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1PyKota's FAQ :
2
3  # $Id$
4 
5  * I've installed all correctly, I've created users
6    and printers, but when printing nothing works.
7    What is the problem ?
8    The most probable cause for this is that you didn't
9    adapt /etc/pykota/pykota.conf to your own configuration.
10    The file installed by default is just an example, you
11    have to modify it. See the rest of this document to
12    learn how to really diagnose what went wrong.
13   
14  * How can I diagnose the problem when something goes wrong ?
15 
16    Put "LogLevel debug2" in cupsd.conf (usually in /etc/cups/).
17    Then put "logger: stderr", "debug: yes" and
18    "crashrecipient: youremailaddress" in /etc/pykota/pykota.conf.
19    Finally restart CUPS.
20    CUPS' error_log file will now contain many informations which
21    will help diagnose your problem. You will receive failure
22    notices by email, and you can send all this to us for
23    diagnostic.
24 
25  * Why doesn't CUPS under Debian Woody automatically
26    detects PyKota managed devices ?
27   
28    The CUPS version in Debian Woody is 1.1.14 which is a bit
29    too old. To use PyKota with this version, just install
30    your printers as usual in CUPS web interface, and ensure
31    they work fine, then save your changes, and modify
32    /etc/cups/printers.conf manually as explained in
33    PyKota's toplevel README file. Finally restart CUPS,
34    and your printers should be managed by PyKota.
35    Another solution is to install a newer CUPS release.
36   
37  * Is print accounting ever exact ?
38 
39    No. Print accounting is **never** exact, because it depends
40    on external factors like the presence of paper in the printer,
41    the quantity of remaining ink in the print cartridge, paper
42    jams, etc... All these things are very difficult to account
43    for correctly, and no print accounting package deals with
44    these artefacts correctly in all situations.
45    We are however confident that PyKota is one of the more
46    exact print accounting software, because by default it
47    asks the printers for how many pages they have really printed.
48   
49  * Can PyKota account for ink usage ? 
50 
51    No. Actually PyKota doesn't account for ink usage, but this
52    may come in a future release. PyKota only accounts for pages
53    printed and/or money spent.  If ink accounting is a necessity
54    for you, PrintBill is recommended instead of PyKota. PrintBill
55    allows you to bill differently per color, and to bill depending
56    on the percent of the ink covered part of the pages.
57   
58  * What is a 'dumb printer' ?
59 
60    In PyKota, the term 'dumb printer' defines a printer which doesn't
61    understand PostScript, PCL5, PCLXL (aka PCL6) or PDF AND doesn't
62    have an internal page counter, AND for which you don't know how to
63    compute a job's size in number of pages by analyzing its content.
64    Any printer which is not a 'dumb printer' according to the above
65    definition is supported by PyKota.
66
67  * How can I make PyKota work with my non-postscript printer under
68    CUPS ? 
69 
70    From version 1.16alpha7, PyKota includes a CUPS backend which
71    allows you to use any type of printer and any driver, provided
72    your printer is not a 'dumb printer' (see above).
73   
74  * How can I use my 'dumb printer' with CUPS and PyKota. 
75 
76    You have to use a software accounter directive, and
77    create a script which understands your printer's
78    Page Description Language.
79   
80    PyKota natively understands PostScript, PCL5, PCLXL (aka PCL6)
81    and PDF. More PDLs will be added in the future. However you can
82    always plug your own PDL analyzer in PyKota.
83         
84  * I've got a great number of users. How can I automatically
85    set an initial print quota for them on first print ?
86   
87    You have to define an external policy for unknown users,
88    to automatically add them to the Print Quota database.
89    The sample configuration file contains examples to do this.
90   
91  * What does the --prototype command line option to edpykota do ?
92 
93    This option currently (v1.17) only copies the soft and hard
94    page limits from a template user to other users. This option
95    needs to be updated to new PyKota functionnalities, because it
96    currently lacks.
97   
98  * How can I share print quota between some printers only (not all) ?   
99 
100    To do this you have to put the printers into a printers group, and
101    set quota on the printer group, instead of (or in addition to)
102    the printers themselves.
103   
104  * What is a printer group ?
105 
106     A printer group is exactly like a normal printer, but is
107     unknown by the printing system. You can use printer groups
108     to share print quota between printers.
109   
110  * How can I create a printer group ?   
111 
112    Just use pkprinters, like for normal printers, then create
113    quota entries for users or users groups on it using the
114    edpykota command
115 
116  * How can I put a printer into a printer group ?
117 
118    Use the pkprinters command to do this.
119   
120      $ pkprinters --help
121     
122    Will print the complete help and tell you how to do.
123   
124  * How quota checking and update is done with printer groups ?   
125 
126    Print accounting and quota checking is done for a printer and
127    all the printers groups it belongs to, recursively.
128    If quota is reached on ANY of these printers for the current user,
129    printing is denied.
130   
131  * Is this feature robust ?
132 
133    It should be. However, beware of integrity problems. LDAP has no
134    sense of database integrity, and PostgreSQL constraints have not
135    yet been fully implemented. The code actually *tries* to forbid
136    circular printers groups, but if you create printer groups with
137    another tool (e.g. psql or gq), then you are mostly on you
138    own to not create infinite loops.
139   
140  * How is computed the job's price ? 
141 
142    A job's price is computed with this formula :
143   
144      SUM((NbPages * PricePerPage) + PricePerJob)
145     
146    For current printer and all the printers groups it is
147    a member of, if any, recursively.
148    This may be difficult to grasp, but offers unprecedented
149    flexibility.
150
151  * My question isn't answered there, can you help ? 
152 
153    Sure. Ask your question to the mailing list. If this is a
154    frequently asked question, or if your problem is on the contrary
155    very specific, it will probably be added to this document.
156   
157    You can also ask questions by IRC :
158   
159        /server irc.freenode.net
160        /join #pykota
161       
162Send any new questions to Jerome Alet - <alet@librelogiciel.com>
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