21.3 Directory Hierarchy of the Printing System

   

---

The directory hierarchy of a print spooler system is shown in Figure 21-2. Due to the complexity of the directory tree, some of the directories are missing from this figure. What follows is a short description of some of these directories and the type of files they contain.

Figure 21-2. Directory hierarchy of an HP-UX print spooler system.

etc/lp/classes	This directory contains files that define which printer is related to which class. A class is a set of printers of similar capabilities. When a user sends a print request to a printer class, the first available printer prints it. For example, all laser jet printers may be in one "laser" class. When a user sends a print request using the lp command and specifies the destination as "laser," the request goes to the first available laser printer. Printers of the same class should be located at one place physically.
/etc/lp/interfaces	This directory contains programs that are used to format printed data for a particular type of printer. A system administrator can modify an interface of a printer.
/etc/lp/member	This directory contains files that show configured printers on a system. Each printer has one file with the printer name and the device file name of the attached printer.
/usr/bin	Contains utilities such as lp , cancel , lpalt , and lpstat . These utilities are for use by a general user.
/usr/sbin	Contains utilities for printer administration. These utilities are for the system administrator.
/usr/lib/lp/model	This directory contains interface programs for all supported models on HP-UX. When you add a printer, the appropriate program is copied from this directory to the /etc/lp/interfaces directory. While copying, this program is renamed to match the printer name. The interface programs contain information about the banners and fonts used with a printer.
/usr/lib/lp/fonts	This directory contains fonts for laser jet printers.
/usr/lib/lp/cmodel	This directory contains scripts to cancel requests on a remote system.
/usr/lib/lp/smodel	This directory contains scripts to check the status of a print job on a remote system.
/var/spool/lp/request	This is the place for print queues. This directory contains other subdirectories, each of which represents one print queue. The actual print requests are spooled in this directory.
/var/adm/lp	This directory contains log files for the print spooler system.

There is an important file in the /var/spool/lp directory. This is the SCHEDLOCK file, which is created when you start the print scheduler ( lpsched ). It is used to ensure that only one copy of the scheduler is running at a given time. When you shut down the print scheduler, this file is automatically removed. If the scheduler gets terminated abnormally, you need to remove this file manually before restarting the scheduler.

---

   

Top