Overall design of enabling external Cups filter
Andreas Bohne-Lang
andreas.bohne-lang at zmf.ma.uni-heidelberg.de
Thu Feb 8 22:56:41 PST 2007
I would like to ask for a good strategy to enable external cups filter and how to embed them with minimal costs. While programming a filter during the last days I noticed that cups can handle external filter but there is no real hook to embed them.
Wish: A chain that works on the postscript files passed by the cups postscript chain - coming with the mime-type: application/vnd.cups-postscript
How to enable external filters?:
Case 1) Cups design part a
* Edit the PPD-File and set the *cupsFilter to a new final mime-type
* Edit the mime.conv and add your new mime-type
* Edit the mime.type and add your new mime-type (application/accounting)
EG: Your new filter is accounting then your mime.conv is
application/postscript application/vnd.cups-postscript 33 pstops
application/vnd.cups-postscript application/accounting 33 accounting
and you have to add this to the PPD file.
All in all you need to edit 3 cups files
Case 2) Cups design part b
* Edit the mime.conv and add your new mime-type in the chain
* Edit the mime.type and add your new mime-type (o-ps)
EG: Your new filter is accounting then your mime.conv is
application/postscript application/o-ps 33 pstops
application/o-ps application/vnd.cups-postscript 33 accounting
You do not need to edit the PPD file.
All in all you need to edit 2 cups files
Case 3) A skript chain within the cups chain
I programmed a filter that can call other filter - one after each other.
Thus I have a chain within a chain.
* Edit the mime.conv and replace the filter at postscript
application/postscript application/vnd.cups-postscript 33 mychain
All in all you need to edit 1 cups files
Case 4) (Theoretical - as far as I know)
* Edit the mime.conv and add your filter
EG: Your new filter is accounting then your mime.conv is
application/postscript application/vnd.cups-postscript 33 pstops
application/postscript application/vnd.cups-postscript 22 accounting
The could be more than one filter for each mime-type and the order of calling the different filters is set by the cost.
My question: Which will bes the way cups go on the day after tomorrow?
Which way is recommended?
Greetings -- Andreas
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