Foomatic 4.0.1
==============
foomatic-db-engine
------------------
Foomatic's database engine generates PPD files from the data in
Foomatic's XML database. It also contains scripts to directly generate
print queues and handle jobs.
Till Kamppeter <till.kamppeter@gmail.com>
Lars Uebernickel <larsuebernickel@gmx.de>
http://www.openprinting.org/
This README contains mainly info for developers. See the file USAGE if
you want to know how to use Foomatic.
Copying
-------
This package and also the other Foomatic packages needed to run this
are under the GPL. See http://www.gnu.org/.
Bugs
----
If you spot a data error or any other bug, please report it on the
OpenPrinting bug tracking system:
http://bugs.linux-foundation.org/
Choose "OpenPrinting" as the product and "foomatic-db-engine" as the
component.
Intro
-----
This is the stable version of Foomatic. This version is also the base
of our database web interface on
http://www.openprinting.org/
New features for Foomatic 4.0.x
-------------------------------
Added in 4.0.0:
- Support for the PDF-based printing workflow. foomatic-rip now
understands both PostScript and PDF as input. PPDs are generated
with two "*cupsFilter" lines now, so that CUPS knows that also PDF
can get fed in. By the cost factors PDF is made the preferred input
format.
- foomatic-rip is rewritten in C, so that libraries can be used
without needing Perl bindings.
- Support for CUPS custom options. If a printer/driver combo has
numerical, string, or password options, appropriate keywords are
added to the PPD so that these options are also recognized as CUPS
custom options (see
http://www.cups.org/documentation.php/doc-1.4/spec-ppd.html for the
CUPS PPD extension for custom options).
- PJL/JCL options in PPD files are now generated in the standard way
as defined by the PPD specs. Foomatic keywords are only used if
really necessary.
- Generated PPDs have now an additional "*cupsFilter:" line to tell
CUPS that foomatic-rip understands PDF input (output of the
"pdftopdf" CUPS filter).
- Driver XML files can now have a new "<prototype_pdf>" tag in the
"<execution>" section, to supply a different command line prototype
for PDF input. If left out, the same command line prototype is used
for both PDF and PostScript input.
- Margins in generated PPDs now default to safer values and not to
zero if no margins are specified in the XML files.
- CUPS page accounting can be suppressed on a per-driver basis now,
via the tag "<nopageaccounting>" and the PPD keyword
"*FoomaticRIPNoPageAccounting: True".
- Added new "foomatic-ppd-to-xml" utility to generate Foomatic XML
files corresponding to a given PPD file.
- Printer/driver relations now can be defined by the "<printers>"
section in the driver XML file or by the "<drivers>" section in the
printer XML file. Before, only the former was possible.
- Added find_printer() method, to search for printers in the
database. This method is especially used by the web query API for
automatic driver/PPD downloads from the OpenPrinting web site. It
can also be used in a local installation with the new
"foomatic-searchprinter" utility.
- Added support for more detailed driver information, like license,
whether it is free, whether it comes from the printer's
manufacturer, support contacts, short description, by-task
ratings. This gives more information to decide on downloading and
installing a driver for both driver auto download and browsing the
OpenPrinting web site. The information can also be used by printer
setup tools using a locally installed Foomatic database. The
information is available in the driver XML files (there one enters
it), the PPD files, and also in the device ID strings, defined in
the PPDs (so that the information goes into the output of "lpinfo
-l -m" of CUPS).
New features for Foomatic 3.0.x
-------------------------------
Added after 3.0.2:
- Support for on-the-fly PPD generation by CUPS 1.2. Now all Foomatic
PPDs appear in the model lists of the CUPS web interface without
needing to pre-compile the PPDs. The PPDs get actually generated if
one selects them for the new print queue to be set up.
Added in 3.0.2:
- Some fixes to make foomatic-rip more robust against weird input via
the command line or environment variables are done. This solves the
problem of an attacker being able to run arbitrary commands as "lp"
(or however the spooler's special user is named) on the print
server (Security Advisory CAN-2004-0801).
- Workaround for PostScript generation bug in all OpenOffice.org
1.1.x versions.
- Let the PPD generator use the manufacturer as defined in the
Foomatic database and not the one from the IEEE-1284 auto-detection
ID string for the "*Manufacturer: ..." tag of the PPD files, as in
the IDs the manufacturer names often do not comply with the Adobe
specs (as "Hewlett-Packard", "HP" has to be used).
Added in 3.0.1:
- CUPS raster drivers can now be used with any spooler. This makes a
lot of newer commercial or manufacturer-supplied printer drivers
available for non-CUPS environments. To use a CUPS raster driver
with a spooler other than CUPS, you need to install Ghostscript
(preferrably ESP Ghostscript) with CUPS raster support, the
appropriate CUPS raster driver. You do not need to install the
complete CUPS package, the CUPS libraries are enough (libcups and
libcupsimage, usually in the "libcups" package of your
distribution) and to compile CUPS raster drivers you need also the
header files of the CUPS library (libcups-devel, cupsys-dev, or
similar package of your distro). Then you can set up a print queue
with the PPD file of the CUPS driver the same way as if you had a
native PostScript printer.
- If a printer/driver combo has Foomatic-defined JCL options and the
driver already generates a JCL header, the JCL options are merged
into the header produced by the driver.
- Workaround for newly introduced PostScript generation bug of
OpenOffice.org 1.1.0 (OOo puts settings for whole document into
"%%PageSetup" section of first page).
- Added "use strict;" to the most important Perl scripts, clean-up of
the scripts (Thanks to Patrick Powell from LPRng)
- Improved LPRng support (Thanks to Patrick Powell from LPRng)
- Printer listing options and auto-selection of recommended driver
for the PPD generator foomatic-ppdfile (Thanks to Patrick Powell
from LPRng).
- Support for string options and additional operation modes for
foomatic-addpjloptions (Thanks to Patrick Powell from LPRng).
- Additional checks in the configure scripts (Thanks to Patrick
Powell from LPRng).
- Composite options can be nested now (normal and forced composite
options can be mixed).
- Several modifications to make the PPD files compatible with the
PostScript drivers for Windows: 100 instead of 999 choices for the
"Copies" options, no "," and "+" in the "*NickName" and
"*ShortNickName" entries, optional cutting of the long names of the
options and choices (translation strings in the PPDs) to 39
characters for compatibility with the Microsoft PostScript driver
and the original PostScript driver for Windows of CUPS. All this is
not required by the Adobe specification for PPD files.
- Compatibility fixes for IRIX and the *BSD operating systems.
- Script to update the "gutenprint" driver entry in the database
using the src/foomatic/foomatic-printermap file of the source
tarball of Gutenprint 5.0.x.
- perltoxml() Perl function in DB.pm to generate XML database entries
from PPD files (thanks to Tim Waugh from Red Hat).
- Let foomatic-ppdfile (which can be also called under the name
"foomatic-datafile", for compatibility with frontends) accept and
ignore the "-t" option for backwards compatibility. Now the KDE
Printing Manager works correctly again.
- Fixed PPD file generation so that the files pass the "cupstestppd"
of CUPS 1.1.20.
Added in 3.0.0:
- For all supported spoolers (CUPS, LPRng, LPD, GNUlpr, PPR, PDQ,
CPS, no spooler) the same PostScript-to-printer's-native-language
filter (RIP, Raster Image Processor), foomatic-rip is
used. foomatic-rip detects automatically from which spooler it is
called.
- foomatic-rip gets the info about the printer's capabilities and the
driver options and default settings always from PPD files,
independent which spooler is used. It is possible to use
Foomatic-generated PPD files (usually for non-PostScript printers)
or manufacturer- supplied PPD files of PostScript printers. So
o PPD files of PostScript printers can be used with every spooler,
not only with CUPS and PPR and on all spoolers all options will
be available. So PostScript printers work always "Perfectly".
o With the PPD file one has one configuration file for every place
where information about the printer and its options is needed:
The print queue itself, PPD-aware applications (as Star Office,
OpenOffice.org, GIMP, ...), and clients (Windows, Mac, Unix with
arbitrary spooler). The PPD format is a standard format used by
every modern operating system.
- PPD building and PostScript processing is done according to the
Adobe specifications DSC (Document Structuring Conventions) and PPD
(PostScript Printer Description) as published on
http://partners.adobe.com/public/developer/ps/index_specs.html
- foomatic-rip inserts all default settings from the PPD file (so you
can edit the "*Default..." lines in the PPD files to set the
defaults), reads option settings from the user's command line, and
from the PostScript data stream. Settings in the PostScript data
stream have the highest priority to assure that what one sets in an
application is used. Depending on the option type the settings are
applied to the renderer's (usually Ghostscript's) command line, to
the JCL header, or stuffed in at the right place of the PostScript
data stream.
- Support for option settings only acting on a certain page selection
(example: First page on letterhead paper from tray 1, rest on plain
paper from tray 2). Settings must be put into the
"%%BeginPageSetup"/ "%%EndPageSetup" sections (or at least right
after the "%%Page:" comments) of the appropriate pages in the
PostScript input file. They can also be specified on the command
line by specifying a page range before the option name (ex: "lpr -o
1,5-8:ColorMode=CMYK file.ps"). If necessary, the renderer (usually
Ghostscript) is stopped and restarted in the middle of the job,
when certain pages need a different command line for the
renderer. The bug of Star Office/OpenOffice.org inserting the
"%%BeginSetup...%%EndSetup" section after the first "%%Page:"
comment is taken care of.
- foomatic-rip does neither use temporary files on the disk, nor does
it need to load huge documents completely into memory. All is done
in data streams where not more data than necessary is buffered. To
make this possible foomatic-rip forks into up to six sub-processes.
- The installation is very easy, one needs only foomatic-rip
(absolutely monolithic, no Perl modules needed), a PPD file, and
optionally foomatic-gswrapper. No different files for different
spoolers.
- Custom page size support with all spoolers when the PPD file has
Adobe-compliant definitions for usage of custom page sizes.
- The spooler-less printing mode of foomatic-rip can be used for
testing and debugging PPD files in arbitrary directories, one
simply specifies them with the new "--ppd" option.
- With PDQ one can print arbitrary file types now, and even set up
raw printers. The PDQ driver files are generated by foomatic-rip,
so the user does not need to download more files than with other
spoolers.
- Under PPR 1.50 and newer foomatic-rip runs as a PPR RIP, under
older versions, as before, as a PPR interface.
- foomatic-configure sets up printer queues based on Foomatic
database entries, arbitrary third-party PPDs (as shipped with
PostScript printers), or raw queues.
- foomatic-configure is much faster when copying or modifying print
queues now, as it does not rebuild the PPD from the Foomatic
database all the time (as long as one does not force a rebuild with
"-f").
- foomatic-addpjloptions works also in regular installations now, not
only in "inplace" installations.
- foomatic-compiledb generates only PPD and XML files now.
- foomatic-datafile is renamed to foomatic-ppdfile, a compatibility
link named foomatic-datafile is set. foomatic-ppdfile generates
only PPDs, the options "-t" and "-f" are ignored.
- foomatic-configure, foomatic-printjob, and all the other scripts
have the same command lines as in Foomatic 2.0. Exceptions: In
foomatic-configure "--oldppd" was dropped, "--ppd" (for setting up
a queue with a third-party PPD file) added, and the meaning of "-f"
(force rebuild of PPD) changed.
- Option groups: Options can be put into groups and subgroups in the
PPD files, so that GUIs can present them in a structured way (in
tabs or in a tree structure). It is nearly completely functional,
the only thing missing is translation support ("long names" for the
groups, as "Adjustments and Corrections" for "Adjustment", or
translations to other languages). Now the PPD generator makes
trivial translations ("ThisIsAGroup" -> "This Is A Group")
automatically.
- Composite options: This is a new option type to make it easier for
users to choose the best settings for a certain printing task,
especially if the driver has very many options. The idea is to have
an enumerated choice option which does not directly modify
something in the driver's command line but sets several of the
other options.
We will have a "Printout Mode" option for all printers with the
following choices:
Draft
Normal
High Quality
Very High Quality
Photo
For an Epson Stylus Color 680 with Gutenprint it sets the options
resolution, dithering, and image type as follows:
Choice Resolution Dither ImageType
------------------------------------------------------------------
Draft 180x180 dpi Very Fast LineArt
Normal 360x360 dpi Adaptive Hybrid Photographs
High Quality 720x720 dpi Adaptive Hybrid Photographs
Very High Qual. 1440x720 dpi Adaptive Hybrid Photographs
Photo 2880x720 dpi Even Tone Photographs
The mentioned settings set all the color mode to "Color", there are
also choices with a ".Gray" modifier (ex: "Normal.Gray" which set
the color mode to "Grayscale", but the other mentioned options as
the standard variants ("Normal").
The member options of the composite option all get one choice
called "FromPrintoutMode"/"Controlled by 'Printout Mode'" added,
which gets their default setting. If this choice is selected, the
option is set by the composite option according to the table. If
the user wants to modify one of the individual member options, he
simply chooses a value other than "FromPrintoutMode" for this
particular option. In addition the member options will be put into
a group (named "Printout Mode"). and the composite option goes into
the same group as "PageSize", "InputSlot", ... So the user sees the
composite option on the "Front page" of the GUI and can quickly set
up print jobs without getting confused. The user with more special
demands goes to the tab with the member options and makes detailed
choices.
- Forced composite options: These are special composite options where
the user cannot set the individual member options, but only the
composite option (the user is forced to use the composite
option). This allows options acting at two or more places, for
example a "PageSize" option for a driver which is a filter
translating Ghostscript bitmap output to the printer's
language. One lets one member option be an option inserting
PostScript code for the page size into the PostScript input data
stream for Ghostscript, and another member option insert the
correct bitmap size into the filter's command line. The user sees
only the composite option and sets the paper size with it as usual.
- String and password options: These options allow the user to supply
nearly arbitrary strings (a length limit and restrictions be a list
of allowed characters or a Perl regular expression can be set) to
the printer driver, for example names of color calibration files,
fax numbers, passwords for confidential jobs, ... Frequently needed
strings can be added as enumerated choices, so a frontend can show
the option as a combo-box. The enumerated choices are also used for
frontends which only support options as defined by the PPD spec.
- New handling of numerical options in the PPD files:
"*Default<option>: ..." now always contains one of the enumerated
choices to be Adobe-compliant, the exact default value for
Foomatic-aware applications is stored with the new
"*FoomaticRIPDefault<option>: ..." keywords now.
- URIs (Unified Resource Identifiers, the descriptions for the
printer connection type used with the "-c" option of
foomatic-configure) are exactly the same as under CUPS now. The
only difference was that before for local printers always URIs
beginning with "file:" were used, now "parallel:", "usb:", or
"serial:" is used. The old form with "file:" is still accepted for
compatibility.
- For USB printers CUPS 1.1.17 and newer supports URIs which refer to
manufacturer, model, and serial number and not to the device file
(/dev/usb/lp*) any more. This way the queues still work when the
printers are plugged in or turned on in another order in a later
session (the printers can get different device files
then). Foomatic now automatically converts the conventional USB
URIs to the new ones when an appropriate versions of CUPS is used.
When copying a queue to another spooler the URI is converted back
in the copied queue.
- Support for the MTink daemon from the MTink package
(http://xwtools.automatix.de/). MTink allows monitoring the ink
levels of Epson inkjets also while printing.
- Non-printable margins: Both printer and driver XML database entries
should get a new section for unprintable margins, so that the
"*ImageableArea" entries in the PPD files can be correctly set.
Entries should be possible for printers (printer XML file), for
drivers (main part of driver XML file), for printer/driver combos
(in printer list of driver XML file), and they can contain general
margins (valid for all paper sizes) and paper-size-specific
margins. If for one "*ImageableArea" entry in a PPD file more than
one of the above mentioned possible margin entries applies, the
"worst case" (individually determined for each page border) is
inserted. If the unprintable margins of a printer depend on options
settings, the "worst case" is chosen, too.
- Facility to make a package consisting of all possible Foomatic PPD
files, foomatic-rip, and foomatic-configure, see
README.build-foomatic-filters-ppds for how to proceed.
- Support for inserting arbitrary constant entries (as a default
resolution if there is no "Resolution" option) into the PPD
file. The entries can be printer-specific, driver-specific, or
printer/driver-combo-specific.
- Extended structure for auto-detection info in printer XML files:
General section for entries valid for both USB and parallel port
connection, possibility to insert the constant part of the original
IEEE-1284 ID string. The ID string will also be inserted into the
PPD file.
- Added a facility to chnage all the cryptic numerical printer IDs
from the old PostGreSQL time to clear-text printer IDs. With a
translation function it is assured that one can still use the old
IDs, for example to not break links to the old linuxprinting.org
web site.
- The Foomatic database uses clear-text printer IDs for all printers
now.
Ideas for future releases:
- (Soon) Add support for all PPD extensions for the Commom Printing
Dialog:
http://www.linuxfoundation.org/en/OpenPrinting/CommonPrintingDialog,
http://www.linuxfoundation.org/en/OpenPrinting/PPDExtensions
- Option conflicts: PPDs allow to define conflicts between option
settings, so that one cannot set up things which the printer cannot
do or which dont make sense (Duplex on transparencies, printing
from tray 4 when only 2 trays are installed, ...).
- Printer and driver classes: The class XML files should look like
printer or driver entries, with the same fields and with an
additional member list. If one marks an option or an option choice
as being valid for a class, it is valid for all member printers and
classes, If a printer or driver is a member of a class, all fields
which are left blank in this entry, are filled in with the value
defined in the appropriate field of the class. If the class
contains a comment text, it is shown in addition to the printer's
or driver's own text. This saves from a lot of duplicate entering
of data when adding printers, drivers, options, choice, option
groups, or option conflicts to the database.
General features
----------------
- The XML database is fully internationalizable, For all
human-readable strings translations into different languages can be
added and the web query API allows localized requests with answers
in the requested language. The OpenPrinting web site appears only
in English currently. Not only translations can be done but there
can be also different entries for the same printer driver for
different regions, so that localized driver packages can get
offered for automatic download.
- There is code to manipulate the XML files of the database. You can
load them and get Perl data structures out of them. You can
generate a printer overview list which shows all printers and for
each printer which drivers make this model work and you can also
generate an XML file with all information needed to use a certain
printer with a certain driver, which is the basis for the PPD files
which are used to configure printer queues under a spooler. These
XML files can also be transformed into a Perl data structure.
- All XML handling is done by two C programs, one makes use of libxml
to do a DOM parsing of all types of XML files appearing in the
Foomatic system to get Perl data structures out of them, because
Foomatic does all printer configuration, job manipulation,
printing, and filtering with Perl scripts. The other one does
XML-to-XML operations: the generation of the printer overview list,
and the generation of the printer/driver combo files. These
operations involve reading hundreds of files, cutting them apart
and assembling them together in another way. To make this as fast
as possible and also less memory-consuming, we do not use libxml,
but did the parsing "manually" to keep data moving operations low.
- All configuration work, especially the generation of the PPD files
is done by Perl code, because it is much easier to implemnent text
manipulation operations in Perl.
- A program foomatic-configure is provided which implements complete
printer configuration for the common spoolers. It is designed to
support CUPS, PPR, PDQ, LPRng, LPD, GNUlpr, and direct spooler-less
printing and it is designed to make it easy to write GUI or
automagic printer configuration tools. It also transfers queues
between different spoolers and generates Perl data structures or
XML files so that frontends can build menues.
- The program foomatic-searchprinter finds printers in the local
database, based on manufacturer/model search terms or the printer's
device ID. This allows to make scripts which find the printer ID
and suitable drivers automatically.
- Printing and managing print jobs is done by foomatic-printjob, you
supply exactly the same command line options for doing the same
tasks on every supported spooler.
- PJL (Printing Job Language) options can be read from the printer
and added into the local Foomatic database. This allows access to
many functions of the printer which are not supported by the
driver, as paper tray selection, toner saving, toner density,
... This is done with foomatic-getpjloptions and
foomatic-addpjloptions. Usually, PJL is only supported by PCL or
PostScript laser printers.
- The PPD files serve also for PPD-aware applications as Open Office,
the GIMP (Gutenprint plug-in and printers not directly supported by
Gutenprint), GPR, Windows/Mac clients using their PostScript driver
(and the Linux/Unix server using the Linux driver for the
printer). They give access to all the driver's options in the
printing dialogs of said applications. This works for all spoolers.
The upshot of all this is that you can now make changes easily and run
the scripts to calculate out whatever your printer/spooler needs
directly.
Programs and important files from this package
----------------------------------------------
Note: The scripts appear as ".in" files in the source tree and BZR
repository, because the path for the Perl interpreter/the bourne shell
is inserted by the "configure" script.
configure.ac
The source from which GNU autoconf generates the "configure" script
acinclude.m4
Additional macros for the "configure" script
make_configure
Calls aclocal and autoconf to generate "configure" from "configure.ac"
and "acinclude.m4"
Makefile.in
The template from which "configure" generates the Makefile
install-sh
Helper script for "configure"
foomatic-ppdfile
This program will compute the spooler-independent Foomatic PPD file
for any valid printer/driver combo available in the Foomatic
database, both for printing with foomatic-rip and for
applications/clients being able to access the printer's
options. This script serves also as on-the-fly PPD generator for
CUPS 1.2.x and newer. "make install" creates a symlink named
/usr/lib/cups/driver/foomatic to this script and so CUPS makes all
PPDs of the local database available without the PPDs needing to
exist physically. CUPS automatically calls foomatic-ppdfile if one
of the PPDs is requested. This way in most printer setup tools (all
which fully support CUPS 1.2.x and newer) all Foomatic PPDs are
available, without explicit Foomatic support by the printer setup
tool.
foomatic-configure
See USAGE for more info.
This is the great-grandady of printer configuration programs.
You can invoke this to configure a printer under any spooler with any
sort of printer connection.
The printer can be either one in the Foomatic database, it can be
one for which you have a PPD file (for example a PostScript printer
with the PPD from the Windows driver) or a printer which you want to
use without driver/filter (raw queue).
It also includes methods to summarize the current configurations, to add
new queues, reconfigure existing queues, enumerate the printers known to
the world, and return xml data objects describing individual printers and
drivers.
It should be very straightforward to write interactive printer
configuration tools around this script:
1. foomatic-configure -O prints the XML db overview on stdout
2. foomatic-configure -Q prints an XML summary of printer queues
3. foomatic-configure -X prints the XML for a database object
4. foomatic-configure with various options does the actual setup
5. foomatic-configure -P prints Perl structures for frontends
6. foomatic-configure -C copies queues, also to other spoolers
7. foomatic-configure -D sets a queue as the default queue
8. foomatic-configure -R removes a queue
foomatic-configure supports CUPS, PPR, PDQ, LPD, LPRng, GNUlpr, and
direct spooler-less printing nearly completely. The program is
structured with a dispatch table; for the cost of a few Perl
functions it can support even more spoolers. If not told, it attempts
to guess which spooler to use, or asks.
Regarding item (2), the summary of current config. It shows each
queue, giving attributes for spooler, and various settings. Queues
with the foomatic attribute set to zero are neither queues set up with
the help of the Foomatic database nor set up with a PPD file (and
foomatic-rip in case of LPRng, LPD, GNUlpr, PDQ, or no spooler). These
queues cannot be modified by foomatic-configure. Trying to modify them
would turn them into raw queues. The summary shows also which is the
default queue, if a default queue is defined for the current spooler.
The $PRINTER environment variable is not taken into account here.
For all spoolers, foomatic-configure fully groks the configuration
format. It rewrites the whole thing, preserving ordering, comments,
etc, and regularizing the syntax on each rewrite. So it can change
entries that are clearly foomatic-rip/PPD ones, and leave others
alone. Also changes of the option default settings done manually (or
with GUI tools) are preserved when modifying a queue.
It is wrong to store configuration in a weird place just because foomatic
is used: the user should be able to edit the config by hand the
old-fashioned way...
When configuring printers, the PPD file is put into
/etc/foomatic/<spooler>/ (and if needed symlinked to from elsewhere).
The PPD files are Adobe-compliant and can also be symlinked/used by
applications or clients. They get a basename taken from the queue name.
For printer configuration frontends it is necessary to get all info
about the queue configuration, the options, possible settings, and
default settings. This info can be retrieved as a Perl data
structure. The structure produced by
foomatic-configure -q -P > testfile.pl
can be read by the following Perl script example.pl
#!/usr/bin/perl
my @QUEUES;
eval (join('',(<STDIN>)));
my $i;
my $N = $#QUEUES + 1;
print "$N Queues\n";
for ($i = 0; $i < $N; $i++) {
my $n = $i + 1;
print "$n : $QUEUES[$i]->{'queuedata'}{'queue'}\n";
}
with
cat testfile.pl | ./example.pl
Queue copying especially allows to switch between spoolers overtaking
ones queues with all settings and adjustments.
foomatic-searchprinter
With this tool it is easy to find the desired printer in the
database. You do not need to know the exact manufacturer and model
name and how it is written in the database. foomatic-searchprinter
matches what is closest to your search term. You can even use the
IEEE-1284 device ID read from your printer as search term. This
toool together with foomatic-configure allows to write printer setup
tools for fully automatic print queue setup. Results are shown
sorted by relevance and the threshold for accepting results and the
amount of results to be shown is adjustable. See
"foomatic-searchprinter -h" for available options.
foomatic-getpjloptions
Reads the PJL options from local (parallel, USB. serial, ...) or
remote (only socket, LPD is not bi-directional) printers to standard
output. They can be piped into foomatic-addpjloptions to add them to
the database. Call the program without arguments for help.
foomatic-addpjloptions
Add the PJL options listed by a printer to the Foomatic
database. The option list is read from a file or from standard
input. The ID of the printer for which the options are has to be
provided (option -p). You can add all PJL options or only the most
important ones (-i). When you are adding the options from a file,
you are asked whether the printer ID is correct, but you can turn
this off if you want (-f). Call the program with the -h option to
get help.
Note: The program needs the three files foomatic-templates/pjl*.xml
Example for making available the PJL options of the networked HP
LaserJet 4050 (Foomatic ID: HP-LaserJet_4050), hostname printer6,
port 9100:
# Remove the "native" PJL options from the database
rm -f `grep -li "pjl" db/source/opt/*.xml`
# Remove the options from a former PJL option poll on the same printer
rm -f foomatic-db/opt/pjl-HP-LaserJet_4050-*
# Get the PJL options from the printer
foomatic-getpjloptions printer6 9100 | foomatic-addpjloptions -p HP-LaserJet_4050
# Move the XML files into the database
foomatic-kitload -k foomatic-db/
# Set up printer queue
foomatic-configure -n LaserJet4050 -c socket://printer6:9100/ \
-d pxlmono -p HP-LaserJet_4050
Instead of using "foomatic-configure" you can also generate the PPD
file:
./foomatic-ppdfile -d pxlmono -p HP-LaserJet_4050 > lj4050.ppd
and set up the queue manually as described on
http://www.openprinting.org/
For CUPS you can for example do:
lpadmin -p LaserJet4050 -E -v socket://printer6:9100/ -P lj4050.ppd
foomatic-kitload
This program installs a foomatic data kit into the local data
library. It takes a -k <dirname> option, where <dirname> is the
toplevel directory of a foomatic driver "kit". A "kit" is a
selection of XML source files arranged exactly as in the source/
section of the master database (ie, opt/ driver/ printer/ subdirs).
Gutenprint foomatic-generator produces exactly such a kit.
Foomatic-kitload is moderately paranoid about kits: the kit must
contain at least one of printer/ driver/ and opt/; the kit must
contain only files ending in .xml, the kit cannot be the local
library itself, etc. But it does not inspect the contents of the
kit files in any way.
foomatic-printjob
See USAGE for more info.
This program implements all the logic for controlling the dynamic
elements of queues. In other words, jobs. It'll submit them, provide
status on them, cancel them, etc. This provides an easy way for
application authors to print in a spooler and driver neutral way.
foomatic-compiledb
This program will run around and generate combo data for all valid
printer/driver combinations (or for selected drivers). The data is put
into one directory and it is generated in a format specified by the user
(PPD files or printer/driver combo XML files).
compile_db takes a -j# flag: it will run that many compute processes
in parallel. You should run compile_db with a -j flag to specify how
many processes to run concurrently (Gratuitous feature: you can add
more processes in the middle without conflict! Just run another with
-f until they all finish).
Generally, compile_db should just not be necessary except for people
who want to distribute sets of configuration files. foomatic-ppdfile and
especially foomatic-configure will automagically compute just what they
need at runtime.
foomatic-combo-xml
The Foomatic accelaration engine written in C, it computes
printer/driver combo XML files or the printer overview XML file in
less then two seconds (on a crappy 128MB/350MHz
machine). foomatic-compiledb needs less than three minutes for its
job on a two-processor 1GB/1GHz machine. The printer/driver combo
XML files are computed around 600 times faster than with the pure
Perl programs of the beginning of the XML Foomatic. In addition,
foomatic-combo-xml does not need more than 10 MB of memory.
The program is called by the Foomatic Perl library, but can also be
called stand-alone, call the program without command line options to
know how to use it.
foomatic-combo-xml does not need any XML parsing libraries, to make
it faster and less memory-consuming, the XML files are somehow
"manually" parsed.
foomatic-perl-data
The XML-to-Perl translator, also written in C. This program reads
the XML files of the Foomatic database and translates them into Perl
data structures, so that the Perl scripts can access the data.
The intention of this program is to not need the many non-standard
Perl XML libraries which would make the installation of Foomatic
very awkward. Now only the libxml C library is needed, a library
which ships with most distributions of free operating systems. One
can use either libxml 1.x (1.8.17 and newer) or 2.x, but 2.x is
recommended.
Without any C helper programs the following problems appeared:
- The thing was *at least* an order of magnitude slower than life
under Postgres and Perl was. It took hours to run compile_db, and
up to some minutes (at least a few seconds) to compile one combo.
The first one took more time as the option cache loaded.
- Memory: compiledb compute processes peaked at about 150MB RAM.
You could turn down the number of computations per process, but it
never got much below 130MB.
- Due to the slowness of the Perl XML handling an on-disk cache was
used. This lead to old files from the cache being used when one
changed something in the database and forgot to delete the cache.
- Many non-standard Perl libraries were needed which made the
installation of Foomatic rather difficult. Now only the libxml C
library is needed. This library ships with every modern distro of
GNU/Linux.
foomatic-fix-xml
Run this program if you have compiled foomatic-perl-data against
libxml 1.x and you have old database entries with a leading blank
line. libxml 1.x chokes on leading blank lines.
foomatic-cleanupdrivers
Removes all driver entries with empty driver command lines. This way
frontends do not show printer/driver combos which do not work.
foomatic-preferred-driver
Sets a recommended driver for every printer which has no recommended
driver entry or has one pointing to a driver which does not exist in
the local Foomatic database (for example when you have removed a
driver entry from the database which belongs to a driver which is
not built into your Ghostscript).
foomatic-nonumericalids
This script changes all old cryptic numerical printer IDs from the
old PostGreSQL time to clear-text printer IDs in the installed
Foomatic database. The current "foomatic-db" has no numerical IDs
any more (this script has been applied to it), but if you use and
older Foomatic database (for example to match the of your distro)
you can change the IDs with this script. With a translation table it
is assured that one can still use the old IDs.
foomatic-replaceoldprinterids
Replaces references to old numerical or otherwise obsolete printer
IDs in arbitrary files. By default it uses the db/oldprinterids file
of the current Foomatic database as translation table, but you can
use arbitrary translation tables. You can also give regular
expressions (Perl) for the text surrounding the IDs. Do
"foomatic-replaceoldprinterids -h" to know how to use it.
foomatic-ppd-to-xml
Generates a printer XML file from a given PPD file. This is for
example used to make database entries for printers for which there
is a manufacturer-supplied PPD file.
foomatic-printermap-to-gutenprint-xml
Updates the driver XML file for the Gutenprint driver to the state of
the foomatic-printermap file in the Gutenprint source tree. Used to
update the driver XML file for Gutenprint in the OpenPrinting database.
foomatic-ppd-options
Lists the options in a PPD file one the screen.
Filters
-------
To be able to print with the PPD files and queues made with the stuff
in this package, you need only the foomatic-rip filter provided by the
"foomatic-filters" package.
foomatic-rip
See the documentation of the "foomatic-filters" package for more info.
This is a universal print filter which works with all printer spoolers
auto-detecting the spooler from which it is called. Its job is to
translate the incoming data (PostScript in most cases) to the
printer's native language taking into account all option settings,
either defaults or job-specific ones. It reads the PPD file assigned
to the print queue, either a Foomatic-generated one or a
manufacturer-supplied PPD file of a PostScript printer, uses the
information to find the default option settings and to build the
renderer's (usually Ghostscript, "cat" for PostScript printers)
command line, and applies the user-supplied options. Then it builds
the renderer's command line and passes the data through it. If the
data is not PostScript, a pre-filter ("a2ps", "enscript", "mpage",
...) is added.
About the database
------------------
The database is provided by the "foomatic-db" package, additional
database entries are in "foomatic-db-hpijs", drivers can also supply
Foomatic XML files. "foomatic-db" is required for using the programs
provided by this package.
There is a $libdir, somewhere (usually
/usr/share/foomatic/). Underneath $libdir there are (Install
"foomatic-db" at first and then this package. Then the $libdir will be
auto-detected):
db/ - the database
db/oldprinterids - translation table for old numerical
printer IDs
db/kitload.log - list of third-party "kit" files, logged
by foomatic-kitload
db/source/ - "source" data, provided by humans, etc
db/source/printer/<poid>.xml - printer-specific data, one per printer id
db/source/driver/<driver>.xml - driver-specific data, one per driver name
db/source/opt/<idx>.xml - option data, one file per option
db/source/PPD/ - Ready-made PPD files, usually supplied by
printer manufacturers for their PostScript
printers.
You can edit the files whenever you want and regenerate the affected
printer queues with foomatic-configure, there is no on-disk cache, the
data is always directly derived from the source files. So your changes
will be taken into account without any special steps.
Foomatic::DB API
----------------
This API isn't required, now that the data is an an easy-to-process
format (nevermind the foomatic-configure language independent "API")
for heathen users of non-Perl languages, but even for such dogs it's
instructive to poke at how certain things are done:
get_driverlist
get_printerlist
get_printers_for_driver
get_drivers_for_printer
These all return lists of printer id's or driver names. The
get_foo_for_bar methods accept a printer id or driver name as
appropriate; the frst two just return all and take no arguments.
get_overview
get_overview_xml
This returns an overview listing of all printers, with ids, makes,
models, functionaliy, drivers, etc. The various flavors return a
Perl data structure or XML.
get_makes
get_models_by_make
These return makes and models lists.
get_javascript2
This returns a JavaScript function that accepts two widget element
names. If the first one is set to a value that euqals a known make,
then the second one's choices are replaced with a set of models
valued with printer IDs. We use this to make a "nested menu" out of
two menu controls on a web page.
get_printer_from_make_model
This returns a printer id from a make and model
normalize
normalizename
These are used for sorts to sort printer model names properly and
also to do searches for printer models/IDs. normalize makes the
input string all lower-case, turns a '+' tp 'plus', and removes all
non-alphanumeric characters. normalizename turns all groups of
digits to a zero-padded fixed-length number, so that printers with
the same product line name (like "LaserJet") and different model
numbers appear in correct numerical order. In addition,
normalizename also applies normalize.
get_combo_data_xml
This returns the combined printer/driver data for a particular
combination. Arguments are driver and printer id.
The "combo" operation is less trival than it looks; be careful when
messing with it. It took us hours to get right... Currently, it is
implemented in the foomatic-combo-xml.c C accelerator.
get_printer_xml
get_printer
get_driver_xml
get_driver
These return the information in the printer info or driver info
database files. The *_xml functions produce XML, the others Perl
data structures.
find_printer
This function returns Foomatic printer IDs to match a given search
term. The search term can be manufacturer and model, separated by a
space or a '|', an IEEE-1284 device ID of a printer, manufacturer,
model, Foomatic printer ID, or parts of any of the mentioned items.
getdat
This returns a Perl data structure of all the data for a given
printer/driver combo. It contains a description of printer
capabilities, all options, choices, and ranges valid for this
particular combo. It is used to build the PPD files, but can also
be used by Perl frontends. It takes driver and printer ID arguments;
just like get_combo_data_xml
getppd
This returns the spooler-independent PPD file for foomatic-rip and for
applications and clients. It takes no arguments; instead you must call
getdat first, and they'll then magically find that result.
getdocs
getexecdocs
get_summarydocs
For some reason there are three functions which return documentation
about job options for particular printer/driver pairs. There's also a
fourth one inside foomatic-rip (invoked by the "docs" option).
These work the same way as getppd; you call getdat first.
Once, these worked if you called getdat with only a driver; in that
case it sort of documented it for all printers at once. This is
sort of incomplete, especially what with PJL arguments in the world.
Grant also probably broke it in the xml rewrite. Till has
rewritten getexecdocs to produce documentation for a given printer
driver pair, it provides the data presented on the "Execution Details"
pages of OpenPrinting.
get_libdir
Returns the library directory.
Dependencies
------------
Besides Perl and a C compiler with its standard libraries you will
need the libxml C library for XML handling and one of the tools
"wget"/"curl".
In addition, you need the Foomatic database ("foomatic-db") and the
Foomatic filters ("foomatic-filters") packages. It is recommended to
install these packages before you install this package. Then the paths
to their components get auto-detected during the build of this
package.
"wget" (from www.gnu.org) is really a standard tool which nearly every
distribution includes.
Because libxml is also used by GNOME, it is probably also part of
every distribution of GNU/Linux or *BSD and one can also easily build
it on any Unix-like operating system. If you distribution does not
provide libxml you can get libxml from
http://www.xmlsoft.org/
If your distribution contains libxml, note that besides the "libxml"
or "libxml2" package you must install also a package with a name
"libxml-devel" or "libxml2-devel" to be able to compile programs which
use libxml. This additional package contains the needed header files
and "xml(2)-config", which tells the C compiler where it finds the
header files. If "xml(2)-config" or some header files in the packages
of your distribution are missing, compile libxml from source.
The versions 1.8.17 and 2.4.19 of libxml are tested, both work, but
1.8.17 requires that the XML files do not have leading blank
lines. Use foomatic-fix-xml if you have such XML files (old or
third-party files).
Using libxml 2.x is highly recommended.
You need libxml 2.x, aclocal (in the "automake" package in some
distros), and autoconf when you want to compile Foomatic from the BZR
repository.
See the USAGE file for compilation details.
Data
----
There are three main source datafiles; annotated examples:
source/opt/2.xml
================
# Every option exists independently from printers or drivers, because
# they might apply to arbitrary combinations of printers and/or
# drivers. In practice, some drivers have wholly unique options
# (gutenprint for example), while others (lots of generic basic
# Ghostscript drivers, for example) share some options.
<option type="enum" id="opt/2">
# Options are of a type "enum", "bool", "int", "float", "string", or
# "password", options have an ID. The id is also the filename.
# The shortname is a spaceless short name for the thing. It must not
# contain / or : (otherwise it will not be handled correctly in PPD
# files). It should be one of the standard Adobe PPD option names if
# apropriate
<arg_shortname>
# Various things here, and all <comments>, are internationalized.
# They take the usual posix locale codes in the form xx[_YY], where xx
# is a two-letter iso language code, and YY is two-letter country code
# to distinguish differing national dialects.
#
# Generally the national dialects won't be very common or necessary
# here. The backends currently require that <en> content be provided.
<en>PageSize</en><!-- backends only know <en> shortnames! -->
</arg_shortname>
# The longname is a short phrase describing the thing in more detail
# GUI tools usually show longnames
<arg_longname>
<en>Page Size</en>
</arg_longname>
# The comments are used to form documentation. In theory these can
# become man pages or the like.
<!-- A multilingual <comments> block can appear here, too;
it should be treated as documentation for the user. -->
# The execution section describe how the backend should execute this
# option. The order and spot apply to the *driver*'s prototype for
# <arg_substitution /> (once called commandline) style options, or
# just the order applies for <arg_postscript /> and <arg_pjl />
# options. The order and the <arg_section> go into the "*OrderDependency"
# line of the appropriate option entry in the PPD file, for this example
# one would get
# *OrderDependency: 100 DocumentSetup *PageSize
# When no <arg_section> is given, "AnySetup" is used as a default.
# For <arg_substitution /> options the <arg_proto> is inserted into
# the driver's command line, at the spot (e. g. "%A") whose letter is
# given between the <arg_spot>...</arg_spot> tags, the <arg_proto> of
# an <arg_postscript /> option is a snippet of PostScript code which
# is inserted into the PostScript data stream of the job, for
# DSC-conforming PostScript into the section specified with
# <arg_section>, otherwise in the beginning. The <arg_proto> lines of
# <arg_pjl /> options are PJL commands which are sent to the printer
# before the output of the driver's command line is sent. Because this
# only works reliably when the driver output does not have its own PJL
# command header, these options are ignored when the driver's XML file
# is marked with a <nopjl /> tag in its <execution> section. Drivers
# which produce their own PJL and therefore are marked with <nopjl />
# are for example "hpijs" and "hl1250". There is also the
# <arg_composite /> execution style for composite options, see the
# "Composite Options" section below. The user's value gets put into
# the <arg_proto>'s %s location.
# The <arg_group>...</arg_group> tags put the option into the PPD
# option group named here. In many PPD-based GUIs ("kprinter", "xpp",
# OpenOffice.org, ...) every group is shown as a tab or a tree branch
# containing the member options of this group. You can also specify
# subgroups. Then you have to use a "group path" similar to directory
# paths, with the group and subgroup names separated by slashes
# (<arg_group>General/Paper</arg_group> is the "Paper" subgroup in the
# "General" group). Subgroups are not recommended as there is no GUI
# supporting them. If an option is member of a composite option (See
# "Composite Options" section below), the <arg_group>...</arg_group>
# tags will be ignored.
<arg_execution>
<arg_group>General</arg_group>
<arg_order>100</arg_order>
<arg_section>DocumentSetup</arg_section>
<arg_spot>Z</arg_spot>
<arg_postscript />
<arg_proto><</PageSize[%s]/ImagingBBox null>>setpagedevice</arg_proto>
</arg_execution>
# The constraints define what printer/driver combinations this option
# applies to. The *most specific* constraint rules the day; it's
# "sense" says whether or not the option is "in". The winning
# constraint also provides the default value used when this option
# applies to that printer and driver.
# Constraint elements are: driver, make, model. The driver is the
# driver name, or not present to apply to any driver. The make is the
# printer make, or not present to apply to any printer make. The
# model is the driver model, or not present to apply to any printer.
# Instead of make/model, you can also specify <printer>id</printer>.
# IMPORTANT: The make and model must match the one in the printer xml
# definition, and everywhere else in the other options. One needs to
# write a utility to change printer names sensibly.
# It is illegal to have a model with no make.
# It is illegal to have none of make/model/driver.
# It is illegal to have *no* constraints, or at least such options are
# never used.
# For enum options, the defval is the id of the enum_val that is the
# default. For other option types, it is the actual default value
# (ie, a number, or 1 or 0 for boolean, etc).
<constraints>
<constraint sense="true">
<driver>sj48</driver>
<arg_defval>ev/1</arg_defval>
</constraint>
<constraint sense="true">
<driver>r4081</driver>
<arg_defval>ev/1</arg_defval>
</constraint>
# A gajillion constraints deleted
</constraints>
<enum_vals>
<enum_val id="ev/1">
<ev_longname>
<en>US Letter</en>
</ev_longname>
<!-- A multilingual <comments> block can appear here, too;
it should be treated as documentation for the user. -->
<ev_shortname>
<en>Letter</en>
<!-- Until someone tells me how to learn the user locale in
backends, the shortname must be monolingual in <en>! -->
</ev_shortname>
# If present, the driverval is what gets substituted in for the %s in
# the option's prototype. This way the user-visible stuff can be
# anything.
<ev_driverval>612 792</ev_driverval>
# This enum_val has no constraints. It *is* OK for enum_vals to
# have no constraints; they are assumed to apply unless
# constrained otherwise.
</enum_val>
<enum_val id="ev/115">
<ev_longname>
<en>A3</en>
</ev_longname>
<!-- A multilingual <comments> block can appear here, too;
it should be treated as documentation for the user. -->
<ev_shortname>
<en>A3</en>
<!-- Until someone tells me how to learn the user locale in
backends, the shortname must be monolingual in <en>! -->
</ev_shortname>
<ev_driverval>842 1191</ev_driverval>
# Here are some example constraints for an enum_val. The A3 size
# paper doesn't fit on lots of printers, so there are various
# constraints to make the right thing happen.
<constraints>
<constraint sense="true">
<driver>ml85p</driver>
<arg_defval>na</arg_defval>
</constraint>
<constraint sense="true">
<make>HP</make>
<model>DeskJet 1000C</model>
<driver>pnm2ppa</driver>
<arg_defval>na</arg_defval>
</constraint>
<constraint sense="false">
<make>HP</make>
<model>DeskJet 820C</model>
<driver>pnm2ppa</driver>
<arg_defval>na</arg_defval>
</constraint>
# lots more...
</constraints>
</enum_val>
</enum_vals>
</option>
# To allow custom page sizes to be used one has add a choice with the
# "<ev_shortname>" being "Custom" to the "PageSize" option (example
# below). This choice will be treated as the custom page size. When
# the user selects this choice, he has to provide the width and the
# height of the page in addition. These values are converted into
# PostScript points (1/72 inches) and inserted into placeholders in
# the "<ev_driverval>" of this choice. The "<ev_driverval>" should
# contain a placeholder "%0" for the page width and "%1" for the page
# height. Alternatively the "<ev_driverval>" can contain two zeros
# ("0") from which the first will be replaced by the page width and
# the second by the page height. Then one gets Adobe-compliant entries
# for the custom page size in the PPD files and one can set a custom
# page size with the following commands:
# CUPS: lpr -P huge -o PageSize=Custom.500x750cm bigposter.ps
# LPRng: lpr -P huge -Z PageSize=Custom.500x750cm bigposter.ps
# GNUlpr: lpr -P huge -o PageSize=Custom.500x750cm bigposter.ps
# LPD: lpr -P huge -JPageSize=Custom.500x750cm bigposter.ps
# PPR (RIP): ppr -P huge -F "*PageSize Custom" --ripopts 500x750cm
# bigposter.ps
# PPR (Int.): ppr -P huge -F "*PageSize Custom" -i 500x750cm bigposter.ps
# PDQ: pdq -P huge -oPageSize_Custom -aPageWidth=500
# -aPageHeight=750 -oPageSizeUnit_cm bigposter.ps
# No spooler: foomatic-rip -P huge -o PageSize=Custom.500x750cm
# bigposter.ps
# Here is an example for a custom page size setting:
# <enum_val id="ev/PageSize-Custom">
# <ev_longname>
# <en>Custom size</en>
# </ev_longname>
# <!-- A multilingual <comments> block can appear here, too;
# it should be treated as documentation for the user. -->
# <ev_shortname>
# <en>Custom</en>
# <!-- Until someone tells me how to learn the user locale in
# backends, the shortname must be monolingual in <en>! -->
# </ev_shortname>
# <ev_driverval>%0 %1</ev_driverval>
# </enum_val>
# The entry
# <ev_driverval>0 0</ev_driverval>
# would have the same effect as the <ev_driverval> of the example.
# For numerical (int, float) and bool options there is no <enum_vals>
# section. Instead of this section numerical options have tags to
# specify minimum and maximum value:
# <arg_max>10.0</arg_max>
# <arg_min>0.0</arg_min>
# For the %s in the <arg_proto> a number, either the user's choice
# when he has specified this option or the default value is
# inserted. Only numbers between the minimum and the maximum and in
# case of int options only integer numbers are allowed.
# Bool options can be set or not be set. There <arg_proto> will be
# inserted if they are set, nothing if they are not set. A %s in the
# <arg_proto> is not allowed, there is nothing to insert for it. As
# <arg_defval> in the option's constraints one can use 0 for not
# setting the option by default or 1 for setting it by default.
# Bool options need the specification of a name for the case when they
# are not set. This will be used by GUIs and in PPD files:
# <arg_shortname_false>
# <en>CorrectBlack</en><!-- Backends only know <en> shortnames! -->
# </arg_shortname_false>
# This name should not contain spaces, ":", or "/".
# See below for string and password options.
printer/HP-LaserJet_4000.xml
============================
# The printer file contains information specific to a particular
# printer.
<printer id="printer/HP-LaserJet_4000">
# Make and model are not internationalized. There will eventually be
# an "alias" mechanism, but the need is different.
<make>HP</make>
<model>LaserJet 4000</model>
# According to the Adobe specifications for PPD files every PPD file
# must contain a unique DOS-compatible file name (the "*PCFileName"),
# a file name with an up to 8 characters log base name and an up to 3
# characters long extension, and upper and lower case letters being
# considered as equal. As every PPD file is for a printer/driver
# combo, we let the first 6 characters being provided by the printer
# entry:
<pcmodel>HPLJ4K</pcmodel>
# The first two characters should be the manufacturer prefix as listed
# in Appendix D of Adobe's "PostScript Printer Description (PPD) File
# Format Specification Version 4.3", available on
# http://partners.adobe.com/public/developer/en/ps/5003.PPD_Spec_v4.3.pdf
# Various stuff about the machine
<mechanism>
# Printer types can be <laser />, <led />, <inkjet />, <dotmatrix />,
# <impact />, <sublimation />, <transfer />. Other types we have to
# add to the CGI script on OpenPrinting to make the web interface
# displaying them properly.
<laser/>
# At some point we can make color be less of a boolean flag and more
# of a section full of goodies.
<!--not "color"-->
<resolution>
# In theory this is a list. In practice We've only got one per
# printer which is the maximum resolution the manufacturer claims
# for this printer.
<dpi>
<x>1200</x>
<y>1200</y>
</dpi>
</resolution>
<consumables>
# Information about ink, drums, etc.
# The comments are supposed to be qualitative ("Separate drum and
# toner cartridges")
<comments>
<en>toner</en>
</comments>
# There can be <partno>12A1975</partno> elements with manufacturer
# part numbers for the various carts, etc it takes. Unfortunately,
# this is not made use of, one could make a consumable database with
# this for example.
<!--one or more "partno" elements.-->
</consumables>
</mechanism>
<url>http://www.pandi.hp.com/pandi-db/prod_info.show?model=C4118A&name=LaserJet4000</url>
# The lang section. In practice this will be only minimally useful;
#
# - Backends can pstops the ps down a level if needed
# - Backends know if pjl options apply
# - Backends can know if direct text printing will work
#
# Commonly used language tags: <pcl level="x" />, <escp2 />, <proprietary />
<lang>
<postscript level="2" />
<pjl/>
<text>
<charset>us-ascii</charset>
</text>
</lang>
# The autodetection stuff
<autodetect>
# There are three ways to auto-detect a printer, via the parallel port
# (<parallel>...</parallel>), the USB (<usb>...</usb>), or SNMP
# (TCP/Socket-connected printer, <snmp>...</snmp>). Through these
# interfaces the printers report back an IEEE-1284-complient ID string
# from which the fields "MFG" (<manufacturer>...</manufacturer>),
# "MDL" (<model>...</model>), "DES" (<description>...</description>),
# and "CMD" (<commandset>...</commandset>) are used. The string itself
# can be put between <ieee1284>...</ieee1284> tags, but all items
# which are not constant for all printers of this model, as the serial
# number ("SERN:...;") and the device status ("VSTATUS:...;") have to
# be removed here. As the ID string is usually the same for all
# detection methods, one can put the entries between
# <general>...</general> tags, then the <parallel>...</parallel>,
# <usb>...</usb>, and <snmp>...</snmp> are only used for
# differences to the data between the <general>...</general> tags. A
# complete entry could look like:
#
# <autodetect>
# <general>
# <ieee1284>MFG:HEWLETT-PACKARD;MDL:DESKJET 600;CMD:MLC,PCL,PML;CLASS:PRINTER;DESCRIPTION:Hewlett-Packard DeskJet 600;</ieee1284>
# <commandset>MLC,PCL,PML</commandset>
# <description>Hewlett-Packard DeskJet 600</description>
# <manufacturer>HEWLETT-PACKARD</manufacturer>
# <model>DESKJET 600</model>
# </general>
# </autodetect>
#
# On Linux you find this info for the parallel ports (/dev/lp<N>, <N>
# = 0, 1, 2, ...) in the files
#
# /proc/sys/dev/parport/parport<N>/autoprobe*
#
# for the USB under Linux it is more complicated, easiest is to use a little
# Perl script, called "getusbprinterid.pl":
# You need to find the IOCTL call value to pass to the perl ioctl function.
# Here is a little C program that does this. This is easier than trying to
# use p2h and convert the *.h files to perl.
# --------------------------------------------------------------------------
# /*
# print the IOCTL call value for printer information
# */
# #include <stdio.h>
# #include <sys/ioctl.h>
# /* From the /usr/src/linux<version>/drivers/usb/printer.c */
# #define DRIVER_VERSION "v0.11"
# #define DRIVER_AUTHOR "Michael Gee, Pavel Machek, Vojtech Pavlik, Randy Dunlap, Pete Zaitcev, David Paschal"
# #define DRIVER_DESC "USB Printer Device Class driver"
#
# #define USBLP_BUF_SIZE 8192
# #define DEVICE_ID_SIZE 1024
#
# /* ioctls: */
# #define LPGETSTATUS 0x060b /* same as in drivers/char/lp.c */
# #define IOCNR_GET_DEVICE_ID 1
# #define IOCNR_GET_PROTOCOLS 2
# #define IOCNR_SET_PROTOCOL 3
# #define IOCNR_HP_SET_CHANNEL 4
# #define IOCNR_GET_BUS_ADDRESS 5
# #define IOCNR_GET_VID_PID 6
# /* Get device_id string: */
# #define LPIOC_GET_DEVICE_ID(len) _IOC(_IOC_READ, 'P', IOCNR_GET_DEVICE_ID, len)
# /* The following ioctls were added for http://hpoj.sourceforge.net */
# /* (HPOJ is replaced by HPLIP, http://hplipopensource.com/): */
# /* Get two-int array:
# * [0]=current protocol (1=7/1/1, 2=7/1/2, 3=7/1/3),
# * [1]=supported protocol mask (mask&(1<<n)!=0 means 7/1/n supported): */
# #define LPIOC_GET_PROTOCOLS(len) _IOC(_IOC_READ, 'P', IOCNR_GET_PROTOCOLS, len)
# /* Set protocol (arg: 1=7/1/1, 2=7/1/2, 3=7/1/3): */
# #define LPIOC_SET_PROTOCOL _IOC(_IOC_WRITE, 'P', IOCNR_SET_PROTOCOL, 0)
# /* Set channel number (HP Vendor-specific command): */
# #define LPIOC_HP_SET_CHANNEL _IOC(_IOC_WRITE, 'P', IOCNR_HP_SET_CHANNEL, 0)
# /* Get two-int array: [0]=bus number, [1]=device address: */
# #define LPIOC_GET_BUS_ADDRESS(len) _IOC(_IOC_READ, 'P', IOCNR_GET_BUS_ADDRESS, len)
# /* Get two-int array: [0]=vendor ID, [1]=product ID: */
# #define LPIOC_GET_VID_PID(len) _IOC(_IOC_READ, 'P', IOCNR_GET_VID_PID, len)
#
#
# int main( int argc, char *argv, char *envp[] )
# {
# int len = 1024;
# int v;
# /* _IOC(), _IOC_READ as defined in /usr/include/asm/ioctl.h
# LPIOC_GET_DEVICE_ID(len) = _IOC(_IOC_READ, 'P', IOCNR_GET_DEVICE_ID, len)
# */
# v = LPIOC_GET_DEVICE_ID(len); printf("$LPIOC_GET_DEVICE_ID = 0x%08x;\n", v );
# v = LPIOC_GET_BUS_ADDRESS(len); printf("$LPIOC_GET_BUS_ADDRESS = 0x%08x;\n", v );
# v = LPIOC_GET_VID_PID(len); printf("$LPIOC_GET_VID_PID = 0x%08x;\n", v );
# return(0);
# }
#
#
# save this to a file, say getv.c, compile and run it, and you get an output
$ like this:
# $LPIOC_GET_DEVICE_ID = 0x84005001;
# $LPIOC_GET_BUS_ADDRESS = 0x84005005;
# $LPIOC_GET_VID_PID = 0x84005006;
# Here is the getusbprinterid.pl PERL program to get the usb information
#
# !/usr/bin/perl
# open FILE, "$ARGV[0]" or die "cannot open $ARGV[0]";
# my $result;
# # len = 1024
# # LPIOC_GET_DEVICE_ID(len) = _IOC(_IOC_READ, 'P', IOCNR_GET_DEVICE_ID, len)
# # _IOC(), _IOC_READ as defined in /usr/include/asm/ioctl.h
# $LPIOC_GET_DEVICE_ID = 0x84005001;
# $LPIOC_GET_BUS_ADDRESS = 0x84005005;
# $LPIOC_GET_VID_PID = 0x84005006;
#
# ioctl(FILE, $LPIOC_GET_DEVICE_ID , $result) or die;
# # Cut resulting string to its real length
# my $length = ord(substr($result, 1, 1)) + (ord(substr($result, 0, 1)) << 8);
# $result = substr($result, 2, $length-2);
# # Remove non-printable characters
# $result =~ tr/[\x0-\x1f]/\./;
# print "DeviceID $result\n";
#
# $result = pack("LL",0);
# ioctl(FILE, $LPIOC_GET_BUS_ADDRESS , $result) or die;
# my( $v1, $v2 ) = unpack("LL", $result );
# print "Bus '$v1', Device '$v2'\n";
#
# $result = pack("LL",0);
# ioctl(FILE, $LPIOC_GET_VID_PID, $result) or die;
# my( $v1, $v2 ) = unpack("LL", $result );
# print "Vendor '$v1', Product '$v2'\n";
#
# close FILE;
#
#
# --------------------------------------------------------------------------
# Running the program with "perl getusbprinterid.pl /dev/usb/lp0" returns the
# ID string of the device on /dev/usb/lp0.
# For example: perl getusbprinter.pl /dev/usb/lp0
# DeviceID MFG:Hewlett-Packard;CMD:PJL,MLC,PCL,PCLXL,POSTSCRIPT;MDL:\
# HP LaserJet 2200;CLS:PRINTER;DES:Hewlett-Packard LaserJet 2200;\
# MEM:8MB;OPTRAY:250Sheets
# Bus '2', Device '2'
# Vendor '1008', Product '535'
#
# (lines broken for clarity)
<!--no known parport probe information-->
</autodetect>
# Our grading system. It's US-style letter grades A, B, D, and F,
# which the website shows as "Perfectly", "Mostly", "Partially" and
# "Paperweight" .
# THERE IS NO `C'!!!
<functionality>A</functionality>
# Arguably, the scores should live with the printer/driver association
# and not on the printer, but then it's a big hassle to figure out if
# a printer works... So the score is the one reached with the driver
# working best, the "recommended" driver.
# There's a spot for this "recommended" driver, usually the driver
# which gives the maximum output quality. It is for user information
# on the web site, but newbie-friendly printer setup GUIs should use
# it, too. system-config-printer, printer setup tool of Fedora/Red
# Hat, Ubuntu, and Mandriva Linux makes use of it, also the former
# printerdrake of Mandriva Linux.
<driver>Postscript-HP</driver>
# The following optional section describes with which drivers this
# printer works. A valid printer/driver pair can be defined by either
# adding the printer to the driver's printer list (the way how it
# worked all the time) but also by adding the driver to the printer's
# driver list. This way a printer can get associated with a driver for
# which there is no driver XML file and a driver can list a supported
# printer which is not in the printer XML database. For providing a
# PPD file both printer and driver XML files must exist, but it is not
# important in which of the two the printer/driver relationship is
# defined.
# The driver list in the printer XML files was introduced for once
# defining links to ready-made PPD files (relative paths without "/",
# "http:", "https:", or "ftp:" in the beginning are relative to
# $libdir/db/source/) and second, listing the supported drivers for
# visitor-contributed printer entries (from web input form). The
# comments section is for adding comments specific to the
# printer/driver combo. As it is human-readable it is
# internationalized. Each driver entry here must have a driver ID. PPD
# file link and comment are optional.
<drivers>
<driver>
<id>Postscript-HP</id>
<ppd>PPD/HP/HP_LaserJet_4000_Series.ppd</ppd>
<comments><en>...</en></comments>
</driver>
</drivers>
# The <unverified /> tag marks entries which are entered by visitors
# via the printer input form on the OpenPrinting web site. It does not
# appear in approved entries (= all entries in the BZR repository of
# the foomatic-db package).
<!--not "unverified"-->
# If there is a web site with additional interesting info about this
# printer, it can be mentioned in the entry by putting it between
# <contrib_url>...</contrib_url> tags,
<!--no "contrib_url"-->
# The regular notes section. The allowed tags are: <p>, <a
# href="foobar"> </a> and many other simple tags (<b>, <i>, <tt>,
# ...). Note that to distinguish what is XML and what is the embedded
# HTML, the following replacements have to be made:
#
# < --> <
# > --> >
# " --> "
# ' --> '
# & --> &
#
<comments>
<en>
I don't believe this:<p>
<i>1200x1200 dpi only possible with Windows drivers,
600x600 can be reached w/o particular software.
The difference is visible, but only slightly, so
the Functionality got "Mostly"<p></i><p>
Do the following:<p>
Set the resolution on the front panel to "Prores 1200", not
to "Fastres 1200". When you use CUPS with HPs PPD file, turn
off "Fastres 1200" in the printer configuration
options.<p>
Try the generic PostScript PPD file which comes with KUPS 1.0 or newer.
</en>
</comments>
</printer>
driver/md2k.xml
===============
The driver files contain information about drivers. There are a few
things, but the two biggies are the prototype and the printers list
<driver id="driver/md2k">
<name>md2k</name>
# According to the Adobe specifications for PPD files every PPD file
# must contain a unique DOS-compatible file name (the "*PCFileName"),
# a file name with an up to 8 characters log base name and an up to 3
# characters long extension, and upper and lower case letters being
# considered as equal. As every PPD file is for a printer/driver combo,
# we let the last 2 characters being provided by the driver entry:
<pcdriver>M2</pcdriver>
<url>http://plaza26.mbn.or.jp/~higamasa/gdevmd2k/</url>
# The driver XML files can contain the following tags to describe the
# driver's properties, so that a user can easily find the driver which
# is most suitable for him. The properties are shown in the gray
# driver info boxes on the OpenPrinting web site and they are also
# supposed to be shown by printer setup tools when they offer to
# download a driver from OpenPrinting. It is very important to supply
# them if a downloadable driver package or PPD files are supplied.
# Supplier's name, internationalization (with <en>...</en><de>...</de>...)
# optional
# <supplier>SpliX project</supplier>
# Does the driver come from the printer's manufacturer or from a third
# party. The third form tells also the manufacturer names of the
# printers which are from the manufacturer which developed the
# driver. If there are also printers from other manufacturers
# supported (like for the PCL driver HPIJS) then the OpenPrinting web
# site does not show this driver as manufacturer-supplied on the pages
# of the printers of other manufacturers.
# <thirdpartysupplied /> OR <manufacturersupplied /> OR
# <manufacturersupplied>HP|Apollo</manufacturersupplied>
# License name. Here should be put the common short name or
# abbreviation if the license is one of the common free software
# licenses. Otherwise it should contain something short and
# descriptive, for non-free drivers simply "Commercial". The license
# name can be internationalized with language tags
# (<en>...</en><de>...</de>...).
# <license>GPL</license>
# The license text does not need to be supplied for common free
# software licenses. It should be supplied if:
#
# - The license is not free (<nonfreesoftware /> tag set)
# - The driver has patent issues (<patents /> tag set, describe the
# patent issues here in that case)
# - The license of the driver is free but none of the common licenses
# (<freesoftware /> tag set)
# <licensetext>
# <en>
# ...
# </en>
# </licensetext>
# License texts can also be linked from external sites:
# <licensetext>
# <en url="http://www.laserstar.com/licenses/en/gl-series-eula.txt" />
# <de url="http://www.laserstar.com/licenses/de/gl-series-eula.txt" />
# ...
# </licensetext>
# License texts have to be given always as plain text, UTF-8-encoded.
# Mark with these tags whether the driver is free software
# <freesoftware /> OR <nonfreesoftware />
# These tags tell whether there are any patent issues with the driver
# <patents /> OR <nopatents />
# For downloadable drivers support contacts should be given, so that
# users get informed before they do the download and do not complain
# at their OS distribution vendor if the driver downloaded from
# OpenPrinting does not work. The human-readable string for the
# support contact can be internationalized with language tags
# (<en>...</en><de>...</de>...).
# <supportcontacts>
# <supportcontact level="voluntary" url="http://sourceforge.net/forum/?group_id=175815">SpliX forum at SourceForge</supportcontact>
# <supportcontact level="commercial" url="http://www.laserstar.com/support/">LaserStar Support</supportcontact>
# </supportcontacts>
# This is an internationalized short description of the driver,
# typically one line, to be used in the gray driver info boxes, in the
# driver overview list, and also by printer setup tools. If a driver
# entry is for a development version of a driver, tell it here, as the
# long description is not shown everywhere.
# <shortdescription>
# <en>
# Driver for Samsung SPL2 (ML-1710, ...) and SPLc (CLP-500, ...) laser
# printers
# </en>
# </shortdescription>
# If there are downloadable packages for this driver entry on the
# OpenPrinting web site, usually packages whose name are the driver's
# name (in all lowercase, "_" replaced by "-", optionally preceeded by
# "openprinting-" or "openprinting-ppds-") are considered to belong to
# this entry. If the package names are different, or if it depends on
# the version number whether a package belongs to this entry, a
# <packages> section has to be supplied. It is also required if the
# driver package is split up into several components, to assign scopes
# to them. Scopes can be: "general", "gui", "printer", "scanner",
# "fax", ... Uses the "general" scope if packages are not split. Wild
# cards are the same as used for file masks in the shell (NOT regular
# expressions). They must match both Debian and RPM package file
# names. Note that between file name and version number is a "-" for
# RPMs and a "_" for Debian packages.
# <packages>
# <package scope="general">*splix*1.[0-9].[0-9]*</package>
# </packages>
# The <functionality> section should make it easier for a user to
# compare different drivers by giving some technical properties and
# ratings (0...100) for common document types, system load, and
# execution speed. The higher the number, the better the driver
# performs here. It is not required to supply all items. Items can be
# left out or can stay empty. <functionality> sections of the same
# format can also be used in the <printer> entries in the <printers>
# list, to describe exceptions for particular printers. If an item is
# left out or empty there, the appropriate item in the general
# <functionality> section is used, so only the items which are
# different for the given printer need to be listed.
# <functionality>
# <maxresx>1200</maxresx>
# <maxresy>1200</maxresy>
# <color /> OR <monochrome />
# <text>100</text>
# <lineart>100</lineart>
# <graphics>100</graphics>
# <photo>80</photo>
# <load>50</load>
# <speed>90</speed>
# </functionality>
<execution>
# Driver types are
#
# <ghostscript /> : The driver code is compiled into Ghostscript
#
# <ijs /> : IJS plug-in. These are raster drivers which connect
# to the IJS interface of the renderer, usually of
# Ghostscript but also of pdftoijs or others. The
# interface is based on pipes and is bi-directional.
# It makes the driver independent of the renderer.
#
# <cups /> : CUPS Raster driver. The raster driver standard
# introduced by CUPS. The renderer generates the CUPS
# Raster format, a bitmap format optimized for printing,
# and it gets piped into the driver.
#
# <opvp /> : OpenPrinting Vector driver. DLL and IPC interface for
# plugging printer drivers into the renderer. This is
# the only solution of mudular printer drivers for high-
# level graphics (vector) PDLs.
#
# <uniprint /> : A uniprint driver, consisting of one or more .upp
# files for Ghostscript.
#
# <filter /> : The driver code is a separate executable and the
# driver does not fit into the groups listed above,
# usually either a filter which converts generic
# bitmap output of Ghostscript to the printer's
# language, or a wrapper around Ghostscript.
#
# <postscript /> : A driver which has PostScript as output (for
# PostScript printers). It usually does not call
# Ghostscript but only applies the user's option
# settings to the data stream. But Ghostscript can
# be called here, too, as for downgrading to a lower
# PostScript level or for handling PDF input.
#
# The driver type only provides information for the web pages (or
# driver auto-download facilities of printer setup tools), it is not
# used when generating PPD files.
# The driver's <execution> section can also contain a
#
# <nopjl />
#
# which suppresses the usage of PJL options (options which send PJL
# commands to the printer). This is done with drivers where the driver
# itself already produces a PJL header and where the PJL options
# defined for the supported printers would badly interfere. In most
# cases this is not needed, as foomatic-rip merges the PJL headers of
# the driver and of the PJL options.
# And the driver's <execution> section can also contain a
#
# <nopageaccounting/>
#
# This suppresses the inserting of page accounting code (for CUPS)
# into the PostScript data stream. Some drivers lead to unexpected
# behavior with that. Especially for the generic PostScript drivers
# (which do not use Ghostscript in most cases) the accounting code
# should not be inserted.
# The prototype defines what command the backends run to drive this
# printer. It must take at least PostScript, preferably both PDF and
# PostScript on stdin and generate the printer's native language on
# stdout. Various %A, %B, etc substitution "spots" are specified; this
# is where substition options will be placed.
<prototype>gs -q -dBATCH -dSAFER -dQUIET -dNOPAUSE -sDEVICE=md2k%A%Z -sOutputFile=- -</prototype>
</execution>
<comments>
<en>
Part of the gdevmd2k-0.2a package by Shinya Umino. The web page and
documentation are in Japanese.
<a href="/clippings/MD5000-translation.txt">Here</a>
is an English translation of the driver's web page, and <a
href="/clippings/alpsmd.txt">here</a> is the README from the
driver package.
</en>
</comments>
# if there is only a <prototype> and not a <prototype_pdf> entry,
# foomatic-rip will feed both PostScript and PDF into the command line
# defined with <prototype>, otherwise for PostScript input the
# <prototype> command line is used and for PDF input the
# <prototype_pdf> command line. Both are defined the same way and the
# same command line snippets are inserted from the option settings.
# If there is only a <prototype> defined, PDF will only be fed in if
# the command line begins with "gs " (this means Ghostscript is called
# and Ghostscript understands both PostScript and PDF) and there are
# no options based on inserting active PostScript code into the input
# data stream. Otherwise foomatic-rip converts PDF input to PostScript
# at first and feeds the PostScript through the command line.
# The printer list is a simple list of printers that this driver works
# with. Alternatively, one can tell that a given printer works with a
# given driver also by a <drivers> list in the printer's XML file (see
# above).
<printers>
<printer>
<id>printer/Alps-MD-1000</id><!-- Alps MD-1000 -->
</printer>
<printer>
<id>printer/Alps-MD-1300</id><!-- Alps MD-1300 -->
</printer>
<printer>
<id>printer/Alps-MD-2000</id><!-- Alps MD-2000 -->
</printer>
<printer>
<id>printer/Alps-MD-4000</id><!-- Alps MD-4000 -->
</printer>
</printers>
</driver>
# In the printer list it is also possible to place comments or
# exceptions in the driver's functionality (see above) specific to a
# certain printer/driver pair:
# <printer>
# <id>printer/HP-LaserJet_4050</id><!-- HP LaserJet 4050 -->
# <comments>
# <en>to 1200dpi</en>
# </comments>
# <functionality>
# <monochrome />
# </functionality>
# </printer>
Composite Options
-----------------
This is an option type to make it easier for users to choose the best
settings for a certain printing task, even if the driver has very many
options. The idea is to have an enumerated choice option which does
not directly modify something in the driver's command line but sets
several of the other options.
One example is the "PrintoutMode" option which will be made available
for all printer/driver combos which have at least one option regarding
the printout quality or document type.
The possible choices should be the same for every printer and driver,
so that users (especially newbies) can bring their printers in the
right mode by choosing one easy to understand item from a menu instead
of having to switch several cryptic driver options. For now the
choices are the following:
Command line GUI Intention
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Draft Draft Very fast, ink/toner-saving printout
Normal Normal Quick standard quality printout
High High Quality High quality for plain paper
VeryHigh Very High Quality Highest quality for plain/inkjet paper
Photo Photo Highest quality for photo paper
These choices can also have one of the following modifiers:
Modifier Intention
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
.Gray Grayscale printing on a color printer
.Mono Monochrome printing (no grayscales, black or white)
Examples:
Command line GUI Comment
---------------------------------------------------------------------
High.Gray High Quality Grayscale
Photo Photo Color photos on color printer
VeryHigh.Mono Very High Quality Monochrome Really black text in
highest quality on inkjet
printer, not suitable for
halftone images.
Normal Normal Standard color in 300/360 dpi
on normal paper, grayscale
on black-and-white printers
Not all choices/combinations of basic choices and modifiers must be
present. Often modes are simply not available on certain
printer/driver combos, as "Photo" on most lasers. It is highly
recommended to have "Normal" available, though (and having this the
default).
The GUI names can have additional remarks in parantheses, for example
when manual intervention (other cartridge, photo paper) is needed.
To add such an option to the database, one only needs to add an option
XML file like the one below into the db/source/opt directory of the
database. The file db/source/opt/pcl3-PrintoutMode.xml could look
like this:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
<option type="enum" id="opt/pcl3-PrintoutMode">
<!-- A multilingual <comments> block can appear here, too;
it should be treated as documentation for the user. -->
<arg_longname>
<en>Printout Mode</en>
</arg_longname>
<arg_shortname>
<en>PrintoutMode</en><!-- backends only know <en> shortnames! -->
</arg_shortname>
<arg_execution>
<arg_order>10</arg_order>
<arg_section>AnySetup</arg_section>
<arg_spot>A</arg_spot>
<arg_composite />
<!-- <arg_proto></arg_proto> -->
</arg_execution>
<constraints>
<constraint sense="true">
<driver>pcl3</driver>
<arg_defval>ev/pcl3-PrintoutMode-Normal</arg_defval>
</constraint>
</constraints>
<enum_vals>
<enum_val id="ev/pcl3-PrintoutMode-Draft">
<ev_longname>
<en>Draft</en>
</ev_longname>
<!-- A multilingual <comments> block can appear here, too;
it should be treated as documentation for the user. -->
<ev_shortname>
<en>Draft</en>
<!-- Until someone tells me how to learn the user locale in
backends, the shortname must be monolingual in <en>! -->
</ev_shortname>
<ev_driverval>MediaType=Plain Resolution=150 Quality=Draft IntensityRendering=Halftones Passes=1</ev_driverval>
</enum_val>
<enum_val id="ev/pcl3-PrintoutMode-Normal">
<ev_longname>
<en>Normal</en>
</ev_longname>
<!-- A multilingual <comments> block can appear here, too;
it should be treated as documentation for the user. -->
<ev_shortname>
<en>Normal</en>
<!-- Until someone tells me how to learn the user locale in
backends, the shortname must be monolingual in <en>! -->
</ev_shortname>
<ev_driverval>MediaType=Plain Resolution=300 Quality=Normal IntensityRendering=Halftones Passes=1</ev_driverval>
</enum_val>
<enum_val id="ev/pcl3-PrintoutMode-High">
<ev_longname>
<en>High</en>
</ev_longname>
<!-- A multilingual <comments> block can appear here, too;
it should be treated as documentation for the user. -->
<ev_shortname>
<en>High</en>
<!-- Until someone tells me how to learn the user locale in
backends, the shortname must be monolingual in <en>! -->
</ev_shortname>
<ev_driverval>MediaType=Plain Resolution=600 Quality=Presentation IntensityRendering=FloydSteinberg Passes=4</ev_driverval>
</enum_val>
<enum_val id="ev/pcl3-PrintoutMode-Photo">
<ev_longname>
<en>Photo (on photo paper)</en>
</ev_longname>
<!-- A multilingual <comments> block can appear here, too;
it should be treated as documentation for the user. -->
<ev_shortname>
<en>Photo</en>
<!-- Until someone tells me how to learn the user locale in
backends, the shortname must be monolingual in <en>! -->
</ev_shortname>
<ev_driverval>MediaType=Premium Resolution=600 Quality=Presentation IntensityRendering=FloydSteinberg Passes=4</ev_driverval>
</enum_val>
</enum_vals>
</option>
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
The shown option is only an example, it is neither in the BZR
repository nore will it work with all printers which use the "pcl3"
driver. You can paste it into a file (make the <ev_driverval>s being
one line, the items separated by spaces) and copy it to db/source/opt/
to try it out.
The "<arg_composite />" tag for the execution style specifies it as a
composite option. The <arg_spot> and <arg_proto> are meaningless in a
composite option and the "<ev_driverval>"s contain a space-separated
list of all settings of which the pre-made configuration represented
by this choice consists. Every choice of the composite option must set
EXACTLY THE SAME individual options. In no choice it is allowed to
leave out one of them. These individual options are the member options
of the composite option. Not all options of a driver/printer combo
need to be member options of the composite option. It is not allowed
to have one option being member of more than one composite option. The
composite option must be an enumerated choice option, the member
options must be enumerated choice or boolean options. Member options
can even be composite options, so composite options can be nested.
It is enough to add a composite option as shown. The PPD generator
(getppd() in lib/Foomatic/DB.pm, package "foomatic-db-engine") will
take care of the rest. It will
- Order all member options into a group (PPD group, see "Option
Grouping" below) named after the composite option.
- Add to every member option the choice "Controlled by '<name of
the composite option>'" and make this choice the default. If this
is chosen, the composite option will set the value for this
member, depending on what value is chosen for the composite
option. If the user chooses something else than "Controlled by
'<name of the composite option>'" the member option does not obey
the setting given by the composite option. So the advanced user
can also set the member options individually.
- If necessary the <arg_order> and <arg_section> of the composite
option is replaced by other values in the PPD file, so that the
composite option will be stuffed into the PostScript data stream
always before all its member options. Do not give "0" as the
order number to any of the member options.
A composite option can also span only one (but not zero) member
option. This is for example done with the "PrintoutMode" option of the
HPIJS driver ("foomatic-db-hpijs" package). This driver has only one
option for setting resolution and quality, but this options has
sometimes many choices with rather cryptic names. The "PrintoutMode"
maps to the most important choices with the above-mentioned names, and
in addition, these names are the same as of the "PrintoutMode" options
of other drivers, so the user finds the important printing modes more
easily.
The facility of composite options can also be used for other things
than for a "PrintoutMode" option, for example a finisher could be
controlled by a composite option (to have the most common finishing
tasks as "Bound booklet", "Stapled booklet", "Letter in envelope",
...).
Forced Composite Options
------------------------
Forced composite options are very similar to composite options, but the
user cannot set the individual member options, but only the composite
option (the user is forced to use the composite option). This allows
options acting at two or more places.
Example: A printer driver is a filter which converts a generic bitmap
produced by Ghostscript to the printer's native format. The command
line for converting PostScript to the printer's language could look like this
gs -q -dBATCH -dSAFER -dNOPAUSE -sDEVICE=bitcmyk -r600 -sOutputFile=-
- | filter -size=<width>x<height>
where <width> and <height> is the page size in points (1/72
inches). In addition, Ghostscript needs to know the page size. For
this one usually puts the following PostScript code into the
PostScript input file:
<</PageSize[<width> <height>]/ImagingBBox null>>setpagedevice
where <width> and <height> is again the page size in points. So we
need two options for setting the page size, one PostScript option to
set the page size for Ghostscript and one command line option to set
the page size for the filter. The user would have to change both when
he wants to print on another paper size, and it does not make sense to
have different settings for the two. So one could make the "PageSize"
option a composite option of the two, but then the GUI exposes an ugly
"PageSize" group with the two individual options. To avoid this, one
uses a forced composite option ("Forced" because the user is forced to
use the composite option, the individual member options are not
accessible).
Assuming that the name of the PostScript option for the page size is
"GSPageSize", the name of the page size option for the filter is
"filterPageSize" and both have the choices "A4", "Letter", and
"Legal", the forced composite option named "PageSize" would look as
follows:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
<option type="enum" id="opt/filter-PageSize">
<!-- A multilingual <comments> block can appear here, too;
it should be treated as documentation for the user. -->
<arg_longname>
<en>Page Size</en>
</arg_longname>
<arg_shortname>
<en>PageSize</en><!-- backends only know <en> shortnames! -->
</arg_shortname>
<arg_execution>
<arg_order>10</arg_order>
<arg_section>AnySetup</arg_section>
<arg_spot>A</arg_spot>
<arg_forced_composite />
</arg_execution>
<constraints>
<constraint sense="true">
<driver>filter</driver>
<arg_defval>ev/filter-PageSize-Letter</arg_defval>
</constraint>
</constraints>
<enum_vals>
<enum_val id="ev/filter-PageSize-Letter">
<ev_longname>
<en>Letter</en>
</ev_longname>
<!-- A multilingual <comments> block can appear here, too;
it should be treated as documentation for the user. -->
<ev_shortname>
<en>Letter</en>
<!-- Until someone tells me how to learn the user locale in
backends, the shortname must be monolingual in <en>! -->
</ev_shortname>
<ev_driverval>GSPageSize=Letter filterPageSize=Letter</ev_driverval>
</enum_val>
<enum_val id="ev/filter-PageSize-Legal">
<ev_longname>
<en>Legal</en>
</ev_longname>
<!-- A multilingual <comments> block can appear here, too;
it should be treated as documentation for the user. -->
<ev_shortname>
<en>Legal</en>
<!-- Until someone tells me how to learn the user locale in
backends, the shortname must be monolingual in <en>! -->
</ev_shortname>
<ev_driverval>GSPageSize=Legal filterPageSize=Legal</ev_driverval>
</enum_val>
<enum_val id="ev/filter-PageSize-A4">
<ev_longname>
<en>A4</en>
</ev_longname>
<!-- A multilingual <comments> block can appear here, too;
it should be treated as documentation for the user. -->
<ev_shortname>
<en>A4</en>
<!-- Until someone tells me how to learn the user locale in
backends, the shortname must be monolingual in <en>! -->
</ev_shortname>
<ev_driverval>GSPageSize=A4 filterPageSize=A4</ev_driverval>
</enum_val>
</enum_vals>
</option>
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
This looks exactly like a usual composite option and works also the
same way. The only difference is that instead of an "<arg_composite
/>" tag "<arg_forced_composite />" is used. If the PPD generator finds
such an option, it hides the member options by only using
"*Foomatic..." keywords to describe them, not any standard PPD
keywords as "*OpenUI...", "*OrderDependency...", ... This way
PPD-aware graphical frontends do not see the member options but
foomatic-rip has all information from them to run the driver
correctly.
String and Password Options
---------------------------
These options allow the user to supply nearly arbitrary strings
(within limits of length, characters and structure) to the printer
driver, for example names of color calibration files, fax numbers,
passwords for confidential jobs, ... Frequently needed strings can be
added as enumerated choices, so a frontend can show the option as a
combo-box. The enumerated choices are also used for frontends which
only support options as defined by the PPD spec. So having enumerated
choices is highly recommended for most of these options.
In the XML database string and password options look similar to
enumerated choice options. The differences are the option types
"string" or "password" and the additional tags to restrict the
possible strings.
The "<arg_maxlength>" tags give a length limit, it should once not
allow strings longer than around 100 characters, as otherwise
foomatic-configure could generate a line longer than the allowed 255
characters in the PPD file when setting the default value, and second,
which is very important, it should not allow strings which are too
long for the printer filter or driver so that buffer overflows cannot
occur. Not using the "<arg_maxlength>" tags makes arbitrary long
strings to be accepted, this is not recommended.
With "<arg_allowedchars>" the accepted strings can be restricted to
contain only the characters given in the list. This restrictions does
not only avoid that the filter chokes on a wrong option, it serves
mainly for security reasons, for example to avoid a string like "|| rm
-rf * ||" for a command line option. So if the option prototype does
not quote the string, command delimiter characters, I/O re-directors,
and shell special characters (";", "|", "&", "<", ">", "*", "?", "[",
"]", "{", "}", "(", ")", "$", "\", "'", """) should not be allowed. If
the string is quoted by the option prototype, the closing quote
character and the backslash should not be allowed, so that one cannot
escape from the quoting. The allowed characters are checked by a
"/^[...]*$/" expression in the Perl scripts, so ranges with "-", a
list of forbidden characters with a leading "^", or special characters
as "\w", "\d", "\x07", ... are allowed. To allow a backslash, one has
to escape it by using two backslashes ("\\"). To allow a "-" it must
be in the end of the list to not make it defining a range and for a
"^" must be placed at any other place than the beginning of the string
if it should be explicitly allowed.
"<arg_allowedregexp>" allows also to restrict the structure of the
string, as it defines an arbitrary Perl regular expression (see "man
perlre") which has to be matched by the string. This serves also for
having only strings which are usable by the filter and which do not
destroy the command line structure. With this one can for example
forbid a backslash as the last character to avoid escaping the closing
quote of the option prototype. Regular expressions are applied via a
'/.../' expression in the Perl scripts. To apply the pattern matching
modifiers "i", "m", "s", or "x" (as "/.../i" for case-insensitive
matching) begin the regular expression with "(?<modifiers>)" (as
"(?i)..." for case-insensitive matching).
It is highly recommended to use at least one of "<arg_allowedchars>"
and "<arg_allowedregexp>", as otherwise all characters are allowed in
the user-supplied string and so a malicious user can execute arbitrary
shell or PostScript commands. If both tags are used, both conditions
have to be fulfilled.
Note that for the character lists and regular expressions in the XML
files the following character substitutions have to be done:
< --> <
> --> >
" --> "
' --> '
& --> &
Here is an example for an option to supply the file name for an ICC
profile for the "foo2zjs" driver (this option is neither in the CVS
for the Foomatic database nor tested with this driver):
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
<option type="string" id="opt/foo2zjs-ICM">
<comments>
<en>
This option controls which .ICM file to use for color correction.
ICM files are stored in the directory /usr/share/foo2zjs/icm/.
</en>
</comments>
<arg_longname> <en>ICM Color Profile</en> </arg_longname>
<arg_shortname> <en>ICM</en> </arg_shortname>
<arg_execution>
<arg_group>Adjustment</arg_group>
<arg_order>300</arg_order>
<arg_spot>A</arg_spot>
<arg_required />
<arg_substitution />
<arg_proto>-G%s </arg_proto>
</arg_execution>
<arg_maxlength>127</arg_maxlength>
<arg_allowedchars>A-Za-z0-9\._/-</arg_allowedchars>
<arg_allowedregexp>(?<!\/)$</arg_allowedregexp>
<constraints>
<constraint sense="true">
<driver>foo2zjs</driver>
<arg_defval>ev/foo2zjs-ICM-none</arg_defval>
</constraint>
<constraint sense="true">
<make>Minolta</make>
<model>magicolor 2300 DL</model>
<driver>foo2zjs</driver>
<arg_defval>ev/foo2zjs-ICM-DL2312</arg_defval>
</constraint>
<constraint sense="true">
<make>Minolta</make>
<model>magicolor 2200 DL</model>
<driver>foo2zjs</driver>
<arg_defval>ev/foo2zjs-ICM-DL2200RGB</arg_defval>
</constraint>
</constraints>
<enum_vals>
<enum_val id="ev/foo2zjs-ICM-none">
<ev_longname> <en>No ICM color correction</en> </ev_longname>
<ev_shortname> <en>None</en> </ev_shortname>
<ev_driverval></ev_driverval>
</enum_val>
<enum_val id="ev/foo2zjs-ICM-DL2312">
<ev_longname> <en>File DL2312.icm</en> </ev_longname>
<ev_shortname> <en>DL2312</en> </ev_shortname>
<ev_driverval>DL2312.icm</ev_driverval>
<constraints>
<constraint sense="false">
<make>HP</make> <model>LaserJet 1000</model>
</constraint>
</constraints>
</enum_val>
<enum_val id="ev/foo2zjs-ICM-DL2324">
<ev_longname> <en>File DL2324.icm</en> </ev_longname>
<ev_shortname> <en>DL2324</en> </ev_shortname>
<ev_driverval>DL2324.icm</ev_driverval>
<constraints>
<constraint sense="false">
<make>HP</make> <model>LaserJet 1000</model>
</constraint>
</constraints>
</enum_val>
...
</enum_vals>
</option>
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
This option allows to choose either one of the given file names,
either by using the "<ev_shortname>"s or the "<ev_driverval>"s, or one
can give every arbitrary other file name with a maximum length of 127
characters, only containing letters, digits, periods, underscores,
dashes, and slashes, and not having a slash in the end (no
directories). Note that in Perl the period must be escaped by a
backslash to be taken literally, otherwise it stands for an arbitrary
character. The regular expression for blocking out strings ending with
a slash is "(?<!\/)$" (see "man perlre", search for "(?"). Here the
slash is quoted by a backslash. In the XML file the "<" is replaced by
"<" so that the XML structure does not get broken. foomatic-rip
translates this back before applying the regular expression.
To be able to offer strings as an enumerated choice which are not
allowed as an option name in a PPD file, the "<ev_shortname>" may
differ from the "<ev_driverval>", the string inserted at the "%s"
place holder in the "<arg_proto>" is always the "<ev_driverval>",
independent whether the user supplies the "<ev_driverval>" directly or
the "<ev_shortname>". In this example both
lpr -o ICM= file.ps
and
lpr -o ICM=None file.ps
supply an empty string as the value of the ICM option.
For the default value there must be an enumerated choice, if there is
none, the PPD generator will create one. So this entry is allowed
(this option is only an example, it is not in the CVS of the Foomatic
database):
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
<option type="password" id="opt/Password">
<!-- A multilingual <comments> block can appear here, too;
it should be treated as documentation for the user. -->
<arg_longname>
<en>Password (for confidential jobs)</en>
</arg_longname>
<arg_shortname>
<en>Password</en><!-- backends only know <en> shortnames! -->
</arg_shortname>
<arg_execution>
<arg_group>General</arg_group>
<arg_order>100</arg_order>
<arg_spot>B</arg_spot>
<arg_substitution />
<arg_proto> --pass=%s</arg_proto>
</arg_execution>
<arg_maxlength>30</arg_maxlength>
<arg_allowedchars>A-Za-z0-9\.,_\+\=\:-/</arg_allowedchars>
<constraints>
<constraint sense='true'>
<driver>mydriver</driver>
<arg_defval></arg_defval>
</constraint>
</constraints>
</option>
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
The default value is an empty string here. So the PPD generator will
add a choice for the empty string.
Normally, automatically added choices get the same "<ev_shortname>" as
the string itself, but if the string is not allowed as an option name
in a PPD file, the "<ev_shortname>" will be modified. For an empty
string (as in the example above) "None" will be used and all
characters except numbers, letters, and underscores ("_") will be
replaced by underscores.
The option types "string" and "password" are treated exactly the same
way by the PPD generator and by foomatic-rip, the different names
are only for frontends to know whether the input field should display
the typed characters or asterisks on the screen.
CUPS Custom Options
-------------------
CUPS defines several extensions to the PPD specifications to support
the functionality of modern printers:
http://www.cups.org/documentation.php/doc-1.4/spec-ppd.html
There are extensions for so-called "Custom Options" where instead of
given enumerated choices freely choosable custom values can be
supplied. As Foomatic's numerical, string, and password options can be
implemented as CUPS custom options in the PPDs as well, the PPD
generator does both implementations in the PPDs. There are the
"*Foomatic..." keywords generated, as before, but also the CUPS PPD
extension, consisting of the keywords "*Custom<option>" and
"*ParamCustom<option>" keywords. This way GUIs which are aware of
CUPS' custom options give full access to Foomatic's numerical, string,
and password options.
foomatic-rip understands also PPD files now which describe custom
options only by the CUPS extension and not with "*Foomatic..."
keywords.
Allowed characters and regular expressions for string and password
options cannot be described by CUPS PPD extensions. So CUPS-aware GUIs
will allow input of strings which do not match these restrictions, but
foomatic-rip will let the option fall back to the default value in
such a case. This way the security is assured.
Option Grouping
---------------
All options should be put in groups (with the tags
"<arg_group>...</arg_group>" in the "<arg_execution>" section of the
option XML files, see above). This way many GUIs sort the options into
tabs or tree branches according to the groups. This way one gets only
the most important options on the first tab and not so often needed
ones on additional tabs. This also overrides the automatic option
grouping of CUPS (Groups "General" and "Extra").
It is recommended to have the options in groups as follows (plus
perhaps special groups, but not one group for every option):
General
Here go options which are most used on a job-by-job basis, as the
options for paper type, size, and tray, ink type, duplex, ... and
all options affecting the printout quality, as resolution,
dithering, ... and especially "PrintoutMode". If a "PrintoutMode"
option is present, all quality-related options covered by the
"PrintoutMode" option go into the automatically created
"PrintoutMode" group (see above). And this is intended, these
options are now usually controlled by "PrintoutMode" and so they are
not the most important options for the first tab any more.
Do not put color/brightness/gamma, ... options here, they go to
"Adjustment".
Options typically to go here are:
o PageSize
o InputSlot
o MediaType
o InkType
o Duplex
o PrintoutMode
o Resolution
o REt
o Dither
o FastRes
o Economode
o ...
All options mentioned after "PrintoutMode" will usually be used as
member options for "PrintoutMode", they are only in this group when
there is no "PrintoutMode" option.
PrintoutMode
This group only exists if there is a "PrintoutMode" option, because
it is generated by this option. It contains the member options of
"PrintoutMode". Typical candidates are
o Resolution
o REt
o Dither
o FastRes
o Economode
o ...
They do not need an "<arg_group>PrintoutMode</arg_group>" line, they
are put into this group automatically. You should better put an
"<arg_group>General</arg_group>" line into these options, so that
they go into the "General" group when there is a printer/driver
combo for which no "PrintoutMode" option applies.
Adjustment
Options for correcting the appearance of colors, contrast, ..., for
head alignment, ... etc. Here most numerical options will go, but
also things like "Density", also if it is an enumerated choice
option. Typical candidates are:
o Gamma
o Brightness
o Contrast
o Density
o Saturation
o Cyan
o Magenta
o Yellow
o ...
Finishing
If a printer has a stapler, folder, cutter, envelope packer, or
similar devices to do additional processing on the ready printout,
the options to control this stuff go into this group. Examples:
o Stapling
o Binding
o Cutting
o Booklet
o ...
Miscellaneous
Options which do not fit into the mentioned groups and for which it
is not worth to make a special group.
Unprintable margins
-------------------
On most printers you cannot print arbitrarily close to the borders of
the paper. You usually will have margins of certain width on which you
cannot print. For filters and application programs to know about these
margins PPD files have "*ImageableArea" lines which define the
positions of the lower, the upper, the left, and the right borders of
the area on which the printer can print. There is one line for each
paper size listed in the "*PageSize" option.
To conveniently generate these lines one can use the following XML
structure in the Foomatic database entries:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
<margins>
<general>
<!-- The margins here are valid for every paper size for -->
<!-- which there is no "exception" section -->
<!-- ---------- -->
<!-- possible units: -->
<!-- pt, inches, mm, cm,
<!-- dotsNNNdpi (NNN: resolution in which dots are counted) -->
<!-- if "unit" not present, default unit is pt -->
<!-- ---------- -->
<!-- if a margin is not present, default width is used -->
<!-- ---------- -->
<!-- a missing "general" section assumes the default borders as the -->
<!-- general borders and "pt" as the default unit for -->
<!-- "exceptions". -->
<!-- ---------- -->
<!-- Default margin widths: 1/4 inch left/right, 1/2 inch top/bottom -->
<unit>pt</unit>
<top>9</top>
<bottom>36</bottom>
<left>18</left>
<right>18</right>
</general>
<exception PageSize="Photo4x6TearoffTab">
<!-- if one or more of "unit", "top", "bottom", "left", -->
<!-- "right" is missing, the appropriate item of the "general" -->
<!-- section is used -->
<top>0</top>
<left>0</left>
<right>0</right>
</exception>
<exception PageSize="A4">
<!-- It is also possible to give absolute values in PostScript -->
<!-- coordinates where the origin is the lower left corner. To -->
<!-- do so, the <absolute /> tag has to be added, otherwise -->
<!-- the values are the widths of the unprintable margins -->
<absolute />
<left>10</left>
<right>585</right>
</exception>
<exception PageSize="...">
...
</exception>
...
<margins>
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
This structure is allowed in printer entries in the "<mechanism>"
section and in driver entries in the "<execution>" section or inside a
"<printer>" entry of the driver's printer list. In the "<execution>"
section of a driver entry the margins are valid for all printers used
with this driver, in a "<printer>" entry they apply only to the given
printer/driver combo.
The shown example could be for the HP PhotoSmart 7150/7350, which does
full-bleed only on HP's special photo paper with an 0.5 inch wide
tear-off tab on the lower border (and some other paper sizes used in the
photo tray). On all other paper sizes the printer leaves white borders
of half an inch at the top and at the bottom and a quarter of an inch on
the left and right hand side (1 inch are 72 pt). In addition, the page
size "A4" allows to print up to 10 points to the left and the right borders.
At first we give the general borders ("<general>" section) where we
choose the unit "pt" (PostScript points) for the numbers. These borders
are valid for all paper sizes which are not explicitly mentioned with an
"<exception ...>" section. For our printers one of the exceptions is the
4x6 photo paper with the tear-off tab (including the tab the paper is
4x6.5 inches large). here the printer prints up to the left, right, and
top borders. Therefore we have margins of zero here. At the lower border
the printer still leaves half an inch white (therefore probably HP
introduced the tear-off tab), so we keep the 36 pt of the "<general>"
section by not mentioning a new lower border. For A4 we redefine the
left and the right border. This is also possible in absolute PostScript
coordinates measured from the lower left corner, as we do here. We
indicate this with the "<absolute />" tag. The left border is at 10 pt
from the left, and as A4 paper is 595 pt wide, the right border is at
585 points from the left.
One hint for the choice of the units: Float numbers as border widths are
allowed, but it is recommended for having exact info to choose a unit
which gives integer numbers for the widths (which is always possible
with the "dotsNNNdpi" unit with NNN being the maximum resolution of the
printer).
A "<margins>" section in a printer entry should represent the printer's
hardware capabilities. Such a section in a driver entry should represent
how the driver's limitations are. If there are margins defined in both
the printer and the driver entry of the desired printer/driver combo,
the more restrictive (wider) borders count. If there are no border
definitions in both the printer and the driver entry, the borders are
assumed to be of the default widths.
Adding arbitrary extra entries to the PPD file
----------------------------------------------
The "<ppdentry>" tags allow to add extra lines to the PPD file. The
tags can be put into the top level ("<printer>") of a printer XML entry,
into the "<execution>" section of a driver XML entry, or into the
"<printer>" entries of the printer list in a driver XML file. They serve
mainly to put a default resolution into PPD files for drivers without
"Resolution" option. Examples:
"hpijs" driver, default resolution for HP DeskJet 350. For this driver
the default resolution depends on the printer class. Therefore the
appropriate "<ppdentry>"s have to be in the printer entries of the
printer list:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
<driver id="driver/hpijs">
<name>hpijs</name>
...
<printers>
<printer>
<id>printer/HP-DeskJet_350C</id><!-- HP DeskJet 350C -->
<ppdentry>
*DefaultResolution: 600dpi
</ppdentry>
<margins>
<general>
<unit>in</unit>
<relative />
<left>0.25</left>
<right>0.25</right>
<top>0.125</top>
<bottom>0.67</bottom>
</general>
<exception PageSize="A4">
<left>0.135</left>
<right>0.135</right>
</exception>
</margins>
</printer>
...
</printers>
</driver>
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
"pnm2ppa" driver: This driver has no "Resolution" option, and all
printers print in 600 dpi with it. So we put the "<ppdentry>" into the
"<execution>" section:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
<driver id="driver/pnm2ppa">
<name>pnm2ppa</name>
<url>http://sourceforge.net/projects/pnm2ppa/</url>
<execution>
<filter />
<prototype>gs -q -dNOPAUSE -dPARANOIDSAFER -dBATCH -r600%A%Z
-sOutputFile=- - | pnm2ppa%C%B -i - -o -</prototype>
<ppdentry>
*DefaultResolution: 600dpi
</ppdentry>
</execution>
...
</driver>
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Note that leading spaces are removed from the lines between the
"<ppdentry>" tags before they get inserted into the PPD file.
The lines are added at the end of the PPD file header, right after the
lines for the basic hardware capabilities of the printer.
Example for a Foomatic-generated PPD file
-----------------------------------------
Below is an example PPD file, the PPD file for the Citizen printiva600U
used with the "ppmtomd" driver. It was generated with the command line
./foomatic-ppdfile -p HP-Color_LaserJet_4550 -d pxlcolor
The structure is completely Adobe-compliant and no relevant
information is in comments. Besides the usual keywords which one finds
in PPDs there are some special ones beginning with
"*Foomatic...". These keywords are read by foomatic-rip and contain
all information to build the renderer's command line. See explanations
for these keywords below the example file.
If a printer has auto-detection information in the Foomatic database,
the manufacturer and model names from there are inserted in the
"*Manufacturer:" and "*Product:" fields and the IEEE-1284 ID string is
put into the "*1284DeviceID:" field.
Independent whether there is auto-detection information, there is an
additional "DRV:" field in the "*1284DeviceID:" which contains driver
properties. These properties are put here, so that they appear in
CUPS' PPD/driver overview listings ("lpinfo -l -m"). This way a
printer setup tool can show the driver properties in a driver overview
without needing to generate and read the PPD files. The following
properties are available (comma-separated):
D: Driver name
R: Driver Recommended for this printer (0, 1)?
M: Driver supplied by the Manufacturer (0, 1)?
O: Driver marked Obsolete in the OpenPrinting database (0, 1)?
F: Driver is Free software (0, 1)?
P: Driver has Patent issues (0, 1)?
S: Support contacts (c: commercial, c: voluntary, u: unknown, more than
one possible)
T: Driver Type: G: Ghostscript built-in, C: CUPS-Raster, I: IJS,
O: OpenPrinting Vector, F: Filter, U: Ghostscript Uniprint,
P: PostScript
X: Maximum X resolution of the driver in dpi
Y: Maximum Y resolution of the driver in dpi
C: Does the driver support Color printing (0, 1)?
t: Rating for Text document printing with this driver (0 ... 100)
l: Rating for Line art document printing with this driver (0 ... 100)
g: Rating for Graphics document printing with this driver (0 ... 100)
p: Rating for Photo document printing with this driver (0 ... 100)
d: Rating for system loaD caused when printing with this driver (0 ... 100)
s: Rating for processing Speed of this driver (0 ... 100)
The "DRV:" field in a device ID looks like this:
*1284DeviceID: "MFG:Hewlett-Packard;MDL:HP LaserJet 4050 Series;CMD:PJL,MLC,PCL,
PCLXL,POSTSCRIPT;DES:Hewlett-Packard LaserJet 4050 Series;DRV:Dljet4,R0,M0,F1,Sv,TG,X600,Y600,C0,t90,l90,g60,p30,s90;"
If there is no device ID for a printer, the "*1284DeviceID" will
contain only the "DRV:" firld.
The PPDs contain the driver properties also in clear text, like this:
*driverName ljet4/ljet4 - Built-in Ghostscript driver for PCL 5e laser printers: ""
*driverType G/Ghostscript built-in: ""
*driverUrl: "http://www.ghostscript.com/"
*driverObsolete: False
*driverRecommendedReplacement: hpijs (only if driver is obsolete)
*driverSupplier: "GPL Ghostscript"
*driverManufacturerSupplied: False
*driverLicense: "GPL"
*driverFreeSoftware: True
*driverSupportContactVoluntary: "http://forums.openprinting.org/ OpenPrinting forums"
*driverSupportContactCommercial: "http://... ..."
*driverSupportContactUnknown: "http://... ..."
*driverMaxResolution: 600 600
*driverColor: False
*driverTextSupport: 90
*driverLineartSupport: 90
*driverGraphicsSupport: 60
*driverPhotoSupport: 30
*driverSystemmLoad: 90
*driverRenderingSpeed: 90
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
*PPD-Adobe: "4.3"
*%
*% For information on using this, and to obtain the required backend
*% script, consult http://www.openprinting.org/
*%
*% This file is published under the GNU General Public License
*%
*% PPD-O-MATIC (4.0.0 or newer) generated this PPD file. It is for use with
*% all programs and environments which use PPD files for dealing with
*% printer capability information. The printer must be configured with the
*% "foomatic-rip" backend filter script of Foomatic 4.0.0 or newer. This
*% file and "foomatic-rip" work together to support PPD-controlled printer
*% driver option access with all supported printer drivers and printing
*% spoolers.
*%
*% To save this file on your disk, wait until the download has completed
*% (the animation of the browser logo must stop) and then use the
*% "Save as..." command in the "File" menu of your browser or in the
*% pop-up manu when you click on this document with the right mouse button.
*% DO NOT cut and paste this file into an editor with your mouse. This can
*% introduce additional line breaks which lead to unexpected results.
*%
*% You may save this file as 'HP-Color_LaserJet_4550-pxlcolor.ppd'
*%
*%
*FormatVersion: "4.3"
*FileVersion: "1.1"
*LanguageVersion: English
*LanguageEncoding: ISOLatin1
*PCFileName: "PXLCOLOR.PPD"
*Manufacturer: "HP"
*Product: "(HP Color LaserJet 4550)"
*cupsVersion: 1.0
*cupsManualCopies: True
*cupsModelNumber: 2
*cupsFilter: "application/vnd.cups-postscript 100 foomatic-rip"
*cupsFilter: "application/vnd.cups-pdf 0 foomatic-rip"
*%pprRIP: foomatic-rip other
*ModelName: "HP Color LaserJet 4550"
*ShortNickName: "HP Color LaserJet 4550 pxlcolor"
*NickName: "HP Color LaserJet 4550 Foomatic/pxlcolor"
*PSVersion: "(3010.000) 550"
*PSVersion: "(3010.000) 651"
*PSVersion: "(3010.000) 652"
*PSVersion: "(3010.000) 653"
*PSVersion: "(3010.000) 704"
*PSVersion: "(3010.000) 705"
*PSVersion: "(3010.000) 800"
*PSVersion: "(3010.000) 815"
*PSVersion: "(3010.000) 850"
*PSVersion: "(3010.000) 860"
*PSVersion: "(3010.000) 861"
*PSVersion: "(3010.000) 862"
*PSVersion: "(3010.000) 863"
*LanguageLevel: "3"
*ColorDevice: True
*DefaultColorSpace: RGB
*FileSystem: False
*Throughput: "1"
*LandscapeOrientation: Plus90
*TTRasterizer: Type42
*1284DeviceID: "MFG:Hewlett-Packard;MDL:HP Color LaserJet 4550;CMD:PJL,MLC,PCL,POSTSCRIPT,PCLXL,PJL;DES:Hewlett-Packard Color LaserJet 4550;DRV:Dpxlcolor,R0,M0,TG;"
*driverName pxlcolor/pxlcolor: ""
*driverType G/Ghostscript built-in: ""
*driverUrl: "http://www.ghostscript.com/"
*driverObsolete: False
*DefaultResolution: 1200dpi
*VariablePaperSize: False
*FoomaticIDs: HP-Color_LaserJet_4550 pxlcolor
*FoomaticRIPCommandLine: "gs -q -dBATCH -dPARANOIDSAFER -dNOPAUSE%B%A%&&
Z -sOutputFile=- - | perl -p -e 'if (! $did) { s/\xc0.\xf8\x26/\x&&
c0%E\xf8\x26/ && $did++; }'"
*End
*OpenGroup: General/General
*OpenUI *PrintoutMode/Printout Mode: PickOne
*FoomaticRIPOption PrintoutMode: enum Composite A
*OrderDependency: 10 AnySetup *PrintoutMode
*DefaultPrintoutMode: Normal
*PrintoutMode Draft/Draft: "%% FoomaticRIPOptionSetting: PrintoutMode=Draft"
*FoomaticRIPOptionSetting PrintoutMode=Draft: "PrinterResolution=300x3&&
00dpi ColorModel=Color Economode=On FastRes=Off"
*End
*PrintoutMode Draft.Gray/Draft Grayscale: "%% FoomaticRIPOptionSetting: PrintoutMode=Draft.Gray"
*FoomaticRIPOptionSetting PrintoutMode=Draft.Gray: "PrinterResolution=&&
300x300dpi ColorModel=Grayscale Economode=On FastRes=Off"
*End
*PrintoutMode Normal/Normal: "%% FoomaticRIPOptionSetting: PrintoutMode=Normal"
*FoomaticRIPOptionSetting PrintoutMode=Normal: "PrinterResolution=600x&&
600dpi ColorModel=Color Economode=Off FastRes=On"
*End
*PrintoutMode Normal.Gray/Normal Grayscale: "%% FoomaticRIPOptionSetting: PrintoutMode=Normal.Gray"
*FoomaticRIPOptionSetting PrintoutMode=Normal.Gray: "PrinterResolution&&
=600x600dpi ColorModel=Grayscale Economode=Off FastRes=On"
*End
*PrintoutMode High/High Quality: "%% FoomaticRIPOptionSetting: PrintoutMode=High"
*FoomaticRIPOptionSetting PrintoutMode=High: "PrinterResolution=1200x1&&
200dpi ColorModel=Color Economode=Off FastRes=Off"
*End
*PrintoutMode High.Gray/High Quality Grayscale: "%% FoomaticRIPOptionSetting: PrintoutMode=High.Gray"
*FoomaticRIPOptionSetting PrintoutMode=High.Gray: "PrinterResolution=1&&
200x1200dpi ColorModel=Grayscale Economode=Off FastRes=Off"
*End
*CloseUI: *PrintoutMode
*OpenUI *PageSize/Page Size: PickOne
*FoomaticRIPOption PageSize: enum CmdLine A
*OrderDependency: 100 AnySetup *PageSize
*DefaultPageSize: Letter
*PageSize Letter/US Letter: "%% FoomaticRIPOptionSetting: PageSize=Letter"
*FoomaticRIPOptionSetting PageSize=Letter: " -dDEVICEWIDTHPOINTS=612 -&&
dDEVICEHEIGHTPOINTS=792"
*End
*PageSize A4/A4: "%% FoomaticRIPOptionSetting: PageSize=A4"
*FoomaticRIPOptionSetting PageSize=A4: " -dDEVICEWIDTHPOINTS=595 -dDEV&&
ICEHEIGHTPOINTS=842"
*End
*PageSize 11x17/11x17: "%% FoomaticRIPOptionSetting: PageSize=11x17"
*FoomaticRIPOptionSetting PageSize=11x17: " -dDEVICEWIDTHPOINTS=792 -d&&
DEVICEHEIGHTPOINTS=1224"
*End
*PageSize A3/A3: "%% FoomaticRIPOptionSetting: PageSize=A3"
*FoomaticRIPOptionSetting PageSize=A3: " -dDEVICEWIDTHPOINTS=842 -dDEV&&
ICEHEIGHTPOINTS=1191"
*End
*PageSize A5/A5: "%% FoomaticRIPOptionSetting: PageSize=A5"
*FoomaticRIPOptionSetting PageSize=A5: " -dDEVICEWIDTHPOINTS=421 -dDEV&&
ICEHEIGHTPOINTS=595"
*End
*PageSize B5/B5 (JIS): "%% FoomaticRIPOptionSetting: PageSize=B5"
*FoomaticRIPOptionSetting PageSize=B5: " -dDEVICEWIDTHPOINTS=516 -dDEV&&
ICEHEIGHTPOINTS=729"
*End
*PageSize Env10/Envelope #10: "%% FoomaticRIPOptionSetting: PageSize=Env10"
*FoomaticRIPOptionSetting PageSize=Env10: " -dDEVICEWIDTHPOINTS=297 -d&&
DEVICEHEIGHTPOINTS=684"
*End
*PageSize EnvC5/Envelope C5: "%% FoomaticRIPOptionSetting: PageSize=EnvC5"
*FoomaticRIPOptionSetting PageSize=EnvC5: " -dDEVICEWIDTHPOINTS=459 -d&&
DEVICEHEIGHTPOINTS=649"
*End
*PageSize EnvDL/Envelope DL: "%% FoomaticRIPOptionSetting: PageSize=EnvDL"
*FoomaticRIPOptionSetting PageSize=EnvDL: " -dDEVICEWIDTHPOINTS=312 -d&&
DEVICEHEIGHTPOINTS=624"
*End
*PageSize EnvISOB5/Envelope B5: "%% FoomaticRIPOptionSetting: PageSize=EnvISOB5"
*FoomaticRIPOptionSetting PageSize=EnvISOB5: " -dDEVICEWIDTHPOINTS=499&&
-dDEVICEHEIGHTPOINTS=709"
*End
*PageSize EnvMonarch/Envelope Monarch: "%% FoomaticRIPOptionSetting: PageSize=EnvMonarch"
*FoomaticRIPOptionSetting PageSize=EnvMonarch: " -dDEVICEWIDTHPOINTS=2&&
79 -dDEVICEHEIGHTPOINTS=540"
*End
*PageSize Executive/Executive: "%% FoomaticRIPOptionSetting: PageSize=Executive"
*FoomaticRIPOptionSetting PageSize=Executive: " -dDEVICEWIDTHPOINTS=52&&
2 -dDEVICEHEIGHTPOINTS=756"
*End
*PageSize Legal/US Legal: "%% FoomaticRIPOptionSetting: PageSize=Legal"
*FoomaticRIPOptionSetting PageSize=Legal: " -dDEVICEWIDTHPOINTS=612 -d&&
DEVICEHEIGHTPOINTS=1008"
*End
*CloseUI: *PageSize
*OpenUI *PageRegion: PickOne
*OrderDependency: 100 AnySetup *PageRegion
*DefaultPageRegion: Letter
*PageRegion Letter/US Letter: "%% FoomaticRIPOptionSetting: PageSize=Letter"
*PageRegion A4/A4: "%% FoomaticRIPOptionSetting: PageSize=A4"
*PageRegion 11x17/11x17: "%% FoomaticRIPOptionSetting: PageSize=11x17"
*PageRegion A3/A3: "%% FoomaticRIPOptionSetting: PageSize=A3"
*PageRegion A5/A5: "%% FoomaticRIPOptionSetting: PageSize=A5"
*PageRegion B5/B5 (JIS): "%% FoomaticRIPOptionSetting: PageSize=B5"
*PageRegion Env10/Envelope #10: "%% FoomaticRIPOptionSetting: PageSize=Env10"
*PageRegion EnvC5/Envelope C5: "%% FoomaticRIPOptionSetting: PageSize=EnvC5"
*PageRegion EnvDL/Envelope DL: "%% FoomaticRIPOptionSetting: PageSize=EnvDL"
*PageRegion EnvISOB5/Envelope B5: "%% FoomaticRIPOptionSetting: PageSize=EnvISOB5"
*PageRegion EnvMonarch/Envelope Monarch: "%% FoomaticRIPOptionSetting: PageSize=EnvMonarch"
*PageRegion Executive/Executive: "%% FoomaticRIPOptionSetting: PageSize=Executive"
*PageRegion Legal/US Legal: "%% FoomaticRIPOptionSetting: PageSize=Legal"
*CloseUI: *PageRegion
*DefaultImageableArea: Letter
*ImageableArea Letter/US Letter: "18 36 594 756"
*ImageableArea A4/A4: "18 36 577 806"
*ImageableArea 11x17/11x17: "18 36 774 1188"
*ImageableArea A3/A3: "18 36 824 1155"
*ImageableArea A5/A5: "18 36 403 559"
*ImageableArea B5/B5 (JIS): "18 36 498 693"
*ImageableArea Env10/Envelope #10: "18 36 279 648"
*ImageableArea EnvC5/Envelope C5: "18 36 441 613"
*ImageableArea EnvDL/Envelope DL: "18 36 294 588"
*ImageableArea EnvISOB5/Envelope B5: "18 36 481 673"
*ImageableArea EnvMonarch/Envelope Monarch: "18 36 261 504"
*ImageableArea Executive/Executive: "18 36 504 720"
*ImageableArea Legal/US Legal: "18 36 594 972"
*DefaultPaperDimension: Letter
*PaperDimension Letter/US Letter: "612 792"
*PaperDimension A4/A4: "595 842"
*PaperDimension 11x17/11x17: "792 1224"
*PaperDimension A3/A3: "842 1191"
*PaperDimension A5/A5: "421 595"
*PaperDimension B5/B5 (JIS): "516 729"
*PaperDimension Env10/Envelope #10: "297 684"
*PaperDimension EnvC5/Envelope C5: "459 649"
*PaperDimension EnvDL/Envelope DL: "312 624"
*PaperDimension EnvISOB5/Envelope B5: "499 709"
*PaperDimension EnvMonarch/Envelope Monarch: "279 540"
*PaperDimension Executive/Executive: "522 756"
*PaperDimension Legal/US Legal: "612 1008"
*OpenUI *InputSlot/Media Source: PickOne
*FoomaticRIPOption InputSlot: enum CmdLine E
*OrderDependency: 100 AnySetup *InputSlot
*DefaultInputSlot: Default
*InputSlot Default/Printer default: "%% FoomaticRIPOptionSetting: InputSlot=Default"
*FoomaticRIPOptionSetting InputSlot=Default: "\x01"
*InputSlot Tray1/Tray 1: "%% FoomaticRIPOptionSetting: InputSlot=Tray1"
*FoomaticRIPOptionSetting InputSlot=Tray1: "\x03"
*InputSlot Tray2/Tray 2: "%% FoomaticRIPOptionSetting: InputSlot=Tray2"
*FoomaticRIPOptionSetting InputSlot=Tray2: "\x04"
*InputSlot Tray3/Tray 3: "%% FoomaticRIPOptionSetting: InputSlot=Tray3"
*FoomaticRIPOptionSetting InputSlot=Tray3: "\x05"
*InputSlot Tray4/Tray 4: "%% FoomaticRIPOptionSetting: InputSlot=Tray4"
*FoomaticRIPOptionSetting InputSlot=Tray4: "\x06"
*InputSlot Tray5/Tray 5: "%% FoomaticRIPOptionSetting: InputSlot=Tray5"
*FoomaticRIPOptionSetting InputSlot=Tray5: "\x07"
*InputSlot Tray6/Tray 6: "%% FoomaticRIPOptionSetting: InputSlot=Tray6"
*FoomaticRIPOptionSetting InputSlot=Tray6: "\x08"
*InputSlot Tray7/Tray 7: "%% FoomaticRIPOptionSetting: InputSlot=Tray7"
*FoomaticRIPOptionSetting InputSlot=Tray7: "\x09"
*InputSlot Manual/Manual Feeder: "%% FoomaticRIPOptionSetting: InputSlot=Manual"
*FoomaticRIPOptionSetting InputSlot=Manual: "\x02"
*CloseUI: *InputSlot
*JCLOpenUI *Manualfeed/Manual Feed of Paper: PickOne
*OrderDependency: 100 JCLSetup *Manualfeed
*DefaultManualfeed: Off
*Manualfeed Off/Off: "@PJL SET MANUALFEED=OFF<0A>"
*Manualfeed On/On: "@PJL SET MANUALFEED=ON<0A>"
*JCLCloseUI: *Manualfeed
*OpenUI *Duplex/Double-Sided printing: PickOne
*FoomaticRIPOption Duplex: enum CmdLine A
*OrderDependency: 100 AnySetup *Duplex
*DefaultDuplex: None
*Duplex DuplexNoTumble/On (Flip on Long Edge): "%% FoomaticRIPOptionSetting: Duplex=DuplexNoTumble"
*FoomaticRIPOptionSetting Duplex=DuplexNoTumble: " -dDuplex"
*Duplex DuplexTumble/On (Flip on Short Edge): "%% FoomaticRIPOptionSetting: Duplex=DuplexTumble"
*FoomaticRIPOptionSetting Duplex=DuplexTumble: " -dDuplex -dTumble"
*Duplex None/Off: "%% FoomaticRIPOptionSetting: Duplex=None"
*FoomaticRIPOptionSetting Duplex=None: ""
*CloseUI: *Duplex
*JCLOpenUI *Copies/Number of Copies: PickOne
*FoomaticRIPOption Copies: int JCL A
*FoomaticRIPOptionPrototype Copies: "SET COPIES=%s"
*FoomaticRIPOptionRange Copies: 1 100
*OrderDependency: 100 JCLSetup *Copies
*DefaultCopies: 1
*FoomaticRIPDefaultCopies: 1
*Copies 1/1: "@PJL SET COPIES=1<0A>"
*Copies 2/2: "@PJL SET COPIES=2<0A>"
*Copies 3/3: "@PJL SET COPIES=3<0A>"
*Copies 4/4: "@PJL SET COPIES=4<0A>"
*Copies 5/5: "@PJL SET COPIES=5<0A>"
*Copies 6/6: "@PJL SET COPIES=6<0A>"
*Copies 7/7: "@PJL SET COPIES=7<0A>"
*Copies 8/8: "@PJL SET COPIES=8<0A>"
*Copies 9/9: "@PJL SET COPIES=9<0A>"
*Copies 10/10: "@PJL SET COPIES=10<0A>"
*Copies 11/11: "@PJL SET COPIES=11<0A>"
*Copies 12/12: "@PJL SET COPIES=12<0A>"
*Copies 13/13: "@PJL SET COPIES=13<0A>"
*Copies 14/14: "@PJL SET COPIES=14<0A>"
*Copies 15/15: "@PJL SET COPIES=15<0A>"
*Copies 16/16: "@PJL SET COPIES=16<0A>"
*Copies 17/17: "@PJL SET COPIES=17<0A>"
*Copies 18/18: "@PJL SET COPIES=18<0A>"
*Copies 19/19: "@PJL SET COPIES=19<0A>"
*Copies 20/20: "@PJL SET COPIES=20<0A>"
*Copies 21/21: "@PJL SET COPIES=21<0A>"
*Copies 22/22: "@PJL SET COPIES=22<0A>"
*Copies 23/23: "@PJL SET COPIES=23<0A>"
*Copies 24/24: "@PJL SET COPIES=24<0A>"
*Copies 25/25: "@PJL SET COPIES=25<0A>"
*Copies 26/26: "@PJL SET COPIES=26<0A>"
*Copies 27/27: "@PJL SET COPIES=27<0A>"
*Copies 28/28: "@PJL SET COPIES=28<0A>"
*Copies 29/29: "@PJL SET COPIES=29<0A>"
*Copies 30/30: "@PJL SET COPIES=30<0A>"
*Copies 31/31: "@PJL SET COPIES=31<0A>"
*Copies 32/32: "@PJL SET COPIES=32<0A>"
*Copies 33/33: "@PJL SET COPIES=33<0A>"
*Copies 34/34: "@PJL SET COPIES=34<0A>"
*Copies 35/35: "@PJL SET COPIES=35<0A>"
*Copies 36/36: "@PJL SET COPIES=36<0A>"
*Copies 37/37: "@PJL SET COPIES=37<0A>"
*Copies 38/38: "@PJL SET COPIES=38<0A>"
*Copies 39/39: "@PJL SET COPIES=39<0A>"
*Copies 40/40: "@PJL SET COPIES=40<0A>"
*Copies 41/41: "@PJL SET COPIES=41<0A>"
*Copies 42/42: "@PJL SET COPIES=42<0A>"
*Copies 43/43: "@PJL SET COPIES=43<0A>"
*Copies 44/44: "@PJL SET COPIES=44<0A>"
*Copies 45/45: "@PJL SET COPIES=45<0A>"
*Copies 46/46: "@PJL SET COPIES=46<0A>"
*Copies 47/47: "@PJL SET COPIES=47<0A>"
*Copies 48/48: "@PJL SET COPIES=48<0A>"
*Copies 49/49: "@PJL SET COPIES=49<0A>"
*Copies 50/50: "@PJL SET COPIES=50<0A>"
*Copies 51/51: "@PJL SET COPIES=51<0A>"
*Copies 52/52: "@PJL SET COPIES=52<0A>"
*Copies 53/53: "@PJL SET COPIES=53<0A>"
*Copies 54/54: "@PJL SET COPIES=54<0A>"
*Copies 55/55: "@PJL SET COPIES=55<0A>"
*Copies 56/56: "@PJL SET COPIES=56<0A>"
*Copies 57/57: "@PJL SET COPIES=57<0A>"
*Copies 58/58: "@PJL SET COPIES=58<0A>"
*Copies 59/59: "@PJL SET COPIES=59<0A>"
*Copies 60/60: "@PJL SET COPIES=60<0A>"
*Copies 61/61: "@PJL SET COPIES=61<0A>"
*Copies 62/62: "@PJL SET COPIES=62<0A>"
*Copies 63/63: "@PJL SET COPIES=63<0A>"
*Copies 64/64: "@PJL SET COPIES=64<0A>"
*Copies 65/65: "@PJL SET COPIES=65<0A>"
*Copies 66/66: "@PJL SET COPIES=66<0A>"
*Copies 67/67: "@PJL SET COPIES=67<0A>"
*Copies 68/68: "@PJL SET COPIES=68<0A>"
*Copies 69/69: "@PJL SET COPIES=69<0A>"
*Copies 70/70: "@PJL SET COPIES=70<0A>"
*Copies 71/71: "@PJL SET COPIES=71<0A>"
*Copies 72/72: "@PJL SET COPIES=72<0A>"
*Copies 73/73: "@PJL SET COPIES=73<0A>"
*Copies 74/74: "@PJL SET COPIES=74<0A>"
*Copies 75/75: "@PJL SET COPIES=75<0A>"
*Copies 76/76: "@PJL SET COPIES=76<0A>"
*Copies 77/77: "@PJL SET COPIES=77<0A>"
*Copies 78/78: "@PJL SET COPIES=78<0A>"
*Copies 79/79: "@PJL SET COPIES=79<0A>"
*Copies 80/80: "@PJL SET COPIES=80<0A>"
*Copies 81/81: "@PJL SET COPIES=81<0A>"
*Copies 82/82: "@PJL SET COPIES=82<0A>"
*Copies 83/83: "@PJL SET COPIES=83<0A>"
*Copies 84/84: "@PJL SET COPIES=84<0A>"
*Copies 85/85: "@PJL SET COPIES=85<0A>"
*Copies 86/86: "@PJL SET COPIES=86<0A>"
*Copies 87/87: "@PJL SET COPIES=87<0A>"
*Copies 88/88: "@PJL SET COPIES=88<0A>"
*Copies 89/89: "@PJL SET COPIES=89<0A>"
*Copies 90/90: "@PJL SET COPIES=90<0A>"
*Copies 91/91: "@PJL SET COPIES=91<0A>"
*Copies 92/92: "@PJL SET COPIES=92<0A>"
*Copies 93/93: "@PJL SET COPIES=93<0A>"
*Copies 94/94: "@PJL SET COPIES=94<0A>"
*Copies 95/95: "@PJL SET COPIES=95<0A>"
*Copies 96/96: "@PJL SET COPIES=96<0A>"
*Copies 97/97: "@PJL SET COPIES=97<0A>"
*Copies 98/98: "@PJL SET COPIES=98<0A>"
*Copies 99/99: "@PJL SET COPIES=99<0A>"
*Copies 100/100: "@PJL SET COPIES=100<0A>"
*JCLCloseUI: *Copies
*CustomJCLCopies True: "@PJL SET COPIES=\1<0A>"
*ParamCustomJCLCopies Copies/Number of Copies: 1 int 1 100
*CloseGroup: General
*OpenGroup: Adjustment/Adjustment
*JCLOpenUI *REt/REt Setting: PickOne
*OrderDependency: 100 JCLSetup *REt
*DefaultREt: Medium
*REt Dark/Dark: "@PJL SET RET=DARK<0A>"
*REt Light/Light: "@PJL SET RET=LIGHT<0A>"
*REt Medium/Medium: "@PJL SET RET=MEDIUM<0A>"
*REt Off/Off: "@PJL SET RET=OFF<0A>"
*JCLCloseUI: *REt
*JCLOpenUI *TonerDensity/Toner Density: PickOne
*OrderDependency: 100 JCLSetup *TonerDensity
*DefaultTonerDensity: 3
*TonerDensity 1/1: "@PJL SET DENSITY=1<0A>"
*TonerDensity 2/2: "@PJL SET DENSITY=2<0A>"
*TonerDensity 3/3: "@PJL SET DENSITY=3<0A>"
*TonerDensity 4/4: "@PJL SET DENSITY=4<0A>"
*TonerDensity 5/5: "@PJL SET DENSITY=5<0A>"
*JCLCloseUI: *TonerDensity
*FoomaticRIPOption GSResolution: enum CmdLine A 100
*FoomaticRIPOptionSetting GSResolution=FromPrinterResolution: ""
*FoomaticRIPOptionSetting GSResolution=300x300dpi: " -r300x300"
*FoomaticRIPOptionSetting GSResolution=600x600dpi: " -r600x600"
*FoomaticRIPOptionSetting GSResolution=1200x600dpi: " -r1200x600"
*FoomaticRIPOptionSetting GSResolution=1200x1200dpi: " -r1200x1200"
*FoomaticRIPOption JCLResolution: enum JCL A 100
*FoomaticRIPOptionSetting JCLResolution=FromPrinterResolution: ""
*FoomaticRIPOptionSetting JCLResolution=300x300dpi: "SET RESOLUTION=30&&
0"
*End
*FoomaticRIPOptionSetting JCLResolution=600x600dpi: "SET RESOLUTION=60&&
0"
*End
*FoomaticRIPOptionSetting JCLResolution=1200x600dpi: "SET RESOLUTION=1&&
200x600"
*End
*FoomaticRIPOptionSetting JCLResolution=1200x1200dpi: "SET RESOLUTION=&&
1200"
*End
*CloseGroup: Adjustment
*OpenGroup: PrintoutMode/Printout Mode
*OpenUI *FastRes/Fast Res.: PickOne
*OrderDependency: 100 AnySetup *FastRes
*DefaultFastRes: FromPrintoutMode
*FastRes FromPrintoutMode/Controlled by 'Printout Mode': "%% FoomaticRIPOptionSetting: FastRes=@PrintoutMode"
*FastRes Off/Off: "@PJL SET BITSPERPIXEL=1<0A>"
*FastRes On/On: "@PJL SET BITSPERPIXEL=2<0A>"
*CloseUI: *FastRes
*OpenUI *Economode/Toner Saving: PickOne
*OrderDependency: 100 AnySetup *Economode
*DefaultEconomode: FromPrintoutMode
*Economode FromPrintoutMode/Controlled by 'Printout Mode': "%% FoomaticRIPOptionSetting: Economode=@PrintoutMode"
*Economode Off/Off: "@PJL SET ECONOMODE=OFF<0A>"
*Economode On/On: "@PJL SET ECONOMODE=ON<0A>"
*CloseUI: *Economode
*OpenUI *ColorModel/Color Mode: PickOne
*FoomaticRIPOption ColorModel: enum CmdLine B
*OrderDependency: 100 AnySetup *ColorModel
*DefaultColorModel: FromPrintoutMode
*ColorModel FromPrintoutMode/Controlled by 'Printout Mode': "%% FoomaticRIPOptionSetting: ColorModel=@PrintoutMode"
*ColorModel Color/Color: "%% FoomaticRIPOptionSetting: ColorModel=Color"
*FoomaticRIPOptionSetting ColorModel=Color: " -sDEVICE=pxlcolor"
*ColorModel Grayscale/Grayscale: "%% FoomaticRIPOptionSetting: ColorModel=Grayscale"
*FoomaticRIPOptionSetting ColorModel=Grayscale: " -sDEVICE=pxlmono"
*CloseUI: *ColorModel
*OpenUI *PrinterResolution/Resolution: PickOne
*FoomaticRIPOption PrinterResolution: enum Composite A
*OrderDependency: 99 AnySetup *PrinterResolution
*DefaultPrinterResolution: FromPrintoutMode
*PrinterResolution FromPrintoutMode/Controlled by 'Printout Mode': "%% FoomaticRIPOptionSetting: PrinterResolution=FromPrintoutMode"
*FoomaticRIPOptionSetting PrinterResolution=FromPrintoutMode: ""
*PrinterResolution 300x300dpi/300 DPI: "%% FoomaticRIPOptionSetting: PrinterResolution=300x300dpi"
*FoomaticRIPOptionSetting PrinterResolution=300x300dpi: "JCLResolution&&
=300x300dpi GSResolution=300x300dpi"
*End
*PrinterResolution 600x600dpi/600 DPI: "%% FoomaticRIPOptionSetting: PrinterResolution=600x600dpi"
*FoomaticRIPOptionSetting PrinterResolution=600x600dpi: "JCLResolution&&
=600x600dpi GSResolution=600x600dpi"
*End
*CloseUI: *PrinterResolution
*CloseGroup: PrintoutMode
*% Generic boilerplate PPD stuff as standard PostScript fonts and so on
*DefaultFont: Courier
*Font AvantGarde-Book: Standard "(001.006S)" Standard ROM
*Font AvantGarde-BookOblique: Standard "(001.006S)" Standard ROM
*Font AvantGarde-Demi: Standard "(001.007S)" Standard ROM
*Font AvantGarde-DemiOblique: Standard "(001.007S)" Standard ROM
*Font Bookman-Demi: Standard "(001.004S)" Standard ROM
*Font Bookman-DemiItalic: Standard "(001.004S)" Standard ROM
*Font Bookman-Light: Standard "(001.004S)" Standard ROM
*Font Bookman-LightItalic: Standard "(001.004S)" Standard ROM
*Font Courier: Standard "(002.004S)" Standard ROM
*Font Courier-Bold: Standard "(002.004S)" Standard ROM
*Font Courier-BoldOblique: Standard "(002.004S)" Standard ROM
*Font Courier-Oblique: Standard "(002.004S)" Standard ROM
*Font Helvetica: Standard "(001.006S)" Standard ROM
*Font Helvetica-Bold: Standard "(001.007S)" Standard ROM
*Font Helvetica-BoldOblique: Standard "(001.007S)" Standard ROM
*Font Helvetica-Narrow: Standard "(001.006S)" Standard ROM
*Font Helvetica-Narrow-Bold: Standard "(001.007S)" Standard ROM
*Font Helvetica-Narrow-BoldOblique: Standard "(001.007S)" Standard ROM
*Font Helvetica-Narrow-Oblique: Standard "(001.006S)" Standard ROM
*Font Helvetica-Oblique: Standard "(001.006S)" Standard ROM
*Font NewCenturySchlbk-Bold: Standard "(001.009S)" Standard ROM
*Font NewCenturySchlbk-BoldItalic: Standard "(001.007S)" Standard ROM
*Font NewCenturySchlbk-Italic: Standard "(001.006S)" Standard ROM
*Font NewCenturySchlbk-Roman: Standard "(001.007S)" Standard ROM
*Font Palatino-Bold: Standard "(001.005S)" Standard ROM
*Font Palatino-BoldItalic: Standard "(001.005S)" Standard ROM
*Font Palatino-Italic: Standard "(001.005S)" Standard ROM
*Font Palatino-Roman: Standard "(001.005S)" Standard ROM
*Font Symbol: Special "(001.007S)" Special ROM
*Font Times-Bold: Standard "(001.007S)" Standard ROM
*Font Times-BoldItalic: Standard "(001.009S)" Standard ROM
*Font Times-Italic: Standard "(001.007S)" Standard ROM
*Font Times-Roman: Standard "(001.007S)" Standard ROM
*Font ZapfChancery-MediumItalic: Standard "(001.007S)" Standard ROM
*Font ZapfDingbats: Special "(001.004S)" Standard ROM
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Foomatic keywords
-----------------
*FoomaticIDs: <printer> <driver>
<printer>: The printer ID in the Foomatic database
<driver>: The driver name/ID in the Foomatic database
*FoomaticRIPPostPipe: "<code>"
<code>: A shell command line into which the output of foomatic-rip
is piped. Only used with LPRng, LPD, GNUlpr, spooler-less
*FoomaticRIPCammandLine: "<code>"
<code>: The general command line prototype, with spots to insert option
settings ("%A", "%B", ...).
*FoomaticRIPCammandLinePDF: "<code>"
<code>: The command line prototype for PDF input if it is different to
the one for PostScript input, with spots to insert option
settings ("%A", "%B", ...).
*FoomaticNoPageAccounting: <boolean value>
<value>: If True, no accounting code will be inserted into the
PostScript data stream.
*FoomaticRIPOption <name>: <type> <style> <spot> [<order>]
<name>: Option name; <type>: enum, bool, int, float;
<style>: CmdLine, JCL, PS, Composite;
<spot>: Insert this at "%<spot>" in the "*FoomaticRIPCammandLine";
<order>: order number (1-choice options only)
*FoomaticRIPOptionSetting <name>=<choice>: "<code>"
<name>: Option name; <choice>: choice name;
<code>: Code to insert for Cmdline and JCL options,
Settings of member options for Composite
options (see below)
*FoomaticRIPOptionPrototype <name>: "<code>"
(keyword only for numerical and string/password options)
<name>: Option name;
<code>: Code to insert for Cmdline, JCL, and
PS options. With "%s" for the number/string
set by the user.
*FoomaticRIPOptionRange <name>: <min> <max>
(keyword only for numerical options)
<name>: Option name;
<min>, <max>: allowed range for the number.
*FoomaticRIPOptionMaxLength <name>: <length>
(keyword only for string/password options)
<name>: Option name;
<length>: maximum allowed length for the string.
*FoomaticRIPOptionAllowedChars <name>: "<code>"
(keyword only for string options)
<name>: Option name;
<code>: List of allowed characters in the string
(checked by a '/^[...]*$/', see above).
*FoomaticRIPOptionAllowedRegExp <name>: "<code>"
(keyword only for string options)
<name>: Option name;
<code>: Perl regular expression which the string must fulfill
(checked by a '/.../', see above).
*FoomaticRIPDefault<name>: <value>
(keyword only for numerical options)
<name>: Option name;
<value>: default value, only needs to be in
the allowed range, does not need to be
one of the enumerated choices.
All strings in quotes (Foomatic command line, snippets to insert in
command line, "<code>" in the keyword descriptions above) are encoded
with the "htmlify()" function of DB.pm, so they contain no forbidden
characters ("<", ">", "\"") any more. In addition they are broken up
into short lines. The filter (foomatic-rip) will put them together
at first and then replace the HTML/XML entities by the original
characters. If a string is split up, an "*End" line follows, as
required by the Adobe specification.
All Foomatic-relevant info is stored with keywords beginning with
"*Foomatic...", not in comment lines. So if some program strips the
comments off the PPD file, the file still works. The data is stored
in a way compliant to the Adobe specification.
The "*Foomatic..." lines are located in the option entries, so that all
info which is related is located close to each other. This makes the
file more easily readable. The lines also contain only the information
which is not provided by the standard PPD lines. So redundancy is low
and the PPD can more easily be edited and customized.
"*Foomatic..." lines are given to all non-PostScript options and to
numerical or string/password PostScript options. Usual "Boolean" and
"PickOne" PostScript options do not need them. Numerical and
string/password options are "PickOne" for most frontends, but with the
"*Foomatic..." lines the server (the foomatic-rip filter script)
identifies them as numerical or string/password options (and so
accepts values which are not listed) and, second, frontends could also
read the "*Foomatic..." lines and so show the options as numerical or
string (with input field, slider, combo box) or even as password
(input field which shows asterisks instead of the actually typed
characters), as KDE Print and XPP now do by reading the Perl
structure.
Non-PostScript options with only one choice consist only of
"*Foomatic..." lines. So the one choice is stored in the PPD file but
frontends will not show a widget for these options.
Also composite options can be described more easily:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
*OpenUI *PrintoutMode/Printout Mode: PickOne
*FoomaticRIPOption PrintoutMode: enum Composite C
*OrderDependency: 20 AnySetup *PrintoutMode
*DefaultPrintoutMode: Normal
*PrintoutMode Draft/Draft (Economy): "%% FoomaticRIPOptionSetting:
PrintoutMode=Draft"
*FoomaticRIPOptionSetting PrintoutMode=Draft: "Resolution=300 &&
MediaType=Normal Dither=VeryFast"
*End
*PrintoutMode Normal/Normal: "%% FoomaticRIPOptionSetting:
PrintoutMode=Normal"
*FoomaticRIPOptionSetting PrintoutMode=Normal: "Resolution=600 &&
MediaType=Normal Dither=AdaptiveHybrid"
*End
*PrintoutMode High/High Quality: "%%
FoomaticRIPOptionSetting: PrintoutMode=High"
*FoomaticRIPOptionSetting PrintoutMode=High: "Resolution=1200 &&
MediaType=Inkjet Dither=AdaptiveHybrid"
*End
*PrintoutMode Photo/Photo: "%% FoomaticRIPOptionSetting: PrintoutMode=Photo"
*FoomaticRIPOptionSetting PrintoutMode=Photo: "Resolution=1200 &&
MediaType=GlossyPhoto Dither=EvenTone"
*End
*CloseUI: *PrintoutMode
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Remark to the "*FoomaticRIPDefault<name>: <value>" entries for
numerical options:
Adobe's PPD specs do not support numerical options. Therefore the
numerical options are mapped to enumerated options in the PPD file and
their characteristics as a numerical option are stored in
"*Foomatic..." keywords. Especially a value between the enumerated
fixed values can be used as the default value. Then this value must be
given by a "*FoomaticRIPDefault<option>: <value>" line in the PPD
file. But this value is only valid, if the "official" default given by
a "*Default<option>: <value>" line (it must be one of the enumerated
values) points to the enumerated value which is closest to this
value. This way a user can select a default value with a tool only
supporting PPD files but not Foomatic extensions. This tool only
modifies the "*Default<option>: <value>" line and if the
"*FoomaticRIPDefault<option>: <value>" had always priority, the user's
change in "*Default<option>: <value>" had no effect.
For numerical, string, and password options there are also the CUPS
PPD extensions for custom options used. This allows GUIs which use
CUPS' PPD extensions give full access to these options to the
user. See above.