Chapter 9. Adding a printer to CUPS by using the lpadmin utility

Prerequisites

• CUPS is configured.
• The printer supports driverless printing, if you want to use this feature.
• The printer accepts data on port 631 (IPP), 9100 (socket), or 515 (LPD). The port depends on the method you use to connect to the printer.

Procedure

• Add the printer to CUPS:

  • To add a printer with driverless support, enter:

    # lpadmin -p Demo-printer -E -v ipp://192.0.2.200/ipp/print -m everywhere

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    If the -m everywhere option does not work for your printer, try -m driverless:<uri>, for example: -m driverless:ipp://192.0.2.200/ipp/print.

  • To add a queue from a remote print server with driverless support, enter:

    # lpadmin -p Demo-printer -E -v ipp://192.0.2.201/printers/example-queue -m everywhere

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    If the -m everywhere option does not work for your printer, try -m driverless:<uri>, for example: -m driverless:ipp://192.0.2.200/printers/example-queue.

  • To add a printer with a driver in file, enter:

    # lpadmin -p Demo-printer -E -v socket://192.0.2.200/ -P /root/example.ppd

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  • To add a queue from a remote print server with a driver in a file, enter:

    # lpadmin -p Demo-printer -E -v ipp://192.0.2.201/printers/example-queue -P /root/example.ppd

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  • To add a printer with a driver in the local driver database:

    1. List the drivers in the database:

       # lpinfo -m
       ...
       drv:///sample.drv/generpcl.ppd Generic PCL Laser Printer
       ...

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    2. Add the printer with the URI to the driver in the database:

       # lpadmin -p Demo-printer -E -v socket://192.0.2.200/ -m drv:///sample.drv/generpcl.ppd

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  These commands uses the following options:

  • -p <printer_name>: Sets the name of the printer in CUPS.
  • -E: Enables the printer and CUPS accepts jobs for it. Note that you must specify this option after -p. See the option’s description in the man page on your system for further details.
  • -v <uri>: Sets the URI to the printer or remote print server queue.
  • -m <driver_uri>: Sets the PPD file based on the provided driver URI obtained from the local driver database.
  • -P <PPD_file>: Sets the path to the PPD file.