Printing:
- Use the address below to view your print queues:
- Your print jobs can be found in (you will need root access):
- Also take a gander at:
- /usr/share/cups/data
- not sure how all of these pieces work, I am researching a project to determine how all of the pieces in OS X printing works
- DRAFT INFO:
- a simple entry in a plist giving printer name, address, protocol, and PPD
- there is a plist for the computer, user, group that are all ultimately combined to present your final printer list
- controlled by: System Preferences, MCX
- stored in:
- PPD
- the description of the printer's features: print size, margins, duplex, color, language, etc
- controlled by: installation process
- stored in:
- QUE
- the "engine" that transfers the job from the user to the OS to the printer
- controlled by:
- the printer "application" that is installed in ~/Printers/<printer_name>
- accessed by contextual menu of dock, Open Print Que of System Preferences
- stored in: /var/spool/cups or /usr/share/cups/data
- PRINTER APPLICATION
- used to stop, pause, start the que, delete or put jobs on hold
- stored in: ~/Printers/<printer_name>
- JOB
- the document being printed
- controlled by: the printer application/the que
- stored in: /var/spool/cups or /usr/share/cups/data
- QUESTIONS:
- Does adding a printer using the CasperSuite (which does a delete first) remove the que and jobs?
- If you delete a que, does it delete the jobs?
(A) The print que is the engine that manages print jobs and sends them from the user to the printer. It is a computer-level (not a user-level) process.
(B) The state of the print que (stopped, started, paused etc), is a setting that is stored at the computer level, and would affect anybody (any account) using that computer
(C) The print job, is the actual document being printed, and is stored at the user level.
Assuming A & B above are true,
(i) anybody who logs into at a computer 1 which has a que that is stopped, will not be able to print.
(ii) If the user moves to computer 2, their job will print (without being sent again).
(iii) Once the que is resumed on computer 1, when students with pending jobs log in, their jobs will print
-- I am not sure if items (ii) and (iii) happen automatically or the next time they initiate a print job
P.P.S. - Can anyone recommend a good resource on how printers work in OSX that can help clear up these types of issues?
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