how to filter to pdf, then pass to custom backend?

[Paul Conklin]

You can call as many filters as you want from your custom filter.  Just pass $1 - $5 and usually you have to fib on $6 since you are stacking filters.  Usually I just use my temp files in $TMPDIR.  Just don't forget to clean up after yourself.  Let me know if you need an example let me know.

> Hey everyone -
>
> Hope you can help me out.  I need to convert print jobs to PDF then pass them to a custom backend.
>
> The options seem to be:
> - add a pstopdf filter, then call my custom backend
> - write something like the pdf2email script that calls ghostscript to convert to pdf
> - figure out how to daisy chain backends and use CUPS-PDF, then chain my custom backend
> - hack CUPS-PDF to add my custom functionality.
>
> I know there's CUPS-PDF, but since there can be only a single backend, I can't add my own custom backend.
>
> I noticed a pstopdf filter, but when I added it to mime.conv, I get the error:
>
>  client-error-document-format-not-supported: Unsupported format 'application/postscript'
>
> Any suggestions on the best way to do this?
>
> Thanks!