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Creating classes for lpd printing

Printer classes are an under-utilized feature (Linux cups has this also). What this lets you do is specify a group (the "class") and a job sent to that group will print to whatever printer in the group is available.

This person wanted to put a group of remote LPD printers into a class. That is a bit unusial, but in this case the printers were not really remote - they were hanging off Windows servers.

SCO systems have a mix of System V and LPD printing. The two aren't happily joined, and earlier SCO versions particularly lacked the ability to put any scripts or filters into LPD printers. However, having Sys V printing available (scripts in /usr/spool/lp/admins/lp/interfaces) meant you could get this by front-ending the LPD printer with a Sys V virtual printer.

You can do anything you need to do using the concept of virtual printers- a local printer that redirects itself elsewhere. SCO's Sys V side supported printer classes, but the LPD side did not. Set up several of these as virtuals that end up going to the Windows servers, put them in a class, and you have what you want. Another advantage of this for LPD printers is that you get to use any interface script you want.

I think the easiest and most maintainable way to do virtuals is to follow the same sort of scheme the hpnp uses but modify it with the "network" model: use an upper level interface like the one in /usr/lib/hpnp/model that filters output through a standard interface in interfaces/model.orig, but have it pickup the remote that it finally pipes to from /usr/spool/lp/remote like the network model does.

Subject: Re: On pooling of printers
Message-ID: <371703D5.431EC8BC@aplawrence.com>

The same concept can be used with Linux CUPS

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