lpadmin Command

mail

Send the alert message using mail (see mail) to the administrator.

write

Write the message to the terminal on which the administrator is logged in. If the administrator is logged in on several terminals, one is chosen arbitrarily.

quiet

Do not send messages for the current condition. An administrator can use this option to temporarily stop receiving further messages about a known problem. Once the fault has been cleared and printing resumes, messages will again be sent when another fault occurs with the printer.

none

Do not send messages; any existing alert definition for the printer is removed. No alert is sent when the printer faults until a different alert-type (except quiet) is used.

shell-command

Run the shell-command each time the alert needs to be sent. The shell command should expect the message in standard input. If there are blanks embedded in the command, enclose the command in quotes. The mail and write values for this option are equivalent to the values mail login-ID and write login-ID respectively, where login-ID is the current name for the administrator. This will be the login ID of the person submitting this command unless he or she has used the su command to change to another login ID. If the su command has been used to change the login ID, then the login-ID for the new login is used.

list

Display the type of the alert for the printer fault. No change is made to the alert.

The LP print service can detect printer faults only through an adequate fast filter and only when the standard interface program or a suitable customized interface program is used. Furthermore, the level of recovery after a fault depends on the capabilities of the filter.

If the Printer is all, the alerting defined in this command applies to all existing printers.

If the -W flag is not used to arrange fault alerting for Printer, the default procedure is to mail one message to the administrator of Printer per fault. This is equivalent to specifying -W once or -W 0. If minutes is a number greater than zero, an alert is sent at intervals specified by minutes.

For each printer, the LP print service keeps two lists of forms: an allow-list of forms that may be used with the printer, and a deny-list of forms that may not be used with the printer. With the -f allow flag, the forms listed are added to the allow-list and removed from the deny-list. With the -f deny flag, the forms listed are added to the deny-list and removed from the allow-list.

If the allow-list is not empty, only the forms in the list may be used on the printer, regardless of the contents of the deny-list. If the allow-list is empty, but the deny-list is not, the forms in the deny-list may not be used with the printer. All forms can be excluded from a printer by specifying -f deny:all. All forms can be used on a printer (provided the printer can handle all the characteristics of each form) by specifying -f allow:all.

The LP print service uses this information as a set of guidelines for determining where a form can be mounted. Administrators, however, are not restricted from mounting a form on any printer. If mounting a form on a particular printer is in disagreement with the information in the allow-list or deny-list, the administrator is warned but the mount is accepted. Nonetheless, if a user attempts to issue a print or change request for a form and printer combination that is in disagreement with the information, the request is accepted only if the form is currently mounted on the printer. If the form is later unmounted before the request can print, the request is canceled and the user is notified by mail.

If the administrator tries to specify a form as acceptable for use on a printer that doesn't have the capabilities needed by the form, the command is rejected.

The lpadmin command issues a warning when an invalid (nonexistent) form name is submitted with the -f deny: flag.

See the other use of -f, with the -M flag.

continue

Continue printing on the top of the page where printing stopped. This requires a filter to wait for the fault to clear before automatically continuing.

beginning

Start printing the request again from the beginning.

wait

Disable printing on Printer and wait for the administrator or a user to enable printing again.

During the wait the administrator or the user who submitted the stopped print request can issue a change request that specifies where printing should resume. (See the -i flag of the lp command.) If no change request is made before printing is enabled, printing will resume at the top of the page where stopped, if the filter allows; otherwise, the request will be printed from the beginning.

The default value of FaultRecovery is beginning.

The type simple is recognized as the default content type. A simple type of file is a data stream containing only printable ASCII characters and the following control characters.

Control Character          Octal Value          Meaning
backspace                  10                   move back one character,
except at beginning of line
tab                        11                   move to next tab stop
linefeed (newline)         12                   move to beginning of next line
form feed                  14                   move to beginning of next page
carriage return            15                   move to beginning of current line

To prevent the print service from considering simple a valid type for the printer, specify either an explicit value (such as the printer type) in the content-type-list, or an empty list. If you do want simple included along with other types, you must include simple in the content-type-list.

Except for simple, each content-type name is freely determined by the administrator. If the printer type is specified by the -T option, then the printer type is implicitly considered to be also a valid content type.

The page length and width, and character and line pitches needed by the form are compared with those allowed for the printer, by checking the capabilities in the terminfo database for the type of printer. If the form requires attributes that are not available with the printer, the administrator is warned but the mount is accepted. If the form lists a print wheel as mandatory, but the print wheel mounted on the printer is different, the administrator is also warned but the mount is accepted.

If the -a flag is given, an alignment pattern is printed, preceded by the same initialization of the physical printer that precedes a normal print request. Printing is assumed to start at the top of the first page of the form. After the pattern is printed, the administrator can adjust the mounted form in the printer and press return for another alignment pattern (no initialization this time), and can continue printing as many alignment patterns as desired. The administrator can quit the printing of alignment patterns by typing q.

If the -o filebreak flag is given, a form feed is inserted between each copy of the alignment pattern. By default, the alignment pattern is assumed to correctly fill a form, so no form feed is added.

A form is unmounted either by mounting a new form in its place or by using the -f none flag. By default, a new printer has no form mounted.

See the other use of -f without the -M.

If the Print-Wheel is not listed as acceptable for the printer, the administrator is warned but the mount is accepted. If the printer does not take print wheels, the command is rejected.

A print wheel is unmounted either by mounting a new print wheel in its place or by using the -S none flag. By default, a new printer has no print wheel mounted.

See the other uses of the -S flag without the -M.

standard

generic printer interface

PS

interface for PostScript printers only

By default, the standard interface is used.

-O Copy-Option

The -O controls whether or not lp makes a copy of the user's file(s) when a print job is submitted. The copy-option can be either copy or nocopy. If -O copy is specified, the LP system always copies the user's source files to the spool area when a print job is submitted. If -O nocopy is specified, the files are copied only if the user specifies the -c flag of lp when submitting the job.

This flag sets the value of the copy-files parameter in the /etc/default/lp file. The value, which can be either on or off, is checked every time a print job is submitted.

scaled-decimal-number refers to a non-negative number used to indicate a unit of size. The type of unit is shown by a trailing letter attached to the number. Three types of scaled decimal numbers can be used with the LP print service:

• numbers that show sizes in centimeters, marked with a trailing c
• numbers that show sizes in inches, marked with a trailing i
• numbers that show sizes in units appropriate to use, without a trailing letter

that is, lines, characters, lines per inch, or characters per inch.

The first four default option values must agree with the capabilities of the type of physical printer, as defined in the terminfo database for the printer type. If they do not, the command is rejected.

The stty-option-list is not checked for allowed values, but is passed directly to the stty program by the standard interface program. Any error messages produced by stty when a request is processed (by the standard interface program) are mailed to the user submitting the request.

For each printing option not specified, the defaults for the following attributes are defined in the terminfo entry for the specified printer type.

If Server-Name is a Netware server, defined as -t nuc using the lpsystem command, then Server-Printer-Name can be the name of a Netware queue or Netware printer.

If the printer is a type that takes print wheels, then List is a comma or space separated list of print wheel names. Enclose the list with quotes if it contains blanks. These are the only print wheels considered mountable on the printer. You can always force a different print wheel to be mounted, however. Until the flag is used to specify a list, no print wheels is considered mountable on the printer, and print requests that ask for a particular print wheel with this printer is rejected.

If the printer is a type that has selectable character sets, then List is a comma or blank separated list of character set name mappings or aliases. Enclose the list with quotes if it contains blanks. Each mapping is of the form:

The known-name is a character set number preceded by cs, such as cs3 for character set three, or a character set name from the Terminfo database entry csnm. See terminfo. If this flag is not used to specify a list, only the names already known from the Terminfo database or numbers with a prefix of cs are acceptable for the printer.

If List is the word none, any existing print wheel lists or character set aliases is removed.

See the other uses of the -S with the -M flag.

If the Printer-Type-List contains more than one type, then the content-type-list of the -I option must either be specified as simple, as empty (-I ""), or not specified at all.

login-ID

a user on the local system

system-name!login-ID

a user on system system-name

system-name!all

all users on system system-name

all!login-ID

a user on all systems

all

all users on the local system

all!all

all users on all systems

For each printer the LP print service keeps two lists of users:

• An allow-list of people allowed to use the printer
• A deny-list of people denied access to the printer.

If the allow-list is not empty, only the users in the list may use the printer, regardless of the contents of the deny-list. If the allow-list is empty, but the deny-list is not, the users in the deny-list may not use the printer. All users can be denied access to the printer by specifying -u deny:all. All users may use the printer by specifying -u allow:all.