enscript and a2ps

[Kurt Pfeifle]

David Botsch <dwb7 at ccmr.cornell.edu> wrote (Wednesday 23 August 2006 23:29):

> Hi. Can enscript just be used as a drop in replacement for a2ps in the
> mime.conv file?

No.

(BTW, "a2ps" is *not* used by CUPS. CUPS ships its very own "texttops"
filter...)

> Or would there be some options that would need to be 
> somehow specified to make enscript do what cups expects in terms of input and
> output?

Yes.

You'd need a wrapper script around enscript or a2ps, that behaves 
like CUPS is expecting one of its filters to behave.

 1. enlist the wrapper in the mime.convs [or another *.convs] file 
    (and the mime type(s) it handles in the mime.types [or another 
    *.convs file])...

 2. make the wrapper use the 5 or 6 positional parameters like they 
    are used by other filters too (run one of them with zero para-
    meters to see what they expect)...

 3. let the wrapper call a2ps or enscript to do the real work...

See "man filter" and/or the CUPS book by Mike for more details.

> 
> Thanks a bunch!
> 
> -DWB

Cheers,
Kurt