second new printsystem in Solaris 2.4
news from the 2.4 release notes. Here it goes:
No, in 2.4 it will still be System V interface and commands but the protocol
used between systems will be based on the BSD lpd protocols. There will
be no /etc/printcap... Here's the info from the 2.4 release notes:
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Print Spooler (lp) Feature Transition
SunSoft is planning on replacing the SVR4 print spooler in an upcoming
release of Solaris 2. A new, more powerful distributed print service
will be provided in place of the lp print spooler. The new print
service will be based on the emerging ISO DPA 10175 and POSIX 1387.4
(formerly P1003.7.1) standards. The reason SunSoft is providing a new
print service is to address the need for standards conformance, to
enable support for new printer technologies, to provide a richer
feature set and to meet the needs of client/server environments.
SunSoft will continue to provide the existing print spooler until the
new print service ships.
The new print service will continue to support the following standard
commands for end-user printing:
lp(1)
lpstat(1)
cancel(1)
lpr(1B)
lpq(1B)
lprm(1B)
lptest(1B)
The PostScript filters in /usr/lib/lp/postscript will continue to be
provided.
The procedures for print administration, which are only used by system
administrators, will be different. However SunSoft will provide
compatibility for the common options of the following administrative
commands:
lpmove(1M)
lpshut(1M)
accept(1M)
reject(1M)
enable(1M)
disable(1M)
lpc(1B)
Because the administrative model is more powerful for an ISO DPA spooler,
the following administrative commands will no longer be provided:
lpadmin(1M)
lpsystem(1M)
lpfilter(1M)
lpforms(1M)
lpusers(1M)
lpsched(1M)
For the same reason, compatibility will not be maintained for the
configuration files used by the System V print spooler.
The mechanism for providing printer specific support by customizing the
System V standard printer interface script will be changed.
The SVR4 printing protocol will no longer be provided. Although the
new print service will be based on the ISO DPA protocol, the BSD printing
protocol (RFC 1179) will be used for printing interoperability with existing
Solaris systems and other UNIX based systems. To simplify the transition,
users are strongly advised to configure print clients to use the BSD
protocol. This can be done by using the default value for "Print Server OS"
in the admintool(1M) Printer Manager when adding a remote printer. This can
also be done by specifying "-t bsd" to the lpsystem(1M) command when using
the command line interfaces to add a remote printer.
The BSD protocol has been enhanced in the Solaris 2.4 release to include
support for forms, handling, notification, page-lists, priority, character
sets, content, modes and options. Thus, it is possible to perform all of
the lp operations between a Solaris 2.4 print client and Solaris 2.4 print
server without the need to use the SVR4 printing protocol. Configuring
to use the BSD protocol now will allow print clients and servers
to be upgraded to future versions of Solaris without breaking print
inter-operability. The lpsystem(1M) command has been enhanced to report
a warning when an administrator configures a print client to use the
System V protocol.
----- End Included Message -----
