21.6 Print Job Priorities

   

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Every print job has a priority associated with it. The value of this priority is a number between 0 and 7, inclusive. The number 0 shows lowest priority and the number 7 is used for the highest priority. Print jobs are placed in a print queue depending on the priority associated with these jobs. If you want to print something urgently, you can specify a high priority number for that job when starting it with the lp command. Job priorities can be changed later by using the lpalt command.

A default print priority for a printer is assigned with the help of SAM or the lpadmin command with the -g option.

Fence Priority

The fence level determines the minimum priority that a print job must carry to be printed on a printer. The fence priority of a printer is set using SAM or the lpfence command. For example, to set a fence priority of 5 with printer laserjet3 , use the following command.

 lpfence laserjet3 5 

After making this change, any job sent to the printer that has a priority lower than 5 will sit in the print queue and will never be printed. You can print such jobs by either lowering the fence priority or by raising the job priority using the lpalt command.

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