cups

Deploy CUPS StatefulSets on Openshift.

Note: this is to test running the registry.redhat.io/rhel9/cups:latest image.

helm upgrade -i cups helm/cups -n cups --create-namespace \
  --set-file=config.cupsd=examples/cupsd.conf \
  --set-file=config.printers=examples/printers.conf

expose with route (for testing)...

export INGRESS_DOMAIN=$(oc get ingress.config.openshift.io cluster -o jsonpath={.spec.domain})
helm upgrade -i cups helm/cups -n cups --create-namespace \
  -f helm/cups/values-expose.yaml \
  --set ingress.hosts[0].host=cups-cups.${INGRESS_DOMAIN} \
  --set-file=config.cupsd=examples/cupsd.conf \
  --set-file=config.printers=examples/printers.conf

or...

oc port-forward $(oc get pods -n cups -o name) -n cups 6631:6631

build & publish

export IMG_REGISTRY= # quay.io/trevorbox/cups
podman build -t ${IMG_REGISTRY}:latest .
# run locally...
podman run -it --rm --entrypoint "/bin/bash" ${IMG_REGISTRY}:latest
podman push ${IMG_REGISTRY}:latest

test published image...

helm upgrade -i cups helm/cups -n cups --create-namespace \
  --set image.repository=${IMG_REGISTRY} \
  --set-file=config.cupsd=examples/cupsd.conf \
  --set-file=config.printers=examples/printers.conf

CUPS Printer Drivers and Configurations.

A typical CUPS install provides printer drivers dynamically by using a driver information file (.drv) and creating a PPD driver file that can be used by CUPS printers. By default, when a printer is configured in CUPS, the PPD driver is saved to the /etc/cups/ppd/ directory, and the printer definition is added to the /etc/cups/printers.conf file. The printers.conf file can hold information for more than one printer and required PPD files can be added to the /etc/cups/ppd/ directory.

If the printer configurations (/etc/cups/printers.conf) and drivers (/etc/cups/ppd/) that are required are known these can be included in builds.

Sending Test Print Jobs

To test printing from the command line, you can use the lp command which is provided from the cups-client.rpm To send a test print job from the command line of a client:

echo "Test Message Content" | lp -d printer_name

Or,

lp -d printer_name /path/to/file

Cups provides test files in the /usr/share/cups/data/ directory. You can add a different job name by using the -t (title) option with a messages:

lp -d printer_name -t "Print Job XYZ" /usr/share/cups/data/default-testpage.pdf

Finally, from the CUPS UI, select a printer and then in the Maintenance drop down list select "Print Test Page"