Common Unix Printing System

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computing: software: UNIX/Linux: Common Unix Printing System (CUPS)

Overview

The Common Unix Printing System, abbreviated CUPS, is an API for providing printer services across different flavors of UNIX/Linux.

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Reference

• Wikipedia
• official web site
• Local pages (should work if you have CUPS running):
  • menu
  • manual pages (searchable):
    • Overview of CUPS
    • manpages
      • cupsd.conf

Related Pages

• 2007-04-16 hypertwins printing problem

Concepts

• class: a group of printers wherein the first available printer will accept each job sent to the class.
• job: a particular document submitted for printing by a particular client (machine) to a particular printer
• queue: a list of documents to be printed by a particular printer or class
• printer

Error Messages

There doesn't seem to be any catalog on the CUPS site of possible error messages and what they mean.

• cupsdAuthorize:
  • Local authentication certificate not found!

Commands

To restart CUPS (on Ubuntu and similar distros, anyway) is:

invoke-rc.d cupsys restart

Fixing Problems

• Control panel applet won't browse Windows Network Neighborhood for printers: make sure python-smbc is installed