# printers.conf

The CUPS scheduler (cupsd) uses the /etc/cups/printers.conf file to store the list of available printers. This file contains only locally defined printers, not remote printers that are created automatically via browsing. Each directive is listed on a line by itself followed by its value. Comments are introduced using the number sign ("#") character at the beginning of a line.

While the printer configuration file consists of plain text and can be modified using your favorite text editor, you should normally use the lpadmin(8) command, web interface, or any of the available GUIs to manage your printers instead. If you do choose to edit this file manually, you will need to stop the scheduler first, make your changes, and then start the scheduler to make them active.

## Accepting

### Examples

    <Printer name>
      ...
      Accepting yes
    </Printer>

### Description

The `Accepting` directive defines the initial state of the printer-is-accepting-jobs attribute. This state is also set by the `cupsaccept(8)` and `cupsreject(8)` commands:

    /usr/sbin/cupsaccept printername
    /usr/sbin/cupsreject printername

This directive must appear inside a `Printer` or `DefaultPrinter` section.

## AllowUser

### Examples

    <Printer name>
      ...
      AllowUser foo_user
      AllowUser @bar_group
    </Printer>

### Description

The `AllowUser` directive adds a username or group name to the requesting-user-name-allowed attribute which can be set by the `lpadmin(8)` command:

    /usr/sbin/lpadmin -p printername -u allow:foo_user,@bar_group

This directive must appear inside a `Printer` or `DefaultPrinter` directive. This directive cannot be used with `DenyUser`.

## DefaultPrinter

### Examples

    <DefaultPrinter name>
      ...
    </Printer>

### Description

The `DefaultPrinter` directive begins a printer definition as the default server destination. The default server destination can be set using the `lpadmin(8)` command:

    /usr/sbin/lpadmin -d printername

Note that the server default destination settings can be overridden by the user's default destination settings which are normally set using the `lpoptions(1)` command.

## DenyUser

### Examples

    <Printer name>
      ...
      DenyUser foo_user
      DenyUser @bar_group
    </Printer>

### Description

The `DenyUser` directive adds a username or group name to the requesting-user-name-denied attribute which can be set by the `lpadmin(8)` command:

    /usr/sbin/lpadmin -p printername -u deny:foo_user,@bar_group

This directive must appear inside a `Printer` or `DefaultPrinter` directive. This directive cannot be used with `AllowUser`

## DeviceURI

### Examples

    <Printer name>
      ...
      DeviceURI socket://foo.bar.com:9100
    </Printer>

### Description

The `DeviceURI` directive defines the value of the device-uri-attribute attribute. It is normally set using the `lpadmin(8)` command:

    /usr/sbin/lpadmin -p printername -v device-uri

This directive must appear inside a `Printer` or `DefaultPrinter` section.

## CUPS 1.2 ErrorPolicy

### Examples

    <Printer name>
      ...
      ErrorPolicy abort-job
    </Printer>

### Description

The `ErrorPolicy` directive defines the policy that is used when a backend is unable to send a print job to the printer. The `lpadmin(8)` command sets the current error policy:

    /usr/sbin/lpadmin -p printername -o printer-error-policy=stop-printer

The following values are supported:

- `abort-job` - Abort the job and proceed with the next job in the queue
- `retry-current-job` - Retry the current job immediately
- `retry-job` - Retry the job after waiting for N seconds; the cupsd.conf `JobRetryInterval` directive controls the value of N
- `stop-printer` - Stop the printer and keep the job for future printing; this is the default value

This directive must appear inside a `Printer` or `DefaultPrinter` section.

## CUPS 1.4 Filter

### Examples

    <Printer name>
      ...
      Filter mime/type 100 program
    </Printer>

### Description

The `Filter` directive lists a single filter program as defined in the printer's PPD file.

This directive must appear inside a `Printer` or `DefaultPrinter` section.

## Info

### Examples

    <Printer name>
      ...
      Info My Printer
    </Printer>

### Description

The `Info` directive defines the string for the printer-info attribute. It is normally set using the `lpadmin(8)` command:

    /usr/sbin/lpadmin -p printername -D "My Printer"

This directive must appear inside a `Printer` or `DefaultPrinter` section.

## JobSheets

### Examples

    <Printer name>
      ...
      JobSheets none,standard
    </Printer>

### Description

The `JobSheets` directive specifies the default banner pages to print before and after a print job. In the above example, only a standard banner will print after each job. The `lpadmin(8)` command is normally used to set the default banners:

    /usr/sbin/lpadmin -p printername -o job-sheets-default=none,standard

If only one banner file is specified, it will be printed before the files in the job. If a second banner file is specified, it is printed after the files in the job.

The available banner pages depend on the local system configuration; CUPS includes the following standard banner files:

- `none` - Do not produce a banner page.
- `classified` - A banner page with a "classified" label at the top and bottom.
- `confidential` - A banner page with a "confidential" label at the top and bottom.
- `secret` - A banner page with a "secret" label at the top and bottom.
- `standard` - A banner page with no label at the top and bottom.
- `topsecret` - A banner page with a "top secret" label at the top and bottom.
- `unclassified` - A banner page with an "unclassified" label at the top and bottom.

This directive must appear inside a `Printer` or `DefaultPrinter` section.

## KLimit

### Examples

    <Printer name>
      ...
      KLimit 1234
    </Printer>

### Description

The `KLimit` directive defines the value of the job-k-limit attribute. It is normally set using the `lpadmin(8)` command:

    /usr/sbin/lpadmin -p printername -o job-k-limit=1234

This directive must appear inside a `Printer` or `DefaultPrinter` section.

## Location

### Examples

    <Printer name>
      ...
      Location Building 3321
    </Printer>

### Description

The `Location` directive defines the string for the printer-location attribute. It is normally set using the `lpadmin(8)` command:

    /usr/sbin/lpadmin -p printername -L "Building 3321"

This directive must appear inside a `Printer` or `DefaultPrinter` section.

## CUPS 1.2 OpPolicy

### Examples

    <Printer name>
      ...
      OpPolicy default
    </Printer>

### Description

The `OpPolicy` directive sets the operation policy that is used for the printer. The `lpadmin(8)` command sets the current operation policy:

    /usr/sbin/lpadmin -p printername -o printer-op-policy=default

The default policy is named "default". All policies correspond to those defined using the cupsd.conf `Policy` section.

This directive must appear inside a `Printer` or `DefaultPrinter` section.

## CUPS 1.2 Option

### Examples

    <Printer name>
      ...
      Option name value
      Option scaling 100
      Option page-left 72
    </Printer>

### Description

The `Option` directive specifies a default job template attribute value. It is mapped to `name-default` in the printer attributes and applied to jobs as `name`.

This directive must appear inside a `Printer` or `DefaultPrinter` section.

## PageLimit

### Examples

    <Printer name>
      ...
      PageLimit 1234
    </Printer>

### Description

The `PageLimit` directive defines the value of the job-page-limit attribute. It can be set using the `lpadmin(8)` command:

    /usr/sbin/lpadmin -p printername -o job-page-limit=1234

This directive must appear inside a `Printer` or `DefaultPrinter` section.

## CUPS 1.2 PortMonitor

### Examples

    <Printer name>
      ...
      PortMonitor bcp
    </Printer>

### Description

The `PortMonitor` directive sets the filter program that is used for every print job, typically to encode or package the print data in a format acceptable for a particular printer interface. It is set using the `lpadmin(8)` command:

    /usr/sbin/lpadmin -p printername -o port-monitor=tbcp

The following standard port monitors are included with CUPS:

- `bcp` - Encode PostScript print data using the Adobe Binary Control Protocol (BCP)
- `none` - Do not use a port monitor
- `tbcp` - Encode PostScript print data using the Adobe Tagged Binary Control Protocol (TBCP)

This directive must appear inside a `Printer` or `DefaultPrinter` section.

## CUPS 1.4 PreFilter

### Examples

    <Printer name>
      ...
      PreFilter mime/type 100 program
    </Printer>

### Description

The `PreFilter` directive lists a single pre-filter program as defined in the printer's PPD file.

This directive must appear inside a `Printer` or `DefaultPrinter` section.

## Printer

### Examples

    <Printer name>
      ...
    </Printer>

### Description

The `Printer` directive begins a printer definition. Printers are added using the `lpadmin(8)` command:

    /usr/sbin/lpadmin -p printername ...

## CUPS 1.4 Product

### Examples

    <Printer name>
      ...
      Product Acme PaperWriter
    </Printer>

### Description

The `Product` directive defines the main product string from the printer's PPD file and is used when advertising the queue via DNS-SD.

This directive must appear inside a `Printer` or `DefaultPrinter` section.

## QuotaPeriod

### Examples

    <Printer name>
      ...
      QuotaPeriod 604800
    </Printer>

### Description

The `QuotaPeriod` directive defines the value of the job-quota-period attribute. Typical values are 86400 (1 day), 604800 (1 week), 2592000 (1 month), and 31536000 (1 year). It is set using the `lpadmin(8)` command:

    /usr/sbin/lpadmin -p printername -o job-quota-period=604800

This directive must appear inside a `Printer` or `DefaultPrinter` section.

## CUPS 1.2 Shared

### Examples

    <Printer name>
      ...
      Shared yes
    </Printer>

### Description

The `Shared` directive defines the initial value of the printer-is-shared attribute. The strings yes and no correspond to the true and false values, respectively. The `lpadmin(8)` command sets the current state:

    /usr/sbin/lpadmin -p printername -o printer-is-shared=true

This directive must appear inside a `Printer` or `DefaultPrinter` section.

## State

### Examples

    <Printer name>
      ...
      State idle
    </Printer>

### Description

The `State` directive defines the initial value of the printer-state attribute. The strings idle and stopped correspond to the IPP enumeration values 3 and 5, respectively. The `cupsenable(8)` and `cupsdisable(8)` commands set the current state:

    /usr/sbin/cupsenable printername
    /usr/sbin/cupsdisable printername

This directive must appear inside a `Printer` or `DefaultPrinter` section.

## StateMessage

### Examples

    <Printer name>
      ...
      StateMessage Printer is lonely.
    </Printer>

### Description

The `StateMessage` directive defines the initial string for the printer-state-message attribute. The following are some example messages:

    StateMessage Connected to host_name...
    StateMessage Connecting to printer_queue on port port_number...
    StateMessage Network host host_name is busy; will retry in 30 seconds...
    StateMessage Printer busy; will retry in 10 seconds...
    StateMessage Printer is busy; retrying print job...
    StateMessage Print file accepted - job ID id_number.
    StateMessage Waiting for job to complete

This directive must appear inside a `Printer` or `DefaultPrinter` section.

## CUPS 1.2 StateTime

### Examples

    <Printer name>
      ...
      StateTime 1133542425
    </Printer>

### Description

The `StateTime` directive defines the UNIX time (seconds since Jan 1, 1970) for the last state change of the queue. It is mapped to the printer-state-change-time attribute.

This directive must appear inside a `Printer` or `DefaultPrinter` section.