[cups.general] Scripting HP/jetadmin to CUPS conversion

[Michael R Sweet]

Rex Mueller wrote:
> the Printer Name?
> from the printers.conf points to the PPD?

Yes.

> so for example My question would be I have "quenames" on my HP/UX box,
 > jet admin initiates a connection to the model script for the printer
 > based on the IP address.

On HP-UX, the /var/spool/lp/interface directory contains interface
scripts for each printer queue.  Since System V LP does not support
anything other than character devices, the interface script runs an
external program to communicate with the device.

CUPS *does* support different kinds of device interfaces and runs a
backend program at the end of the filter chain to send print data to
the device.  The following page may be useful:

     http://www.cups.org/documentation.php/spec-design.html

> Does CUPS do something similar to probe the device to determine the
 > best model script?

No, we rely on the backend reporting the make and model, which can
then be used to auto-select a driver.  This does not happen
automatically when using the lpadmin command, but rather is supported
by the web interface and various GUI add-ons to CUPS.

 > OR when you create the printer you need to know the associated model
 > script?

When adding a printer with lpadmin, you need to know the model file,
which can be an interface script (for legacy queues that will not
work from most GUI applications) or (more commonly) a PPD name for
the printer.  (PPD == PostScript Printer Description file, which is
used for all kinds of printers in CUPS)

> So say for example, in order to create a HP 3800
> 
> The command line reference I found is as follows:
> 
> /usr/sbin/lpadmin -p name -E -v device-uri -m ppd-filename ENTER
> 
> In this line there is variable information for
> - name
> - device-uri
> - ppd-filename

name is the name that appears on the <Printer name> line in
printers.conf.

device-uri is the DeviceURI line in printers.conf.

ppd-filename gets copied to /etc/cups/ppd/name.ppd

-- 
______________________________________________________________________
Michael R Sweet                        Senior Printing System Engineer