Quoting Oliver Elphick (olly@lfix.co.uk): > David Wright wrote: > >Quoting Oliver Elphick (olly@lfix.co.uk): > >> >What's the difference b/w "lpr foo.txt" and "lpr -P lp foo.txt" ? > >> > > >> There is no difference, so long as lp is the first printer defined in > >> /etc/printcap. -P is needed to address any printer apart from the > default > >. > > > >And what happens if lp is not the first, or is not defined at all > >in /etc/printcap ? > > > >(I ask because the behaviour of lpr (package as well as command) > >is not like that. You need lp to be defined with either style of > >command. Otherwise, lpr: lp: unknown printer) > > I was not aware of that. Which spool package is this? (lpr, lprng?) > The man page for lpr (from lprng) says:
lpr, whose man page is more ambiguous: -P Force output to a specific printer. Normally, the default printer is used (site dependent), or the value of the environment variable PRINTER is used. > If none of those variables is defined and you have a /etc/printcap, the > behaviour you are seeing would be a bug in lprng. Yes, I understand that, and, of course, I'm not using lprng but lpr. But really what I was asking was "Are there printer packages for which it is necessary that lp be the first printer defined in /etc/printcap, which is what your 'so long as...' implies." I've had to move my lp| several times this year because of office relocation and printer replacements. I just wanted to know if I was going to be Gotcha-ed sometime when I try out lprng or cups, since I never bother to reorder my /etc/printcap entries; I just move the lp| from entry to entry, all over the file. Cheers, -- Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Tel: +44 1908 653 739 Fax: +44 1908 655 151 Snail: David Wright, Earth Science Dept., Milton Keynes, England, MK7 6AA Disclaimer: These addresses are only for reaching me, and do not signify official stationery. Views expressed here are either my own or plagiarised.