Subject: question about lpd behaviour w/ filters & remote printers
To: None <netbsd-help@netbsd.org>
From: Matthias Buelow <mkb@mukappabeta.de>
List: netbsd-help
Date: 11/03/2000 22:16:51
Hi folks,

does anybody know why the NetBSD lpd doesn't setup filter pipelines
for remote printers?  This restriction sounds a bit stupid to me,
especially when you want to, say, transform postscript into pcl on
your local machine for a non-ps printer connected via a printer server.

From the (1.5_BETA) printcap(5) manpage:

FILTERS
     If a printer is specified via lp (either local or remote), the lpd(8)
     daemon creates a pipeline of filters to process files for various printer
     types.  The pipeline is not set up for remote printers specified via rm
     unless the local host is the same as the remote printer host given.  The
     filters selected depend on the flags passed to lpr(1).  The pipeline set

For contrast, the corresponding paragraph from the FreeBSD printcap(5)
manpage says:

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:

And indeed on that system, there is no such restriction.
Is there any good reason for keeping this up?  Or maybe does someone
know if alternative printer spoolers have a better way of handling
this (like maybe lprng)?

	--mkb