$Id: README,v 1.4 1996/10/12 09:23:32 meem Exp $

This README goes with the rlpr package.  It discusses how to get going
with rlpr and does NOT discuss how to install it.  For installation
information, please read INSTALL.

For a list of changes, please see CHANGES

Please report any bugs, suggestions, etc, to meem@gnu.ai.mit.edu
Copyright (c) 1996 meem, meem@gnu.ai.mit.edu

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
the Free Software Foundation; either version 1, or (at your option)
any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of 
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU
General Public License for more details.


USAGE INSTRUCTIONS FOR NON-PROXY CONFIGURATION
==============================================

without any configuration, you should be able to print to your local
lpd from the machine you wish to print from with the following:

% who | rlpr -Hyour_host -Pyour_printer 

This should print the output of the who(1) command to your
printer.  Make sure you use the right case when specifying the
printer because the name is case sensitive.

Obviously, it is a hassle to constantly specify the host and printer
on the command line, so rlpr offers you a couple choices:

  1. You can set these with environment variables when you log in.
     The environment variables RLPR_PRINTHOST and PRINTER control
     what host and printer to use by default.  This is probably good
     enough for most configurations.

  2. If you tend to print to many different printers, you may want to
     look into making an .rlprrc file to simplify things. Check the
     rlprrc(5) manpage for more details on this.

USAGE INSTRUCTIONS FOR A PROXY CONFIGURATION
============================================

without any configuration, you should be able to print to your local
lpd from the machine you wish to print from with the following:

% who | rlpr -Hyour_host -Pyour_printer -Xyour_proxy

This should print the output of the who(1) command to your printer,
using your_proxy as a proxyhost.  Make sure you use the right case
when specifying the printer because the name is case sensitive.

Obviously, it is a hassle to constantly specify the host and printer
on the command line, so rlpr offers you a couple choices:

  1. You can set these with environment variables when you log in.
     The environment variables RLPR_PRINTHOST and PRINTER control
     what host and printer to use by default.  The environment
     variable RLPR_PROXY controls what proxyhost to use by default.
     This is probably good enough for most configurations.

  2. If you tend to print to many different printers, you may want to
     look into making an .rlprrc file to simplify things. Check the
     rlprrc(5) manpage for more details on this.

  3. In the odd chance you might need a system-wide configuration
     file, you can make a systemwide /etc/rlprrc. See rlprrc(5)
     for more details 

IF SOMETHING GOES WRONG
=======================

  1. Check the syslog on the machine with the lpd server and look for
     any obvious problems there.

  2. If you are using a proxy, check the syslog on the machine with the
     rlprd and look for any obvious problems there.

  3. You will get broken pipes if you try to print through rlprd
     to a non-existent lpd.  Make sure the lpd daemon is up and
     running.

  4. Check the documentation for the lpd for any known limitations.

  5. Send mail to meem@gnu.ai.mit.edu with a bug report.


KNOWN PROBLEMS WITH LPDs
========================

Microsoft's LPD cannot handle rlpr's standard way of sending multiple
print jobs.. to get the desired result please use the -W option (see
the rlpr manpage for details).. don't use the switch unless necessary
because it can clog up all of the available sockets with LPD's that
use a passive close!

Many LPD's will merrily pass through postscript data unless explicitly
told it is postscript.  To get postscript documents to print right,
please use the -o option (see the rlpr manpage for details).

Additionally, Windows NT 4.0 apparently requires that you pass the -l
option along with -o when printing postscript.  Thanks to Allan Wind
<wind@atlassoft.com> for reporting this.  I would enable -l with -o by
default when printing with -W, but only 4.0 seems to have this
problem.

Some LPD's no longer have any troff support.  To print documents you
might have printed using the -t option, you could use:

  % groff -Tps filename | rlpr -o


IDEAS, COMMENTS, SUGGESTIONS
============================

I am always looking for ways to improve rlpr.  If you have
suggestions, bugfixes or just general comments, please send mail to
meem@gnu.ai.mit.edu. 
