SYNOPSIS

gspl-start [ jobsize [ printersize ] ]

gspl-start [ -options ] printer [ formtype ]

gspl-phalt [ -options ] printer

gspl-pstop [ -options ] printer

gspl-pinter [ -options ] printer

gspl-padd -options printer formtype

gspl-pdel [ -options ] printer

gspl-pchange -options printer [ formtype ]

gspl-ok [ -options ] printer

gspl-nok [ -options ] printer

gspl-pstat [ -options ] printer state

gspl-conn host

gspl-disconn host

DESCRIPTION

Note that all these programs are in fact hard links to the same program.

Starting GNUspool

gspl-start without arguments, or with one or two numeric arguments, may be used to start the GNUspool scheduler, spshed(8), together with associated programs, such as xtnetserv(8).

The first optional argument specifies to spshed(8) that when allocating an initial block of shared memory for jobs it should allocate memory for at least the specified number of jobs.

The second optional argument performs the same function with printers.

These should not strictly be necessary, but on some platforms there are strange problems about allocating and deallocating blocks of shared memory whilst a program is running which these are intended to alleviate.

If spshed(8) is already running, gspl-start will have no effect.

Printers with numeric names in the other form of gspl-start will not cause confusion if spshed(8) is running.

All other forms of this command will initialise spshed(8), but this is very strongly not recommended. The scheduler should be started first, connections to other machines established, possibly using gspl-conn, and then printers should be started.

Starting printers

        gspl-start lj4

will start printer "lj4" if it is halted. It will have no effect if it is already running. If it is printing, but it has been set to halt at the end of the current job, then this setting will be turned off, and the printer will continue at the end of the current job.

        gspl-start lj4 a4

will likewise do nothing, other than canceling a ``halt at end of current job'' setting, if printer "lj4" is running with the paper type "a4" (i.e. form type up to the first ""."" or "-" is "a4", ignoring the ``suffix''). Otherwise, printer "lj4" will be halted at the end of the current job if it is running, gspl-start will wait for it to halt, change the form type to "a4" and then restart it.

Only ``paper types'', ignoring the suffix, are compared in deciding whether the form type is loaded.

Shell-style wild cards (which should probably be protected from incorrect expansion by shell using quotes) may be used, in conjunction with the -f option, to start multiple printers, thus:

        gspl-start -f 'l*'
        gspl-start -f '*[!a-m]'
        gspl-start -f 'l*,*[!a-m]'

will respectively start all printers whose names begin with "l", all printers whose names do not end with "a" through to "m" and both those classes of printers. Many installations include

        gspl-start -f '*'

in the ``startup script'' to start up all local printers.

Most of the options (e.g. -l and -C) serve only to clarify which printer or printers are being referred to where there is ambiguity or the user wishes to restrict the field.

Names of printers starting with digits will not cause any confusion if spshed(8) is running.

Printers on remote machines may be started by prefixing the machine name, thus

        gspl-start -f host1:l*

Printers are not started on more than one machine at once. You should start the printers as separate commands:

        gspl-start -f '*'
        gspl-start -f 'host1:*'
        gspl-start -f 'host2:*'

To run gspl-start, the user must have halt and restart printers permission.

Halting printers

        gspl-phalt lj4

will halt printer "lj4" at the end of the current job if it is running and will otherwise have no effect.

        gspl-phalt -f 'l*'

will likewise halt all printers whose names start with "l" etc.

Most of the options (e.g. -l and -C) serve only to clarify which printer or printers are being referred to where there is ambiguity or the user wishes to restrict the field.

gspl-pstop is like gspl-phalt, but the printers are halted immediately, aborting any current job.

Printers on remote machines may be halted by prefixing the machine name, thus

        gspl-pstop -f host1:l*

To run these commands, the user must have halt and restart printers permission.

Interrupting printers

        gspl-pinter lj4

interrupts the given printer (or printers), so as to enable a higher-priority job to be handled and the interrupted job resumed at the interrupted page. Note that this will only work as intended if page delimiters are correctly defined.

Printers on remote machines may be interrupted by prefixing the machine name, thus

        gspl-pinter host1:lj4

To run this, the user must have halt and restart printers permission.

Adding printers

        gspl-padd -l tty15 lj4b a4

adds a new printer with the specified parameters. The -l option is mandatory to denote the device name (or network address) as is the initial form type, in the above example "a4".

        gspl-padd -l 193.112.238.95 -N ptr9 a4

adds a network (terminal server) printer with the IP address given.

Please note that this does nothing to create an initial setup file, which should be created first.

Printers on remote machines may not be added with this command.

To run gspl-padd, the user must have add and delete printers permission.

Deleting printers

        gspl-pdel lj4b

deletes the specified printer. It is a mistake to try to delete more than one printer at a time with this command.

Printers on remote machines may not be deleted with this command.

To run gspl-pdel, the user must have add and delete printers permission.

Changing printers

gspl-pchange with appropriate options and a printer name (with optional form type) changes the specified parameters of a printer, which should be halted (and is left halted).

To run gspl-pchange, the user must have add and delete printers permission.

Alignment pages

If a printer is in ``awaiting operator'' state, then gspl-ok and gspl-nok may be used to communicate with it.

If it is in single sheet mode, then the printer will be continued identically whichever command is used.

If it is waiting for the approval of an alignment page, gspl-ok will grant approval and continue with printing, gspl-nok will disapprove the alignment page, causing the alignment routine to be rerun.

To run gspl-ok and gspl-nok, the user must have select printer list permission.

State testing

        gspl-pstat lj4

will return an exit code of 0 (TRUE to shells) if the printer is running, (i.e. printing or idle) and otherwise 1 (FALSE to shells). Some other exit code will be returned, together with a message, if there is an error, e.g. non-existent printer.

To test for specific states, use the state names as listed by gspl-plist(1), (in fact it takes the state names from the same file rest.help by default) for example.

        if gspl-pstat lj4 error || gspl-pstat lj4 offline
        then    echo trouble with lj4
        fi

Standard state names for gspl-pstat

The following state names are used by gspl-pstat, which are usually shared with gspl-plist(1) in the message file rest.help by default. As with other GNUspool programs, the message file may be edited as required:

offline

printer has gone off-line or timed out

error

an error has been raised by the printer, driver or GNUspool

halted

printer is shut down and printing suspended by GNUspool

startup

being initialised to a ready/printing state from the halted state

idle

ready to print next job but nothing to print

shutdown

in process of being taken down to the "halted" state

printing

a job is currently being printed

a/w oper

awaiting operator attention

Connect and disconnect

gspl-conn instructs the GNUspool scheduler to attempt to raise a connection to the given host, which should be specified in the file gnuspool.hosts, and not currently active.

gspl-disconn instructs the GNUspool scheduler to close a connection to the given host, which should be specified in the file gnuspool.hosts, and currently active.

Both of these commands return immediately; however the connection may take some time and indeed may not succeed without the command returning an error message or code.

The user must have stop scheduler permission to run these commands.

OPTIONS

Note that the order of treatment, letters and keywords described below may be modified by editing the file rest.help - see spsyntax(5).

The environment variable on which options are supplied is the same as the name of the program invoked except in upper-case and with ``-'' changed to ``_'' (underscore), for example, "GSPL_START". The environment variable to specify the help file is "SPRESTCONF".

-? or +explain

causes a summary of the other options to be displayed without taking further action.

-N or +network-device

indicate to that the argument to -l refers to a network device.

-L or +line-device

indicate to that the argument to -l refers to a line (e.g. "tty" or "lp"-style) device.

-s or +local-only

(for gspl-padd) mark printer as being local only to the host.

-w or +network-wide

(for gspl-padd) mark printer as being available to other machines.

-l device or +device-name device

in the case of gspl-padd, defines the device name or network address of the printer.

With other options, it may be used to specify which of several similarly-named printers is intended.

-C nnnn or +classcode nnnn

where nnnn consists of the letters A to P (upper or lower case), with - to denote ranges, specifies a class code.

in the case of gspl-padd, it defines the class code (subject to modification by the user's class code) which will be given to the printer.

With other options, it may be used to specify which of several similarly-named printers is intended.

-D string or +description string

set the description or comment field associated with the printer to string.

-v device or +new-device device

for gspl-pchange, reset the device name as specified. Note that the -l option may help to select the desired printer.

-S or +set-classcode

for gspl-pchange, reset the class code as specified. Note that the -C option may help to select the desired printer.

-f or +force-all

for gspl-start, gspl-phalt, gspl-pstop, gspl-pinter, gspl-pchange, gspl-ok, gspl-nok indicate that if the printer name argument selects more than one printer, then all such printers are intended.

-n or +no-force

cancels the -f option.

-W or +wait-complete

wait for operations to complete before exiting.

-E or +no-wait

do not wait for operations to complete before exiting.

+freeze-current

Save all the current options in a .gnuspool file in the current directory.

+freeze-home

Save all the current options in a .gnuspool file in the user's home directory.

FILES

~/.gnuspool configuration file (home directory)

.gnuspool configuration file (current directory)

rest.help message file

DIAGNOSTICS

Various diagnostics are read and printed as required from the message file, by default rest.help.

COPYRIGHT

Copyright (c) 2009 Free Software Foundation, Inc. This is free software. You may redistribute copies of it under the terms of the GNU General Public License <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>. There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.

AUTHOR

John M Collins, Xi Software Ltd.