done using one of
-two printing systems - the Berkeley Line Printer Daemon (LPD)
-[RFC1179] and the AT&T Line Printer system. These printing
-systems were designed in the 70's for printing text to line
-printers; vendors have since added varying levels of support for
-other types of printers.</P>
-
-<P>Replacements for these printing systems have emerged [LPRng,
-Palladin, PLP], however none of the replacements change the
-fundamental capabilities of these systems.</P>
-
-<P>Over the years several attempts at developing a standard
-printing interface have been made, including the draft POSIX
-Printing standard developed by the Institute of Electrical and
-Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE) [IEEE-1387.4] and Internet
-Printing Protocol (IPP) developed by the Internet Engineering
-Task Force (IETF) through the Printer Working Group (PWG)
-[IETF-IPP]. The POSIX printing standard defines a common set of
-command-line tools as well as a C interface for printer
-administration and print jobs, but has been shelved by the
-IEEE.</P>
-
-<P>The Internet Printing Protocol defines extensions to the
-HyperText Transport Protocol 1.1 [RFC2616] to provide support
-for remote printing services. IPP/1.1 was accepted by the IETF
-as a proposed standard in ??? of ???. Unlike POSIX Printing, IPP
-enjoys widespread industry support and has become the standard
-network printing solution for all operating systems.</P>
-
-<P>CUPS uses IPP/1.1 to provide a complete, modern printing
-system for UNIX that can be extended to support new printers,
-devices, and protocols while providing compatibility with
-existing UNIX applications. CUPS is free software provided under
-the terms of the GNU General Public License and GNU Library
-General Public License.</P>
-
-<H2 CLASS="title">History</H2>
-
-<P>The first production release of CUPS (based on IPP/1.0) was
-released in October of 1999. Version 1.1 of CUPS was released in
-August of 2002 ???? and added support for IPP/1.1.</P>
-
-<P>CUPS 1.2 is based on IPP/1.1 and adds many of the functional
-enhancements that have been requested by our users. As with CUPS
-1.1, CUPS 1.2 will be followed by patch releases that address
-any problems found with the software. New features will be put
-in the 1.3 release to follow.</P>
-
-<H2 CLASS="title">Design Overview</H2>
-
-<P>Like most printing systems, CUPS is designed around a central
-print scheduling process that dispatches print jobs, processes
-administrative commands, provides printer status information to
-local and remote programs, and informs users as needed. Figure 1
-shows the basic organization of CUPS.</P>
-
-<P ALIGN="CENTER"><IMG SRC="../images/cups-block-diagram.gif"
-WIDTH="470" HEIGHT="170" ALT="CUPS Block Diagram"/><BR>
-<I>Figure 1 - CUPS Block Diagram</I></P>
-
-<H3>Scheduler</H3>
-
-<P>The scheduler is a HTTP/1.1 server application that handles
-HTTP requests. Besides handling printer requests via IPP POST
-requests, the scheduler also acts as a full-featured web server
-for documentation, status monitoring, and administration.</P>
-
-<P>The scheduler also manages a list of available printers on
-the LAN and dispatches print jobs as needed using the
-appropriate filters and backends.</P>
-
-<H3>Configuration Files</H3>
-
-<P>The configuration files consist of:</P>
-
-<ul>
-
- <LI>The HTTP server configuration file.</LI>
-
- <LI>Printer and class definition files.</LI>
-
- <LI>MIME type and conversion rule files.</LI>
-
- <LI>PostScript Printer Description (PPD) files.</LI>
-
-</ul>
-
-<P>The HTTP server configuration file is purposely similar to
-the Apache server configuration file and defines all of the
-access control properties for the server.</P>
-
-<P>The printer and class definition files list the available
-printer queues and classes. Printer classes are collections of
-printers. Jobs sent to a class are forwarded to the first
-available printer in the class, round-robin fashion.</P>
-
-<P>The MIME type files list the supported MIME types
-(text/plain, application/postscript, etc.) and "magic' rules for
-automatically detecting the format of a file. These are used by
-the HTTP server to determine the <tt>Content-Type</tt> field for
-<tt>GET</tt> and <tt>HEAD</tt> requests and by the IPP request
-handler to determine the file type when a <tt>Print-Job</tt> or
-<tt>Send-File</tt> request is received with a
-<tt>document-format</tt> of
-<tt>application/octet-stream</tt>.</P>
-
-<P>The MIME conversion rule files list the available filters.
-The filters are used when a job is dispatched so that an
-application can send a convenient file format to the printing
-system which then converts the document into a printable format
-as needed. Each filter has a relative cost associated with it,
-and the filtering algorithm chooses the set of filters that will
-convert the file to the needed format with the lowest total
-"cost".</P>
-
-<P>The PPD files describe the capabilities of all printers, not
-just PostScript printers. There is one PPD file for each
-printer. PPD files for non-PostScript printers define additional
-filters through <tt>cupsFilter</tt> attributes to support
-printer drivers.</P>
-
-<H3>CUPS API</H3>
-
-<P>The CUPS API contains CUPS-specific convenience functions for
-queuing print jobs, getting printer information, accessing
-resources via HTTP and IPP, and manipulating PPD files. Unlike
-the rest of CUPS, the CUPS API is provided under the terms of
-the GNU LGPL so it may be used by non-GPL applications.</P>
-
-<H3>Berkeley and System V Commands</H3>
-
-<P>CUPS provides the System V and Berkeley command-line
-interfaces for submitting jobs and checking the printer status.
-The <tt>lpstat</tt> and <tt>lpc status</tt> commands
-also show network printers ("printer@server") when printer
-browsing is enabled.</P>
-
-<P>The System V administation commands are supplied for managing
-printers and classes. The Berkeley printer administration tool
-(<tt>lpc</tt>) is only supported in a "read-only' mode to
-check the current status of the printer queues and
-scheduler.</P>
-
-<H3>Filters</H3>
-
-<P>A filter program reads from the standard input or from a file
-if a filename is supplied. All filters must support a common set
-of options including printer name, job ID, username, job title,
-number of copies, and job options. All output is sent to the
-standard output.</P>
-
-<P>Filters are provided for many file formats and include image
-file and PostScript raster filters that support non-PostScript
-printers. Multiple filters are run in parallel to produce the
-required output format.</P>
-
-<P>The PostScript raster filter is based on the ESP Ghostscript
-core. Instead of using the Ghostscript printer drivers, the CUPS
-filter uses a generic CUPS raster printer driver and
-CUPS-compliant front-end to support any kind of raster printer.
-This allows the same printer driver filter to be used for
-printing raster data from any filter.</P>
-
-<pre>Talk about Apple's use of CUPS...</pre>
-
-<H3>CUPS Imaging</H3>
-
-<P>The CUPS Imaging library provides functions for managing
-large images, doing colorspace conversion and color management,
-scaling images for printing, and managing raster page streams.
-It is used by the CUPS image file filters, the PostScript RIP,
-and all raster printers drivers.</P>
-
-<H3>Backends</H3>
-
-<P>A backend program is a special filter that sends print data
-to a device or network connection. Backends for parallel,
-serial, USB, LPD, IPP, and AppSocket (JetDirect) connections are
-provided in CUPS 1.2.</P>
-
-<P>SAMBA version 2.0.6 and higher includes a SMB backend
-(<tt>smbspool(1)</tt>) that can be used for printing to
-Windows.</P>
-
-<H2 CLASS="title">Network Printing</H2>
-
-<P>Traditionally, network printing has been one of the hardest
-things to get working under UNIX. One reason is because each
-vendor added their own extensions to the LPD protocol (the
-previous standard for network printing), making cross-platform
-printing difficult if not impossible.</P>
-
-<P>Another reason is that you have to administer every network
-printer on every client machine. In some cases you can "clone'
-the printer configuration from a "master' client to each of the
-others, but even that can be time-consuming and error-prone.
-Something better is needed.</P>
-
-<P>CUPS provides "printer browsing", which allows clients to
-automatically see and use printers from any server on a LAN.
-This means that you only need to configure the server and the
-clients will automatically see the printers and classes on
-it.</P>
-
-<P>In addition, CUPS can automatically merge multiple identical
-network printers into "implicit classes". This allows clients to
-send jobs to the implicit class and have them print on the first
-available printer or server. In addition, failsafe and
-load-balancing functions are enabled simply by defining the same
-printer on multiple servers!</P>
-
-<H2 CLASS="title">New Features in CUPS 1.2</H2>
-
-<P>CUPS 1.2 includes many new features and capabilities:
-
-<ol>
-
- <LI><A HREF="#BACKENDS">Backends</A>
-
- <LI><A HREF="#BANNERS">Banner Page Support</A>
-
- <LI><A HREF="#DIGEST">Digest Authentication</A>
-
- <LI><A HREF="#DIRSVC">Directory Services</A>
-
- <LI><A HREF="#FHS2">Directory Structure Changes</A>
-
- <LI><A HREF="#DOCOS">Documentation</A>
-
- <LI><A HREF="#DRIVERS">Drivers</A>
-
- <LI><A HREF="#FILTERS">Filters</A>
-
- <LI><A HREF="#IPP">IPP Support</A>
-
- <LI><A HREF="#PERSISTENCE">Job Persistence</A>
-
- <LI><A HREF="#LPD">LPD Client Support</A>
-
- <LI><A HREF="#USEROPTS">User-Defined Printers and Options</A>
-
- <LI><A HREF="#WEB">Web Administration Interface</A>
-
-</ol>
-
-<H3><A NAME="BACKENDS">1. Backends</A></H3>
-
-<P>CUPS 1.2 implements a new backend interface for retrieving a
-list of available devices for CUPS clients. This allows
-administration interfaces to query the CUPS scheduler for a list
-of available devices, automatically configure printers if the
-device identification information is available, and present the
-user with a list of available devices rather than relying on the
-user to know what devices are configured on the system.</P>
-
-<P>The new release also includes a backend for USB printers
-under *BSD and Linux. Support for USB under Solaris 8 will be
-provided in a subsequent patch release.</P>
-
-<H3><A NAME="BANNERS">2. Banner Page Support</A></H3>
-
-<P>CUPS 1.2 includes support for banner pages at the beginning
-and end of a job. Banner pages may be of any file format and
-support variable substitution for job titles, usernames, etc.
-Default banner pages are associated with each printer and can be
-overridden with command-line options by the user.</P>
-
-<H3><A NAME="DIGEST">3. Digest Authentication</A></H3>
-
-<P>Digest authentication provides a more secure method of
-authenticating access to the printing system. Unlike Basic
-authentication, Digest authentication does not send passwords
-"in the clear' so it is more difficult to gain unauthorized
-access to your system.</P>
-
-<P>CUPS 1.2 implements Digest authentication using a special MD5
-password file instead of the UNIX password file. This file is
-managed using the new <tt>lppasswd</tt> command.</P>
-
-<H3><A NAME="DIRSVC">4. Directory Services</A></H3>
-
-<P>CUPS 1.2 adds new directory service ("printer browsing")
-features to make using CUPS on large LANs and WANs easier. You
-can now poll a remote server for printer information and relay
-it to the LAN as well as restrict what printer information is
-processed (e.g. to "hide" servers, domains, or networks that you
-don't want to see.)</P>
-
-<H3><A NAME="FHS2">5. Directory Structure Changes</A></H3>
-
-<P>CUPS 1.2 now uses a directory structure that complies with
-the Filesystem Hierarchy Standard (FHS), version 2.0. This
-should make integration into existing Linux and *BSD
-distributions a lot easier.</P>
-
-<H3><A NAME="DOCOS">6. Documentation</A></H3>
-
-<P>The CUPS 1.2 documentation has gone through many revisions,
-including a completely rewritten administrators manual, a new
-programmers manual, and an IPP implementation reference
-manual.</P>
-
-<H3><A NAME="DRIVERS">7. Drivers</A></H3>
-
-<P>CUPS 1.2 includes drivers for EPSON dot-matrix and inkjet
-printers. As with the HP PCL drivers, the EPSON drivers don't
-necessarily provide the best possible output for each printer
-but should provide adequate printing quality for general
-day-to-day printing.</P>
-
-<H3><A NAME="FILTERS">8. Filters</A></H3>
-
-<P>CUPS 1.2 includes new image, PostScript, PDF, and text
-filters. The image filters have been upgraded to support Windows
-BMP and Alias PIX files.</P>
-
-<P>The PostScript filter is now based off ESP Ghostscript. The
-new filter provides much better performance with
-higher-resolution printers and supports all Level 3 PostScript
-language features.</P>
-
-<P>The new PDF filter is based off the excellent Xpdf software
-from Derek Noonburg and supports automatic page scaling. The new
-filter is a faster, smaller, more reliable replacement for the
-GNU Ghostscript PDF filtering that was used in CUPS 1.0.</P>
-
-<P>The new text filter now supports bidirectional text and can
-embed fonts as needed.</P>
-
-<H3><A NAME="IPP">9. IPP Support</A></H3>
-
-<P>Probably the least visible portion of CUPS is the IPP
-support. CUPS 1.1 implements all of the required IPP/1.1
-operations and attributes and most of the optional ones. The
-optional Create-Job and Send-File operations are now
-implemented, allowing for better System V printing system
-compatibility (one job ID per <tt>lp</tt> command) and support
-for banner pages.</P>
-
-<H3><A NAME="PERSISTENCE">10. Job Persistence</A></H3>
-
-<P>CUPS 1.2 supports job persistence. This means that jobs are
-preserved even after a reboot, a feature that was sorely missing
-from CUPS 1.0.</P>
-
-<P>In addition, CUPS 1.2 allows you to keep job information
-after the job has printed. The basic post-job persistence mode
-provides a job history (number of pages printed, time job was
-printed, etc.) but does not preserve the actual job files. This
-can be changed to discard all information after a job is printed
-or keep the job files after printing so you can reprint a job at
-some later time.</P>
-
-<H3><A NAME="LPD">11. LPD Client Support</A></H3>
-
-<P>By popular request, CUPS 1.2 supports LPD-based clients using
-a new mini-daemon that handles LPD requests and passes them on
-to the main server.</P>
-
-<H3><A NAME="USEROPTS">12. User-Defined Printers and Options</A></H3>
-
-<P>CUPS 1.2 includes support for user-defined printers and
-options via a new <tt>lpoptions</tt> command. User-defined
-printers are special instances of the available printers (e.g.
-"printer/instance" or "printer@server/instance") that can have
-their own default options such as media size, resolution, and so
-forth. The <tt>lpoptions</tt> command can also be used to set a
-different default printer queue.</P>
-
-<H3><A NAME="WEB">13. Web Administration Interface</A></H3>
-
-<P>CUPS 1.0 provided a simple class, job, and printer monitoring
-interface for web browsers. CUPS 1.2 replaces this interface
-with an enhanced administration interface that allows you to
-add, modify, delete, configure, and control classes, jobs, and
-printers.</P>
-
-<H2 CLASS="title">Software Using CUPS</H2>
-
-<P>A lot has happened since CUPS 1.0 came out, and many software
-packages are supporting CUPS. We have contributed code to the
-SAMBA team to support CUPS, and parts of that are already
-available in SAMBA 2.0.6 and 2.0.7. With any luck the final
-pieces that provide a complete integration with SAMBA will be
-available in the next release of SAMBA.</P>
-
-<P>Two graphical interfaces have appeared on the scene that use
-CUPS as well. The KUPS project provides a KDE-based interface
-for CUPS and can be found at:</P>
-
-<pre>
- <A HREF="http://kups.sourceforge.net">http://kups.sourceforge.net</A>
-</pre>
-
-<P>The X Printing Panel (XPP) project provides a graphical
-printing panel for CUPS and can be found at:</P>
-
-<pre>
- <A HREF="http://www.phy.uni-bayreuth.de/till/xpp">http://www.phy.uni-bayreuth.de/till/xpp/</A>
-</pre>
-
-<P>Numerous other filters, drivers, tutorials, etc. have been
-made available on the CUPS Links web page, available at:</P>
-
-<pre>
- <A HREF="http://www.cups.org/links.php">http://www.cups.org/links.php</A>
-</pre>
-
-<P>Finally, our own ESP Print Pro software uses CUPS to provide
-drivers for thousands of printers and can be found at:</P>
-
-<pre>
- <A HREF="http://www.easysw.com/printpro">http://www.easysw.com/printpro</A>
-</pre>
-
-<H2 CLASS="title">Operating Systems Using CUPS</H2>
-
-<P>One of our goals has always been to get as many UNIX/Linux
-distributions using CUPS as possible. Debian is currently
-providing CUPS as part of its stable distribution, and many
-other distributions are considering it in their next
-releases.</P>
-
-<H2 CLASS="title">Summary</H2>
-
-<P>The Common UNIX Printing System provides a modern printing
-interface for UNIX applications that is both flexible and
-user-friendly. The software provides System V and Berkeley
-compatible command-line interfaces to ensure compatibility with
-existing applications. CUPS 1.2 adds many new features that make
-it an even better choice for printing under UNIX.</P>
-
-<H2 CLASS="title">Who to Contact</H2>
-
-<P>For more information on CUPS please contact us at:
-
-<pre>
- Attn: CUPS Information
- Easy Software Products
- 44141 Airport View Drive Suite 204
- Hollywood, Maryland 20636-3142 USA
-
- +1.301.373.9600
-
- <A HREF="mailto:cups-info@cups.org">cups-info@cups.org</A>
-</pre>
-
-<H2 CLASS="title">References</H2>
-
-<DL>
-
- <DT>IEEE-1387.4</DT>
-
- <DD>System Administration - Part 4: Printing Interfaces
- (draft)</DD>
-
- <DT><A HREF="http://www.pwg.org/ipp/index.html">IETF-IPP</A></DT>
-
- <DD>Internet Printing Protocol/1.1</DD>
-
- <DT><A HREF="http://www.astart.com/lprng.html">LPRng</A></DT>
-
- <DD>An enhanced, extended, and portable implementation
- of the Berkeley LPR print spooler functionality</DD>
-
- <DT>Palladin</DT>
-
- <DD>A printing system developed at the Massachussetts
- Institute of Technology</DD>
-
- <DT><A HREF="http://www-usa.iona.com//hyplan/jmason/plp.html">PLP</A></DT>
-
- <DD>The Portable Line Printer spooler system</DD>
-
- <DT><A HREF="http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc1179.txt">RFC1179</A></DT>
-
- <DD>Line Printer Daemon Protocol</DD>
-
- <DT><A HREF="http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2046.txt">RFC2046</A></DT>
-
- <DD>Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) Part
- Two: Media Types</DD>
-
- <DT><A HREF="http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2616.txt">RFC2616</A></DT>
-
- <DD>Hypertext Transfer Protocol -- HTTP/1.1</DD>
-
-</DL>
-
-<H2 CLASS="title">Trademarks</H2>
-
-<P>The Common UNIX Printing System, CUPS, and the CUPS logo are
-the trademark property of Easy Software Products. All other
-trademarks are the property of their respective owners.</P>
+<P>The Common UNIX Printing System<sup>TM</sup>, or CUPS, is the
+software you use to print from applications like the web browser
+you are using to read this page. It converts the <em>page
+descriptions</em> 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.</P>
+
+<P>Now, since every printer manufacturer does things differently,
+printing can be very complicated. CUPS does its best to hide this
+from you and your application so that you can concentrate on
+printing and less on <em>how</em> 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 CUPS can often figure things
+out on its own.</P>
+
+<H2 CLASS="title"><A NAME="WORK">How Does It Work?</A></H2>
+
+<P>The first time you print to a printer, CUPS creates a
+<em>queue</em> 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 or parallel 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 <em>where</em> the queue points, it will look like
+any other printer to you and your applications.</P>
+
+<P>Every time you print something, CUPS creates a <em>job</em>
+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
+CUPS gets a job for printing, it determines the best programs
+(<em>filters</em>, <em>printer drivers</em>, <em>port
+monitors</em>, and <em>backends</em>) to convert the pages into a
+printable format and then runs them to actually print the
+job.</P>
+
+<P>When the print job is completely printed, CUPS 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.</P>
+
+<H2 CLASS="title"><A NAME="BEGIN">Where Do I Begin?</A></H2>
+
+<P>Click on the <A HREF="/admin">Administration</A> tab at the
+top of this page. If you have a printer connected to a USB or
+parallel port, you will see it listed as a new printer - click on
+the <VAR>Add This Printer</VAR> button, verify the printer driver
+CUPS has chosen for you, and click on the <VAR>Add Printer</VAR>
+button. If you do not see your printer listed, or if you have a
+network printer, click on the <VAR>Add Printer</VAR> button and
+follow the prompts.</P>
+
+<BLOCKQUOTE>If you are asked for a username and password, enter
+your login username and password or the "root" username and
+password. On MacOS X, the login username (or "short name") is
+typically your first name in lowercase.</BLOCKQUOTE>
+
+<P>After the printer is added, CUPS 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
+<VAR>Set Printer Options</VAR> button to save them.</P>
+
+<P>Finally, click on the <VAR>Print Test Page</VAR> button to
+print a simple test page and verify that everything is working
+properly.</P>
+
+<P>Once you have added the printer, you can print to it from any
+application.</P>
+
+<TABLE ALIGN="CENTER" CELLPADDING="10" SUMMARY="Screenshots">
+<TR VALIGN="TOP">
+<TD ALIGN="CENTER"><IMG SRC="../images/web-add-this-printer.gif"
+WIDTH="366" HEIGHT="300" ALT="CUPS Administration Web Page"><BR>
+<I>Figure 1: The CUPS Administration Web Page</I></TD>
+<TD ALIGN="CENTER"><IMG SRC="../images/web-printer-driver.gif"
+WIDTH="366" HEIGHT="300" ALT="CUPS Driver Selection Web Page"><BR>
+<I>Figure 2: The CUPS Driver Selection Web Page</I></TD>
+</TR>
+<TR VALIGN="TOP">
+<TD ALIGN="CENTER"><IMG SRC="../images/web-password.gif"
+WIDTH="366" HEIGHT="300" ALT="CUPS Password Dialog"><BR>
+<I>Figure 3: The CUPS Password Dialog</I></TD>
+<TD ALIGN="CENTER"><IMG SRC="../images/web-set-printer-options.gif"
+WIDTH="366" HEIGHT="300" ALT="CUPS Set Printer Options Web Page"><BR>
+<I>Figure 4: The CUPS Set Printer Options Web Page</I></TD>
+</TR>
+<TR VALIGN="TOP">
+<TD ALIGN="CENTER"><IMG SRC="../images/web-printer-status.gif"
+WIDTH="366" HEIGHT="300" ALT="CUPS Printer Status Page"><BR>
+<I>Figure 5: The CUPS Printer Status Page</I></TD>
+<TD ALIGN="CENTER"><IMG SRC="../images/web-test-page.gif"
+WIDTH="234" HEIGHT="300" ALT="CUPS Printer Test Page"><BR>
+<I>Figure 6: The CUPS Printer Test Page</I></TD>
+</TR>
+</TABLE>
</BODY>
</HTML>
projects / thirdparty / cups.git / blobdiff