NAME

       psf - PostScript filter

SYNOPSIS

       psf [-n name] [-h host] [-w width] [-l length] [-i indent] [-c]

DESCRIPTION

       psf is an lpd filter for PostScript printing.  psf interprets the name it was called with
       to determine what filters to invoke. First, if the string ``pap´´ appears anywhere in the
       name, psf invokes pap to talk to a printer via AppleTalk. Next, if the string ``rev´´
       appears, psf invokes psorder to reverse the pages of the job. Finally, if psf was called
       with a filter´s name as the leading string, it invokes that filter. If there is no filter
       to run, psf examines the magic number of the input, and if the input is not PostScript,
       converts it to PostScript.

KLUDGE

       In the default configuration, psf supports two kludges. The first causes psf to check its
       name for the letter `m´. If this letter is found and accounting is turned on, psf calls
       pap twice, once to get an initial page count and to print the job, and another time to get
       a final page count. This is a work-around for bugs in a variety of PAP implementions that
       cause printers to never properly close the PAP output file. A notable example is any
       printer by Hewlett-Packard.

       The second kludge causes psf to examine its name for the letter `w´. If this letter is
       found and accounting is turned on, psf calls pap with the -w flag. This flag causes pap to
       wait until the printer´s status contains the string `idle´. Once this string is found, the
       job is printed as normal. This kludge is a work-around for printers, notably
       Hewlett-Packard´s LaserJet IV, which will report a page count while a previous jobs is
       still printing.

EXAMPLE

       The sample printcap entry below invokes psf to print text files, PostScript files, troff´s
       C/A/T output, and TeX´s DVI output, to an AppleTalk connected LaserWriter Plus. Since the
       LaserWriter Plus stacks pages in descending order, we reverse the pages and print the
       burst page last.

           laser|lp|LaserWriter Plus on AppleTalk:\
               :sd=/var/spool/lpd/laser:\
               :lp=/var/spool/lpd/laser/null:\
               :lf=/var/log/lpd-errs:pw#80:hl:\
               :of=/usr/lib/netatalk/ofpap:\
               :if=/usr/lib/netatalk/ifpaprev:\
               :tf=/usr/lib/netatalk/tfpaprev:\
               :df=/usr/lib/netatalk/dfpaprev:

       Note that if the host in question spools to more than one AppleTalk printer, /dev/null
       should not be used for the lp capability. Instead, a null device should be created with
       mknod for each printer, as has been done above.

       Finally, there is a file in the spool directory, /var/spool/lpd/laser, called .paprc,
       which pap reads for the AppleTalk name of the printer.

SEE ALSO

       psorder(1), printcap(5), lpd(1), mknod(1), pap(1).