a2pdf

A2pdf is a very special-purpose backend written to allow for filtering and formatting legacy text-only jobs arriving over LPD to use the formatting options allowed by the very mature a2ps.

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NAME

a2pdf

DESCRIPTION

This is a very special-purpose CUPS backend written to allow for filtering text jobs arriving over legacy LPD, using the formatting options allowed by the very mature a2ps. It expects formatting parameters to be passed in the job title, split on X.

This backend is designed to be used on a raw queue. In the case of a non-raw queue, the job will be filtered by CUPS into something other than text by the time it gets to the backend, and therefore the formatting options will not be applied because the backend will not call a2ps. However, if it sees postscript, it will still convert the job to PDF using ps2pdf.

Example URIs: a2pdf://var/spool/pdf

REQUIREMENTS

1) Perl

2) The venerable a2ps

3) Ghostscript tool ps2pdf

4) The File::Copy Perl module

5) A raw print queue that receives text

INSTALLATION

Download the script and copy it into the CUPS backends directory, which is typically /usr/lib/cups/backend. Once there, you have to send CUPS a SIGHUP for it to re-scan all the available backends. Do a 'killall -HUP cupsd', or use the init script: '/etc/init.d/cups reload'. A restart will work just as well, but no real need to stop and start the server daemon.

Now check the web interface. When creating or modifying printers, you should see an option for a "A2PDF Writer" in the dropdown box of available devices. If not, make sure the permissions on the file are chmodded to 755 and owned by the correct user:group (check the rest of the files in the directory and match it).

CONFIGURATION

Variables in the conf hash can be set in script, affecting all queues, or can be overridden on a per-queue basis through an external configuration file. The $queues_conf variable determines location, default /etc/cups/queues.conf.

qconf

The qconf file is formatted exactly like the printcap file, except that comments, blank lines, and whitespace between all elements are allowed. All variables above can be overridden on a per-queue basis. Location is determined by the queues_conf variable. If this file does not exist, variable values are simply those set in the script. Example file:

 # TEST1 has debugging, saving jobs, and factor four set
 TEST1|debug:save_jobs
 
 # TEST2 is identical
 TEST2 | debug : save_jobs
 
 # Some other random configuration
 TEST3 | check_user : check_job

JOB FORMATTING

The job title must conform to a specific syntax for this backend to be useful. The title conists of three fields separated by underscores: a descriptive tag, formatting options, and a job name for the final file. Consider this example job title: PDFVAX_OLXL130XCOL80XDS_testpage:

 PDFVAX: descriptive name
 OLXL130XCOL80XDS: formatting options
 testpage: job name

The formatting options themselves are split on capital X:

 OL: orientation landscape, adds "--landscape" to a2ps options
 L130: lines 130, adds "--lines-per-page=130" to a2ps options
 COL80: columns 80, adds "--columns=80" to a2ps options
 DS: datestamp, adds a gentime datestamp to the filename

(If the formatting parameter begins with capital X, no a2ps formatting is done)

The job will be converted from text to Postscript by a2ps using the above formatting options, and then converted to PDF by ps2pdf. The final file name will be $uripath/PDFVAX_$user_testpage_$date.pdf.

CHANGES

a2pdf 1.02 (20120421)

- All script variables can be overridden on a per-queue basis using new "qconf" configuration file format. Most variables renamed in a more consistent manner to fit with this scheme.

- Integrated perldoc.

a2pdf 1.01 (20051129)

- Fixed some tortuous logic centered around temp files.

- More flexible checking of file type using Unix file utility.

a2pdf 1.00 (20050708)

- First release.