Open System Services Management and Operations Guide (G06.25+, H06.03+)

Managing OSS Devices
Open System Services Management and Operations Guide—527191-002
10-3
Using the /etc/printcap or printcap File
Using the /etc/printcap or printcap File
Both the /etc/printcap and printcap files contain a list of aliases and the
corresponding Guardian spooler-location names for printers. A valid /etc/printcap
or printcap file must contain at least one entry to establish the default printer. In the
sample file /etc/printcap.sample that is installed as part of the OSS file system,
this entry is the Guardian spooler-location name associated with the alias default.
Both files contain lines with the following fields separated by white space:
1. The alias (required). The first alias need not be named default.
2. The Guardian spooler-location name recognized by the spooler (required).
Guardian spooler-location names are not case-sensitive, so you can write the
spooler-location name with lowercase letters.
3. The spooler-supervisor process name (optional). If the spooler-supervisor process
name is not specified, the system assumes the name $SPLS. Guardian process
names are not case-sensitive, so you can write the spooler-supervisor process
name with lowercase letters.
The /etc/printcap.sample file contains the alias definitions shown in Figure 10-1.
You can edit this sample file to change its Guardian spooler-location names and then
make it either the /etc/printcap file or a user’s printcap file.
You assign aliases other than that of the default printer so users can refer to printers by
names that are more convenient than the Guardian spooler-location names. For
example, you might want to use the alias titan in place of the Guardian spooler-
location name \COMM.$S.#TITAN7.
When a user enters a print command that specifies an alias, the printing utility checks
the directory specified by the HOME environment variable for a printcap file. If a
printcap file is found, the printing utility searches it for the specified alias.
If the alias is found in the printcap file, the printing utility maps the alias to the
Guardian spooler-location name given in printcap. This behavior allows a user to
have a different value for the alias default from the one in the /etc/printcap file;
however, an alias specified in a printcap file is not actually used as a default value in
a shell command line. For example, assume that /etc/printcap contains
default \COMM.$S.#DEFAULT
Figure 10-1. Sample /etc/printcap File /etc/printcap.sample
default \COMM.$S.#DEFAULT
ps \COMM.$S.#POST7
titan \COMM.$S.#TITAN7
land \COMM.$S.#LAND7
build \COMM.$S.#BUILD