[comp.unix.questions] Can I do this with a FIFO?

peter@aucs.AcadiaU.ca (Peter Steele) (05/04/91)

I am evaluating a software package (called qprint) to give us enhanced
printing capabilities (in particular forms control). This package does
not have direct support for remote printers. However, when a printer
is defined, you can specify either a normal device name (e.g. /dev/lp0)
or a FIFO. I've never used fifos before. Can I use a fifo to somehow
set up a link with a remote host? If not this, could I at least set
something up that would cause the file being printed to be piped to
another file on the same host as the file being printed? Am I on track
at all?



-- 
Peter Steele   Postmaster   peter@auad.acadiau.ca   Tel: 902-542-2201
Software Analyst, Acadia University, Wolfville, NS  Fax: 902-542-7224

brian@bjm.wimsey.bc.ca (Brian J. Murrell) (05/07/91)

peter@aucs.AcadiaU.ca (Peter Steele) writes:

>I am evaluating a software package (called qprint) to give us enhanced
>printing capabilities (in particular forms control). This package does
>not have direct support for remote printers. However, when a printer
>is defined, you can specify either a normal device name (e.g. /dev/lp0)
>or a FIFO. I've never used fifos before. Can I use a fifo to somehow
>set up a link with a remote host? If not this, could I at least set
>something up that would cause the file being printed to be piped to
>another file on the same host as the file being printed? Am I on track
>at all?

Well what you could do is make the FIFO and have a daemon running whose
whole purpose in life is to read from the FIFO and uux the print job
(which is all the lp print service does) to the remote site.

hope this helps...
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root@bjm.wimsey.bc.ca (0000-Admin(0000)) (05/07/91)

peter@aucs.AcadiaU.ca (Peter Steele) writes:

>I am evaluating a software package (called qprint) to give us enhanced
>printing capabilities (in particular forms control). This package does
>not have direct support for remote printers. However, when a printer
>is defined, you can specify either a normal device name (e.g. /dev/lp0)
>or a FIFO. I've never used fifos before. Can I use a fifo to somehow
>set up a link with a remote host? If not this, could I at least set
>something up that would cause the file being printed to be piped to
>another file on the same host as the file being printed? Am I on track
>at all?

Well what you could do is make the FIFO and have a daemon running whose
whole purpose in life is to read from the FIFO and uux the print job
(which is all the lp print service does) to the remote site.

hope this helps...