cups-driverd(8)                                            Apple Inc.                                            cups-driverd(8)



NAME
       cups-driverd - cups driver daemon

SYNOPSIS
       cups-driverd cat ppd-name
       cups-driverd list request_id limit options

DESCRIPTION
       cups-driverd  shows  or  lists  PPD files. It is run in response to CUPS-Add-Modify-Printer or CUPS-Get-Devices requests.
       The first form ("cups-driverd cat ppd-name") writes the named PPD file to stdout. The output format  is  an  uncompressed
       PPD file.

       The second form lists the available manufacturers or PPD files to stdout as indicated by the options argument. The output
       format is an IPP response message. The request_id argument is the request ID from the original IPP request, typically  1.
       The  limit argument is the limit value from the original IPP request - 0 means no limit. Finally, the options argument is
       a space-delimited list of attributes ("name=value name=value ...") that were passed in with the request. Currently  cups-
       driverd looks for the ppd-make and requested-attributes attributes and tailors the output accordingly.

DRIVERS
       Drivers  can  be  static  PPD  files under the /usr/share/cups/model directory or programs under the /usr/lib/cups/driver
       directory. Static PPD files must conform to the Adobe PPD File Format Specification version 4.3  and  may  be  compressed
       using the gzip(1) program. Driver programs must implement the command-line interface shown in the next section.

   DRIVER PROGRAMS
       Driver programs provide a  interface to dynamically-generated PPD files. The following arguments are currently defined:

       drivername list
            Lists the supported PPD files to stdout.

       drivername cat ppdname
            Writes the named PPD file to stdout.

       Driver  programs MUST NOT query hardware or make other long-term operations that would delay the return of a driver list.
       See the NOTES section below for specific recommendations.

   LISTING FILES (drivername list)
       When run with the single argument "list", the program must list the available PPD files it can generate to  stdout  using
       the following format:
           "drivername:ppdname" language "make" "make and model"
           "drivername:ppdname" language "make" "make and model" "1284 device id"
           "drivername:ppdname" language "make" "make and model" "1284 device id" "(PPD product)"
           "drivername:ppdname" language "make" "make and model" "1284 device id" "(PPD product)" "PostScript version"
           "drivername:ppdname" language "make" "make and model" "1284 device id" "(PPD product)" "PostScript version" "type"

       Drivername is the name of the driver program. Ppdname is the name used to select the given driver. Language is the locale
       associated with the default language of the PPD file, typically "en". Make is the Manufacturer name from  the  PPD  file.
       Make and model is the NickName name from the PPD file. 1284 device id is the 1284DeviceId from the PPD file, if any. (PPD
       product) is the Product string as it would appear in the PPD file or from a PostScript query. PostScript version  is  the
       PSVersion  string  as  it  would  appear  in the PPD file or from a PostScript query. Type is "postscript" for PostScript
       printers, "pdf" for PDF printers, "raster" for raster printers, or "fax" for facsimile devices.

   WRITING FILES (drivername cat ppdname)
       When the driver program is run with the "cat ppdname" arguments, it must write the  named  PPD  file  to  stdout,  uncom-
       pressed.  If  the  named  PPD  file does not exist, the driver program must not write any output to stdout and report the
       error to stderr instead.

   DRIVER ERROR MESSAGES
       Error messages can be relayed back to cupsd by writing them to stderr. The following prefixes are recognized:

       DEBUG: [drivername]
            Debugging messages

       ERROR: [drivername]
            Error messages

       INFO: [drivername]
            Informational messages

NOTES
       Due to performance considerations, driver programs have been officially deprecated and should not be used for new  devel-
       opment. Currently only the CUPS web interface and lpinfo(8) command will request lists from all driver programs.

SEE ALSO
       cupsd(8), cupsd.conf(5), cupstestppd(1), lpinfo(8),
       http://localhost:631/help

COPYRIGHT
       Copyright 2007-2011 by Apple Inc.



6 January 2011                                                CUPS                                               cups-driverd(8)