cups

cups(1) OpenPrinting cups(1)

NAME

   cups - a standards-based, open source printing system

DESCRIPTION

   CUPS is the software you use to print from applications like word processors, email readers, photo editors, and web browsers. It converts the page descriptions produced by your appli‐
   cation (put a paragraph here, draw a line there, and so forth) into something your printer can understand and then sends the information to the printer for printing.

   Now, since every printer manufacturer does things differently, printing can be very complicated.  CUPS does its best to hide this from you and your application so that you can concen‐
   trate  on  printing and less on how to print. Generally, the only time you need to know anything about your printer is when you use it for the first time, and even then CUPS can often
   figure things out on its own.

HOW DOES IT WORK?

   The first time you print to a printer, CUPS creates a queue to keep track of the current status of the printer (everything OK, out of paper, etc.) and any pages you have printed. Most
   of the time the queue points to a printer connected directly to your computer via a USB port, however it can also point to a printer on your network, a printer  on  the  Internet,  or
   multiple printers depending on the configuration. Regardless of where the queue points, it will look like any other printer to you and your applications.

   Every time you print something, CUPS creates a job which contains the queue you are sending the print to, the name of the document you are printing, and the page descriptions. Job are
   numbered (queue-1, queue-2, and so forth) so you can monitor the job as it is printed or cancel it if you see a mistake. When CUPS gets a job for printing, it determines the best pro‐
   grams (filters, printer drivers, port monitors, and backends) to convert the pages into a printable format and then runs them to actually print the job.

   When  the print job is completely printed, CUPS removes the job from the queue and moves on to any other jobs you have submitted. You can also be notified when the job is finished, or
   if there are any errors during printing, in several different ways.

WHERE DO I BEGIN?

   The easiest way to start is by using the web interface to configure your printer. Go to "http://localhost:631" and choose the Administration tab at the top of the page. Click/press on
   the Add Printer button and follow the prompts.

   When you are asked for a username and password, enter your login username and password or the "root" username and password.

   After the printer is added you will be asked to set the default printer options (paper size, output mode, etc.) for the printer. Make any changes as needed and then click/press on the
   Set Default Options button to save them. Some printers also support auto-configuration - click/press on the Query Printer for Default Options button to update  the  options  automati‐
   cally.

   Once  you  have  added the printer, you can print to it from any application. You can also choose Print Test Page from the maintenance menu to print a simple test page and verify that
   everything is working properly.

   You can also use the lpadmin(8) and lpinfo(8) commands to add printers to CUPS.  Additionally, your operating system may include graphical  user  interfaces  or  automatically  create
   printer queues when you connect a printer to your computer.

HOW DO I GET HELP?

   The  OpenPrinting CUPS website (https://openprinting.github.io/cups) provides access to the cups and cups-devel mailing lists, additional documentation and resources, and a bug report
   database. Most vendors also provide online discussion forums to ask printing questions for your operating system of choice.

ENVIRONMENT

   CUPS commands use the following environment variables to override the default locations of files and so forth. For security reasons, these environment variables are ignored for setuid
   programs:

   CUPS_ANYROOT
        Whether to allow any X.509 certificate root (Y or N).

   CUPS_CACHEDIR
        The directory where semi-persistent cache files can be found.

   CUPS_DATADIR
        The directory where data files can be found.

   CUPS_ENCRYPTION
        The default level of encryption (Always, IfRequested, Never, Required).

   CUPS_EXPIREDCERTS
        Whether to allow expired X.509 certificates (Y or N).

   CUPS_GSSSERVICENAME
        The Kerberos service name used for authentication.

   CUPS_SERVER
        The hostname/IP address and port number of the CUPS scheduler (hostname:port or ipaddress:port).

   CUPS_SERVERBIN
        The directory where server helper programs, filters, backend, etc. can be found.

   CUPS_SERVERROOT
        The root directory of the server.

   CUPS_STATEDIR
        The directory where state files can be found.

   CUPS_USER
        Specifies the name of the user for print requests.

   HOME Specifies the home directory of the current user.

   IPP_PORT
        Specifies the default port number for IPP requests.

   LOCALEDIR
        Specifies the location of localization files.

   LPDEST
        Specifies the default print queue (System V standard).

   PRINTER
        Specifies the default print queue (Berkeley standard).

   TMPDIR
        Specifies the location of temporary files.

FILES

   ~/.cups/client.conf
   ~/.cups/lpoptions

CONFORMING TO

   CUPS conforms to the Internet Printing Protocol version 2.1 and implements the Berkeley and System V UNIX print commands.

NOTES

   CUPS printer drivers, backends, and PPD files are deprecated and will no longer be supported in a future feature release of CUPS.  Printers that do not support IPP  can  be  supported
   using applications such as ippeveprinter(1).