Debian bug report logs - #1061
/etc/printcap vs. /usr/man/man5/printcap.5

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From mdd.comm.mot.com!mitchell Wed Jun 28 15:20:45 1995
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Date: Wed, 28 Jun 95 15:20:01 PDT
From: mitchell@mdd.comm.mot.com (Bill Mitchell)
Message-Id: <9506282220.AA02383@bb29c.mdd.comm.mot.com>
To: debian-bugs@pixar.com, rdr@legislate.com
Subject: Re: Bug#1061: /etc/printcap vs. /usr/man/man5/printcap.5

> Ideally:
> 
> (a) the documentation would agree with the implementation
> (b) the filters would support standard options where debian software exists
> (c) the options would be meaningful for postscript (and pcl?)
> (d) there'd be some sort of interactive dialog mechanism for printer
> configuration
> 
> (d) is probably the hardest...  I could live with punting on this
> issue if there's pointers to decent documentation.

Just commenting that there are several packages which do interactive
user dialog for configuration.  My kermit package and Ian Jackson's
smail package come to mind.  There probably ought to be some set
of standard conventions for doing this sort of thing.

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From legislate.com!rdr Wed Jun 28 14:48:46 1995
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Date: Wed, 28 Jun 95 17:50 GMT
From: rdr@legislate.com (Raul Miller)
To: debian-bugs@pixar.com
Subject: /etc/printcap vs. /usr/man/man5/printcap.5

Package: lpr
version: 5.9
package_revision: 6

/etc/printcap has the following entries:
        :df=/etc/filter.ps:\
        :tf=/etc/filter.pcl:\

The printcap manual page has this to say:

FILTERS
     The lpd(8) daemon creates a pipeline of filters to process files for var-
     ious printer types.  The filters selected depend on the flags passed to
     lpr(1).  The pipeline set up is:

           p       pr | if regular text + pr(1)
           none    if      regular text
           c       cf      cifplot
           d       df      DVI (tex)
           g       gf      plot(3)
           n       nf      ditroff
           f       rf      Fortran
           t       tf      troff
           v       vf      raster image


This means that the documentation says that:
  lpr -d	will print dvi format files
  lpr -t	will print troff format files

but the implementation is such that
  lpr -d	will print postscript format files
  lpr -t	will print pcl format files

Oddly enough, there are debian packages for TeX support as well as for
*roff support.

Also: when using this implementation hack (-d) for postscript support,
the printer may be left in the middle of the final page, which means
that later print jobs will begin there.

[As an aside, the default configuration assumes an epson compatible
printer for postscript support, and a pcl compatible printer for pcl
support.]

Ideally:

(a) the documentation would agree with the implementation
(b) the filters would support standard options where debian software exists
(c) the options would be meaningful for postscript (and pcl?)
(d) there'd be some sort of interactive dialog mechanism for printer
configuration

(d) is probably the hardest...  I could live with punting on this
issue if there's pointers to decent documentation.

-- 
Raul