Automating CUPS with shell commands

Managing a Service

The cupsctl command lets you change cupsd.conf options during run time. If you call the command without options, it only lists the current settings (Figure 5). Table 5 shows the most important options.

Figure 5: Calling UCC:x50-b-boldcupsctl/UCC without parameters lists the CUPS daemon settings.

The command to specify the protocol for sharing the printer is:

cupsctl 'BrowseLocalProtocols="<Protocol(e)>"'

You must include at least one of the cups, dnssd, lpd, or smb protocols. Multiple entries are separated with a blank space. The operating system and services used on the local network determines which protocol to specify. The default protocol is cups, so each computer on the network equipped with this protocol can see the shared printer. However, this protocol will not work with Windows computers until you add smb.

Conclusion

CUPS shell commands allow you to perform tasks that would otherwise be performed in a graphical front end. By integrating the appropriate commands into shell scripts, you can conveniently automate many tasks required by a print server, with no need for power-hungry add-on applications, such as a web server.

You can even operate the Raspberry Pi print server headless, without monitor or keyboard.