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CUPS includes both the System V (lp) and Berkeley (lpr) printing commands. CUPS supports many different file formats, including PostScript and image files, so you can print most files directly from the command line.

The CUPS log files, located in /var/log/cups, include the following:

Âaccess_log, which contains all HTTP requests processed by CUPS server

Âerror_log, which contains messages from the scheduler (errors, warnings, and so on)

Âpage_log, which contains a summary of each page sent to a printer

You can use the lpadmin tool, or the CUPS web interface, to add a print queue.

When you add a printer or create a printer pool, you create a CUPS print queue. A PPD file, which defines the attributes of that queue, is placed in /etc/cups/ppd/. The name of the PPD file corresponds with the name of the queue (either the name of a printer or the name of a class). CUPS uses PPD files for non-PostScript printers as well.

The PPD file is copied from another folder on your computer. The standard CUPS location for PPD files is /usr/share/cups/model and its subfolders. The standard location is in the following folders: /Library/Printers/PPDs/Contents/Resources/ and /System/ Library/Printers/PPDs/Contents/Resources/. The lpadmin tool can use only PPD files in /usr/share/cups/model and its subfolders.

When you initiate a print job, you generate a CUPS spool file and an IPP attributes file in /var/spool/cups. The lp or lpr tool generates an IPP attributes file and spool file. The spool file is a copy of the original document, so its format is the same as that of the original file. If the tools do not support a file’s format, you get an error message.

Once the file is copied to /var/spool/cups, cupsd begins the process of preparing the file for printing.

For more information about CUPS and tools specific to CUPS, review the documentation available at: www.cups.org/documentation.php. You can also see the man pages for the following CUPS commands: accept, backend, cancel, disable,

enable, filter, lp, lpadmin, lpinfo, lpoptions, lpq, lpr, lpstat, and reject.

Performing Print Service Tasks

Use the serveradmin tool in conjunction with commands that interact with CUPS to perform print service tasks.

Starting and Stopping Print Service

To start print service:

$ sudo serveradmin start print

To stop print service:

$ sudo serveradmin stop print

Chapter 10 Working with the Print Service

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Apple Mac OS X Server manual Performing Print Service Tasks, Starting and Stopping Print Service, To start print service