1 | PyKota's FAQ : |
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2 | |
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3 | # $Id$ |
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4 | |
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5 | * Is print accounting ever exact ? |
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6 | |
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7 | No. Print accounting is **never** exact, because it depends |
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8 | on external factors like the presence of paper in the printer, |
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9 | the quantity of remaining ink in the print cartridge, paper |
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10 | jams, etc... All these things are very difficult to account |
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11 | for correctly, and no print accounting package deals with |
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12 | these artefacts correctly in all situations. |
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13 | We are however confident that PyKota is one of the more |
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14 | exact print accounting software, because by default it |
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15 | asks the printers for how many pages they have really printed. |
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16 | |
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17 | * Can PyKota account for ink usage ? |
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18 | |
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19 | No. Actually PyKota doesn't account for ink usage, but this |
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20 | may come in a future release. PyKota only accounts for pages |
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21 | printed and/or money spent. If ink accounting is a necessity |
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22 | for you, PrintBill is recommended instead of PyKota. PrintBill |
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23 | allows you to bill differently per color, and to bill depending |
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24 | on the percent of the ink covered part of the pages. |
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25 | |
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26 | * What is a 'dumb printer' ? |
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27 | |
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28 | In PyKota, the term 'dumb printer' defines a printer which doesn't |
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29 | understand PostScript AND doesn't have an internal page counter, AND |
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30 | for which you don't know how to compute a job's size in number of |
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31 | pages by analyzing its content. Any printer which is not a |
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32 | 'dumb printer' according to the above definition is supported |
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33 | with PyKota. |
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34 | |
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35 | * How can I make PyKota work with my non-postscript printer under |
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36 | CUPS ? |
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37 | |
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38 | From version 1.16alpha7, PyKota includes a CUPS backend which |
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39 | allows you to use any type of printer and any driver, provided |
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40 | your printer is not a 'dumb printer' (see above). |
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41 | |
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42 | * How can I use my 'dumb printer' with CUPS and PyKota. |
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43 | |
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44 | The solution is to plug the pykota filter into the |
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45 | filtering chain when the print job is still in |
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46 | PostScript format, before being converted to the |
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47 | dumb printer's native format. You can't use the |
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48 | cupspykota CUPS backend with 'dumb printers'. |
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49 | |
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50 | Here's how to do : |
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51 | |
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52 | - Disable raw mode by modifying *.convs and |
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53 | *.types files in /etc/cups, then restart |
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54 | CUPS. |
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55 | |
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56 | - If you print from Windows through Samba, |
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57 | don't put '-o raw' in the print command |
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58 | definition in smb.conf |
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59 | |
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60 | - Under Windows, use a PostScript driver |
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61 | set to maximum compatibility mode. |
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62 | |
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63 | - Modify *.convs and *.types files to |
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64 | insert the pykota filter into the |
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65 | filtering chain, as described |
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66 | here (url should be on a single line) : |
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67 | |
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68 | http://cgi.librelogiciel.com/pipermail/ ... |
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69 | ... pykota/attachments/20030721/753239b5/attachment.eml |
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70 | |
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71 | and restart CUPS. |
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72 | |
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73 | * I've got a great number of users. How can I automatically |
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74 | set an initial print quota for them on first print ? |
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75 | |
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76 | You have to define an external policy for unknown users, |
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77 | to automatically add them to the Print Quota database. |
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78 | The sample configuration file contains examples to do this. |
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79 | |
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80 | * How can I diagnose the problem when something goes wrong ? |
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81 | |
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82 | Put "LogLevel debug2" in cupsd.conf (usually in /etc/cups/). |
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83 | Then put "logger: system" and "debug: yes" in |
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84 | /etc/pykota/pykota.conf. |
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85 | Finally restart CUPS. |
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86 | CUPS' error_log file will now contain many informations which |
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87 | will help diagnose your problem. Also your syslog's output for |
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88 | the LPR facility (usually /var/log/lpr.log) will contain |
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89 | PyKota's debug messages, notably all database related queries |
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90 | and their result, be your database PostgreSQL or OpenLDAP. |
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91 | With these two files the problem can usually be diagnosed within |
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92 | minutes. Send them to the mailing list and wait for an answer. |
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93 | |
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94 | * Some, not all, print jobs are never accounted for, why ? |
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95 | |
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96 | From version 1.16alpha7, you can now use the cupspykota |
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97 | CUPS backend, which ensures that all print jobs will be |
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98 | accounted for. The use of the old pykota filter is deprecated |
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99 | with CUPS. It remains the filter of choice for LPRng though, |
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100 | or when you absolutely need to support a 'dumb printer' (see |
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101 | definition above). |
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102 | |
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103 | * When printing from Windows, the jobs are never accounted for, |
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104 | but from *nix they are. Could you explain the reason for this ? |
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105 | |
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106 | First refer to the point above. If this doesn't solve your |
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107 | problem, try to set your print driver to PostScript mode |
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108 | and check the "maximum compatibility" box in its configuration, |
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109 | instead of "maximum speed". Often HP printers come with both |
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110 | a PCL and a PostScript driver under Windows. Don't install the |
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111 | PCL one. |
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112 | |
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113 | * How can I share print quota between some printers only (not all) ? |
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114 | |
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115 | To do this you have to put the printers into a printers group, and |
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116 | set quota on the printer group, instead of (or in addition to) |
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117 | the printers themselves. |
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118 | |
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119 | * What is a printer group ? |
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120 | |
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121 | A printer group is exactly like a normal printer, but is |
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122 | unknown by the printing system. You can use printer groups |
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123 | to share print quota between printers. |
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124 | |
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125 | * How can I create a printer group ? |
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126 | |
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127 | Just use edpykota, like for normal printers. |
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128 | |
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129 | * How can I put a printer into a printer group ? |
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130 | |
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131 | Use the new -G|--pgroups command line option to edpykota |
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132 | You can put sereval printers into several printers groups |
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133 | in one command using the following syntax : |
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134 | |
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135 | $ edpykota --pgroups pg1[,pg2,pg3,...] --printers p1[,p2,p3,...] |
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136 | |
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137 | What is between square brackets is optional. |
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138 | Both p1,p2 and pg1,pg2 can contain wildcards. |
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139 | |
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140 | * How quota checking and update is done with printer groups ? |
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141 | |
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142 | Print accounting and quota checking is done for a printer and |
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143 | all the printers groups it belongs to, recursively. |
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144 | If quota is reached on ANY of these printers for the current user, |
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145 | printing is denied. |
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146 | |
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147 | * Is this feature robust ? |
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148 | |
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149 | It should be. However, beware of integrity problems. LDAP has no |
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150 | sense of database integrity, and PostgreSQL constraints have not |
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151 | yet been fully implemented. The code actually *tries* to forbid |
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152 | circular printers groups, but if you create printer groups with |
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153 | another tool (e.g. psql or gq), then you are mostly on you |
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154 | own to not create infinite loops. |
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155 | |
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156 | * How is computed the job's price ? |
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157 | |
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158 | A job's price is computed with this formula : |
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159 | |
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160 | SUM((NbPages * PricePerPage) + PricePerJob) |
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161 | |
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162 | For current printer and all the printers groups it is |
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163 | a member of, if any. |
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164 | This may be difficult to grasp, but offers unprecedented |
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165 | flexibility. |
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166 | |
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167 | * My question isn't answered there, can you help ? |
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168 | |
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169 | Sure. Ask your question to the mailing list. If this is a |
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170 | frequently asked question, or if your problem is on the contrary |
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171 | very specific, it will probably be added to this document. |
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172 | |
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173 | You can also ask questions by IRC : |
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174 | |
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175 | /server irc.freenode.net |
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176 | /join #pykota |
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177 | |
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178 | Send any new questions to Jerome Alet - <alet@librelogiciel.com> |
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