lp.cat is the default printer filter called by the
interface programs.
lp.cat reads the file to be
printed on its standard input and writes it to the device to be
printed on.
lp.cat handles the following signals:
normal termination (SIGTERM)
serial line hangup (SIGHUP due to DCD, Data
Carrier Detect, dropping)
interrupts (SIGINT and SIGQUIT)
early pipe termination (SIGPIPE)
lp.cat will abort a printing job if it has to wait too
long on output. The default maximum time to wait is calculated
as twice the output buffer size (2 * 1024 bytes) divided by the
smallest of the values of the transmission rate, print rate,
or a rate specified as an argument (all rates in characters
per second, CPS). A new maximum delay time may be
defined by the argument rate provided that this
increases the delay time. If rate is 0 then the delay
allowed is effectively infinite.
The -r option is given, lp.cat reports the effective
throughput in characters per second. This statistic is printed on
the standard error after the transmission of every 1024 bytes.
Interface programs may call lp.set to set the
character pitch (h_pitch), line pitch (v_pitch),
page width, page length, and
character set (charset) on the printer.
The default units are characters per inch for the character and
line pitch, number of columns for width, and number of lines for
length. Units may be stated explicitly by appending the values
with ``c'' for centimeters, and ``i'' for inches.
If it cannot set a particular characteristic, lp.set
exits with a value of 1 and prints a one letter
character code followed by newline to the standard error. The
character codes are shown in the following table:
Character code
Printer characteristic not set
H
character pitch
L
page length
S
character set
V
line pitch
W
page width
Interface scripts can use lp.tell to forward
descriptions of printer faults to the print service.
lp.tell sends everything that it reads on its standard
input to the print service. The print service forwards the
message as an alert to the print administrator.
Files
/usr/lib/lp/bin/lp.cat
full pathname of lp.cat
/usr/lib/lp/bin/lp.set
full pathname of lp.set
/usr/lib/lp/bin/lp.tell
full pathname of lp.tell
/etc/lp/model
/etc/lp/interfaces
printer interface programs directories
Exit codes
The following table shows the possible exit values
for lp.cat:
Exit value
Reason
0
normal exit; no error
1
standard input not defined
2
standard output not defined
3
printer type (TERM) not defined or not in terminfo database
4
standard input and output are identical
5
write failed; printer may be off-line
6
excessive delay caused timeout; printer may be off-line
7
hangup (SIGHUP) detected; loss of carrier
8
termination (SIGINT or SIGQUIT), or pipe closed early (SIGPIPE)
lp.set returns 0 if successful; otherwise
it returns 1 on error.
The next table shows the possible exit values for lp.tell:
Exit value
Reason
0
normal exit; no error
1
cannot open message queue to the print service
90
cannot get printer name or key from print service
91
cannot send message to print service
92
cannot receive acknowledgment from print service
93
corrupted acknowledgment received from print service
94
print service reports message corrupted in transmission