Ubuntu Manpage: apsfilterrc — configuration file for magic print filter

NAME

     apsfilterrc — configuration file for magic print filter

SYNOPSIS

     apsfillterrc

DESCRIPTION

Apsfilterrc is a configuration file for printers controlled by the apsfilter(1) magic
filter.

Every apsfilter printer in printcap(5) has an apsfilterrc file of its own.

There is one global apsfilterrc file that controls print characteristics for all printer.
The printer-specific apsfilterrc files have preference over the global one.

Reasons for using an apsfilterrc file are if it turns out, that you have to type in some
commandline options too often or if an application is unable to parameterize the print
command, so that you have to hardcode the print characteristic for such dumb applications.

An enhancement to this concept are user-specific config files, that have preference over the
global and the printer-specific config file. This allows configuration of print
characteristics on a per-user basis.

You should make use of user-specific config files instead of using the deprecated
USE_USER_CODE variable, which compromises system security and is only an option on a single-
user machine, see below.

Capabilities
QUALITY Select print quality (draft, lo|low, med|medium, hi|high, photo).

SWEEP Print uni- or bidirectional (uni, bi).

MEDIA Select paper type (plain, coated, glossy, premium, trans).

COLOR Select color mode (color|colour, gray|grey, mono).

METHOD Choose apsfilters method of data processing (auto, ascii, raw). Automatic
file type recognition and automatic conversion to Postscript is apsfilters
default processing method. If you want to print mostly files `as is', you
can set the default to 'raw', this disables any kind of file type
recognition and conversion. If you want to print mostly everything as ASCII
text, then you can set this option to 'ascii'.

PAPERSIZE Set the default paper size (a3, a4, legal, ledger, tabloid).

ASCII_FILTER Text file filter to use, when printing ASCII documents (a2ps, mpage,
enscript, recode).

PAPERTRAY Paper feed tray number (tray0...tray9).

PRETTY_PRINTING a2ps highlight level for pretty-printing when using a2ps or enscript as
ascii filter (0, 1, 2). See also ASCII_FILTER.

ASCII_HEADER Whether you want headers in your text prints when using a2ps, mpage or
enscript as ascii filter (header, noheader).

ASCII_BORDER Whether you want borders in your text prints when using a2ps, mpage or
enscript as ascii filter (border, noborder).

PS_NUP|ASCII_PPS
Pages per sheet (1pps, 2pps, 4pps, 8pps).

LANDSCAPE|ASCII_LANDSCAPE
Paper orientation (landscape, portrait).

PS_BOOK Output pages in "book" format, implies commandline options
"2pps,duplex,shortbind". Related options: PS_NUP, ASCII_PPS, DUPLEX,
BINDING.

DUPLEX Whether to use duplex mode or not (duplex, simplex).

BINDING Paper binding edge (shortbind, longbind).

COPIES Number of copies (copies=N).

USE_USER_CODE Enabling this option is a big potential security hole !!! If you don't
understand this, DO NOT USE IT. It makes user manageable apsfilterrc files
possible which will be sourced (included/executed) during runtime of a
printjob under the permissions of the calling process (lpd). This option
is only valid for typical "single-user" systems, where a user wants direct
access to an apsfilterrc without having to become root to make changes. A
more conveniant way on a multi-user system, where security is an issue, is
that a system administrator creates user-specific apsfilterrc files.
Additional informations can be found in the apsfilter handbook and in the
apsfilterrc file together with some examples.

FILES

     /etc/apsfilter/apsfilterrc
                      apsfilter global config file, settings are overwriteable by more specific
                      printer config files, see below.
     /etc/apsfilter/QUEUE/apsfilterrc
                      apsfilter config file on a per printer queue basis. This file has
                      preference over the global config file.
     /etc/apsfilter/QUEUE/apsfilterrc.USER
                      apsfilter config file on a per user basis (per print queue). This file has
                      preference over the global and the printer queue specific config file.
     $HOME/.apsfilter/apsfilterrc.QUEUE
                      A user defineable config file on a per printer queue basis. This file has
                      preference over the global, the printer queue specific and the central per
                      user config file, which is administered by a system administrator.
                      Enabling this has a deep impact on your systems security, should NOT be
                      used, especially on multi-user systems and is therefore disabled by
                      default. See comments to USE_USER_CODE variable.

BUGS

     See apsfilter software center - http://www.apsfilter.org/ - for new versions, bugfixes and
     known bugs.

     Please use the new tool apsfilter-bug(1) to release bug- or problem reports. It
     automatically presents you a form in an editor window which asks you some standard
     questions.  If you save and quit the editor session, then this report is sent automatically
     via e-mail to the proper apsfilter mailinglist.

     If apsfilter fails to print something or prints it in a way you wouldn't expect and you want
     to report an apsfilter error then please save the debugging output of one print session
     using the new aps2file(1) utility by typing aps2file -D -Z options file > /dev/null 2>
     file.debug and including the debugging output in the file file.debug into the edit session
     of the apsfilter-bug utility, so that it is included into the mail to the apsfilter
     mailinglist.

     Please note that you need to run /bin/sh (Bourne Shell), bash or a compatible shell, so that
     the above mentioned output redirection works. Under C-shell (/bin/csh) or tcsh it would't
     work. If you don't know, then simply make sure you use the Bournce shell by typing /bin/sh
     or bash, then you should have no problems with redirection of stdout and stderr (> /dev/null
     2> file.debug).

DOCUMENTATION

     See official apsfilter homepage
     http://www.apsfilter.org/handbook.html   Apsfilter Handbook including the Frequently Asked
                                              Questions (FAQ)

USER FORUM

     Please send questions to the official apsfilter help channel apsfilter-help@apsfilter.org.
     The above section BUGS and the file HOWTO-BUGREPORTS tells you how to report bugs.  If you
     want to know how to troubleshoot your apsfilter installation, please read the manpage
     aps2file(1) and apsfilter-bug(1) as well as the Apsfilter Handbook carefully.

HISTORY

     Apsfilter developement started in 1994.

     The apsfilterrc file on a "per printer queue" basis appeared in apsfilter 5.4.0.