NAME    [Toc]    [Back]

     lpc - line printer control program

SYNOPSIS    [Toc]    [Back]

     lpc [command [argument ...]]

DESCRIPTION    [Toc]    [Back]

     lpc is used by the system administrator to control the operation of the
     line  printer  system.   For each line printer configured in
/etc/printcap,
     lpc may be used to:

           +o   disable or enable a printer,

           +o   disable or enable a printer's spooling queue,

           +o   rearrange the order of jobs in a spooling queue,

           +o   find the status of printers, and their  associated
spooling
               queues and printer daemons.

     Without any arguments, lpc will prompt for commands from the
standard input.
  If arguments are supplied, lpc  interprets  the  first
argument as a
     command  and  the  remaining  arguments as parameters to the
command.  The
     standard input may be redirected causing lpc  to  read  commands from file.
     Commands  may  be  abbreviated; the following is the list of
recognized commands.


     ? [command ...]
     help [command ...]
             Print a short description of each command  specified
in the argument
  list,  or,  if no argument is given, a list of
the recognized
             commands.

     abort { all | printer }
             Terminate an active spooling  daemon  on  the  local
host immediately
             and  then  disable  printing (preventing new daemons
from being
             started by lpr(1)) for the specified printers.

     clean { all | printer }
             Remove any temporary files, data files, and  control
files that
             cannot  be  printed  (i.e.,  do  not form a complete
printer job) from
             the specified printer queue(s) on the local machine.

     disable { all | printer }
             Turn  the  specified  printer queues off.  This prevents new printer
             jobs from being entered into the queue by lpr(1).

     down { all | printer } message [...]
             Turn the specified printer queue off, disable printing and put
             message  in  the  printer  status file.  The message
doesn't need to
             be quoted, the remaining arguments are treated  like
echo(1).
             This is normally used to take a printer down and let
users know
             why.  lpq(1) will indicate the printer is  down  and
print the status
 message.

     enable { all | printer }
             Enable  spooling  on  the local queue for the listed
printers.  This
             will allow lpr(1) to  put  new  jobs  in  the  spool
queue.

     exit
     quit    Exit from lpc.

     restart { all | printer }
             Attempt to start a new printer daemon.  This is useful when some
             abnormal condition causes the daemon  to  die  unexpectedly, leaving
             jobs in the queue.  lpq(1) will report that there is
no daemon
             present when this condition occurs.  If the user  is
the superuser,
  try  to  abort  the current daemon first (i.e.,
kill and restart
             a stuck daemon).

     start { all | printer }
             Enable printing and start a spooling daemon for  the
listed printers.


     status { all | printer }
             Display  the status of daemons and queues on the local machine.

     stop { all | printer }
             Stop a spooling daemon after the  current  job  completes and disable
 printing.

     topq printer [ jobnum ... ] [ user ... ]
             Place the jobs in the order listed at the top of the
printer
             queue.

     up { all | printer }
             Enable everything and start a  new  printer  daemon.
Undoes the effects
 of down.

FILES    [Toc]    [Back]

     /etc/printcap             printer description file
     /var/spool/output/*       spool directories
     /var/spool/output/*/lock  lock file for queue control

DIAGNOSTICS    [Toc]    [Back]

     ?Ambiguous command
             Abbreviation matches more than one command.

     ?Invalid command
             No match was found.

     ?Privileged command
             You  must  be a member of group ``operator'' or user
``root'' to
             execute this command.

SEE ALSO    [Toc]    [Back]

     lpq(1), lpr(1), lprm(1), printcap(5), lpd(8)

HISTORY    [Toc]    [Back]

     The lpc command appeared in 4.2BSD.

OpenBSD     3.6                          April      28,      1995