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

[Paul Conklin]

That was me misreading, i thought you had said filter, not backend.  I haven't played much with the backends, but i've done some pretty extensive filters.

> Ted Tanaka wrote:
>
> > Thanks for the reply, Paul.
> >
> > I may be getting confused between filter and backend.  Are you suggesting
> > I have my custom backend call the CUPS-PDF backend?  I wasn't planning on
> > adding a custom filter, just a custom backend.  And for some reason I
> > didn't think a backend could call another backend, unless of course I
> > someone connect together the signals and stdin/stdout/stderr.
> >
> > Thanks!
> >
> >
> >> 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!
> >>
>
> Perhaps you may have a look at the prtofile backend (see the links on the
> CUPS website). It offers to execute a Perl fragment for postprocessing.
>
> Helge
>