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10 Working with the Print Service
In this chapter you will find commands you can use to
configure and manage the print service.
The print service in Mac OS X Server lets you share network and direct-connect
printers among clients on your network. The print service also includes support for
managing print queues, monitoring print jobs, extensive logging, and using print
quotas. This chapter covers the commands needed to view, modify, or change the print
service settings.
Understanding the Print Process
Apple’s printing infrastructure is built on the Common UNIX Printing System (CUPS).
CUPS uses open standards, such as Internet Printing Protocol (IPP) and PostScript
Printer Description (PPD) files. Tools derived from the old LPD and LP systems are fully
integrated with the printing system. You can add a print queue with Printer Setup
Utility or from the command line, and print to it from either a Mac OS X application or
the command line. CUPS allows Mac OS X to support all the printers that other UNIX
systems support.
The CUPS daemon is /usr/sbin/cupsd. Mac OS X applications and tools communicate
with the daemon using IPP. IPP uses UDP and HTTP for transport over IP. Some
configuration files that affect the behavior of cupsd reside in /etc/cups. When you make
a change to printer sharing or to the printer list using Mac OS X applications or tools,
you modify cupsd.conf or printers.conf, respectively.
To prepare files for printing, cupsd invokes other tools called filters and backends.
These reside in subfolders of /usr/libexec/cups/.
CUPS has its own URL, 127.0.0.1:631, which you can access with a web browser. The URL
is independent of the Apache web server, so you do not need to enable web sharing to
use it. You can find the CUPS documentation at www.cups.org.