On Jul 31,  1:47pm, Simon J. Gerraty wrote:
:Hmmm, I don't so much like lpadmin - most vendors have made it _far_
:more complex than it needs to be.  If they'd just adequately document
:how the system hangs together...  As for lpsched, on most sysV
:machines its totally brain dead...

Exactly.  I ripped it out on my HP workstations (any news on NetBSD/PA-RISC?)
I really enjoy a lot of lp's features, but the thought of logging into 80+
lab workstations to add a new printer made me cringe.

:The other area where lp wins over lpr is the ability to setup multiple
:printers serving the same queue.  Obviously this is only of interest
:to EDP departments and the like...  I'm sure lpd could be made to do
:this - though I've never tried.

There are ways to hack stock lpd do it, but a better solution is to
replace lpr/lpd with PLP.  PLP is an enhanced version of lpr/lpd, with
bug fixes, patched holes, etc. ftp://ftp.iona.ie/pub/plp is the
main distribution site.  There is a USA mirror site at
ftp://ftp.beckman.uiuc.edu/pub/plp.

PLP can drive multiple printers from a single queue, can pass additional
arguments to filters, will call filters even for a "remote" printer,
can have multiple printcap files or get printcap entries out of NIS
and Hesiod, can pipe to processes instead of a device, jobs can be moved
from queue to queue, queues can be redirected to another queue, etc..

In short, a lot of what lp can do, with an lpd-style interface.

:Of course removing the need for lpr to setuid root would be good too.

There is work on a new version of lpr/lpd (LPRng, the author calls it)
that removes the need for lpr/lpd to run suid at all.  The author will
be presenting a paper on LPRng at the upcoming LISA conference.

:--sjg

ja.
--
Joe Ammond
                                                 ammond@ee.gatech.edu
      Right and wrong    Is the struggle   Black and white
      Slave and free     Is the struggle   Spirit and reality    -- dagonet