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From: David Chappell <David.Chappell@trincoll.edu> Date: Wed, 29 Oct 2003 15:20:40 -0500 Subject: Re: PPR: The Future of PPR > Date: Sat, 18 Oct 2003 16:31:50 -0400 (EDT) > Subject: Re: PPR: The Future of PPR > From: "Pete Geenhuizen" <pgeenhuizen@pobox.homeunix.net> > To: ppr-list@mail.cc.trincoll.edu > > David, > Congratulations on convincing the powers that be that PPR is worthy of > continued support. Thanks. There is widespread realief too. The support which the PPR users showed was also most gratifying. > I just upgraded to 1.52 (Solaris 9 with a serially attached LaserWriter > IIg), with no problems. I have a question about available PPD files > listed under Printer properties. I have many more that are listed, how > can I go about adding additional PPD files to the list? > > Pete For those of you who haven't noticed the change, the web interface now uses an index file to display the list of available PPD files. The index is build by the command ppd-index. It indexs all PPD files in all directories listed in ppr.conf. This allows it to display PPD files for CUPS filters and things like that. You should: * convert the files to Unix line termination if they aren't already. * put them in a directory * add the directory to the [PPDs] section of ppr.conf * run this command: ~ppr/bin/ppr-index ppds I am open to suggestions on ways to improve PPD file management in PPR. Possibilities I have thought of include: * Adding a command to ppad to import a PPD file. This would involve reading it, converting it to Unix line termination, and storing it in a special directory for locally added PPD files. * Creating online repositories of PPD files. It would work a little like apt-get. One would put a list of source URLs in ppr.conf and then run a program to download the indexes of the repositories. Selecting a file from an online repository would result in its being downloaded and installed. When I created PPR I decided that the PPD files in the /usr/share/ppr/PPDFiles/ directory would have filenames identical to the ModelName value. If one uses the "ppad ppd" command to specify a PPD filename that doesn't start with a slash, it is understood to be one of the files in /usr/share/ppr/PPDFiles/. However one can also specify other files, for example: $ ppad ppd myprn /usr/share/cups/model/deskjet.ppd If when using the web interface you choose a PPD file in a directory other than /usr/share/ppr/PPDFiles/, the ppad command which the web interface creates on the basis of your selection takes this form. I wonder though if this is the best way. Might it be better to say that if the PPD file name doesn't begin with a slash it is considered to be a ModelName to be looked up in the index generated by ppr-index? This would preserve the existing semantics almost unaltered while extending them to external PPD files indexed by ppr-index. The only problem I can see with this is that if you remove the directory that contains the PPD file from the list of those indexed, PPR won't be able to find it anymore. Another interesting point is that PPR, unlike some other spoolers, uses the specified PPD file in place rather than making a copy of it. What are the advantages and disadvantages of this approach? ================================================================ David Chappell David.Chappell@Mail.Trincoll.Edu Computing Center Postmaster@Mail.Trincoll.Edu Trinity College (860) 297-2114 Hartford, Connecticut 06106 U.S.A.