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Updated FAQ

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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  * I've downloaded PyKota from CVS using a Windows based CVS 
15    tool, and now nothing works at all. What happened ?
16   
17    Some (all?) Windows based CVS tools translate *nix line endings
18    (character Line Feed, ASCII code 10) into Windows line endings
19    (character Carriage Return, ASCII code 13, followed with
20    character Line Feed). This breaks the software which has
21    to run under *nix compatible systems. Set correct options
22    in your CVS software so that it doesn't do any translation,
23    or use an Unix-like version of CVS, download again and
24    reinstall the software. It should work.
25   
26  * How can I diagnose the problem when something goes wrong ?
27 
28    Put "LogLevel debug2" in cupsd.conf (usually in /etc/cups/).
29    Then put "logger: stderr", "debug: yes" and
30    "crashrecipient: youremailaddress" in /etc/pykota/pykota.conf.
31    Finally restart CUPS.
32    CUPS' error_log file will now contain many informations which
33    will help diagnose your problem. You will receive failure
34    notices by email, and you can send all this to us for
35    diagnostic.
36   
37    For LPRng, better to put "logger: system" in pykota.conf so
38    that all debug messages for PyKota will go to syslog.
39 
40  * Why doesn't CUPS under Debian Woody automatically
41    detects PyKota managed devices ?
42   
43    The CUPS version in Debian Woody is 1.1.14 which is a bit
44    too old. To use PyKota with this version, just install
45    your printers as usual in CUPS web interface, and ensure
46    they work fine, then save your changes, and modify
47    /etc/cups/printers.conf manually as explained in
48    PyKota's toplevel README file. Finally restart CUPS,
49    and your printers should be managed by PyKota.
50    Another solution is to install a newer CUPS release.
51   
52  * Is print accounting ever exact ?
53 
54    No. Print accounting is **never** exact, because it depends
55    on external factors like the presence of paper in the printer,
56    the quantity of remaining ink in the print cartridge, paper
57    jams, etc... All these things are very difficult to account
58    for correctly, and no print accounting package deals with
59    these artefacts correctly in all situations.
60    We are however confident that PyKota is one of the more
61    exact print accounting software, because by default it
62    asks the printers for how many pages they have really printed.
63   
64  * Can PyKota account for ink usage ? 
65 
66    No. Actually PyKota doesn't account for ink usage, but this
67    may come in a future release. PyKota only accounts for pages
68    printed and/or money spent.  If ink accounting is a necessity
69    for you, PrintBill is recommended instead of PyKota. PrintBill
70    allows you to bill differently per color, and to bill depending
71    on the percent of the ink covered part of the pages.
72   
73  * What is a 'dumb printer' ?
74 
75    In PyKota, the term 'dumb printer' defines a printer which doesn't
76    natively understand PostScript, PCL5 (up to), PCLXL (aka PCL6), PDF
77    or ESC/P2 and doesn't have an internal page counter, and for which
78    you don't know how to compute a job's size in number of pages by
79    analyzing its content.
80    Any printer which is not a 'dumb printer' according to the above
81    definition is supported by PyKota.
82
83  * How can I make PyKota work with my non-postscript printer under
84    CUPS ? 
85 
86    From version 1.16alpha7, PyKota includes a CUPS backend which
87    allows you to use any type of printer and any driver, provided
88    your printer is not a 'dumb printer' (see above).
89   
90  * How can I use my 'dumb printer' with CUPS and PyKota. 
91 
92    You have to use a software accounter directive, and
93    create a script which understands your printer's
94    Page Description Language.
95   
96    PyKota natively understands DSC compliant PostScript,
97    PCL3, PCL4, PCL5, PCLXL (aka PCL6), PDF and ESC/P2. Support
98    for Binary PostScript is done through GhostScript. More PDLs
99    will be added in the future. 
100    However you can always plug your own PDL analyzer in PyKota.
101         
102  * I've got a great number of users. How can I automatically
103    set an initial print quota for them on first print ?
104   
105    You have to define an external policy for unknown users,
106    to automatically add them to the Print Quota database.
107    The sample configuration file contains examples to do this.
108   
109  * What does the --prototype command line option to edpykota do ?
110 
111    This option currently (v1.20) only copies the soft and hard
112    page limits from a template user to other users. This option
113    needs to be updated to new PyKota functionnalities, because it
114    currently lacks.
115   
116  * How can I share print quota between some printers only (not all) ?   
117 
118    To do this you have to put the printers into a printers group, and
119    set quota on the printer group, instead of (or in addition to)
120    the printers themselves.
121   
122  * What is a printer group ?
123 
124     A printer group is exactly like a normal printer, but is
125     unknown by the printing system. You can use printer groups
126     to share print quota between printers.
127   
128  * How can I create a printer group ?   
129 
130    Just use pkprinters, like for normal printers, then create
131    quota entries for users or users groups on it using the
132    edpykota command
133 
134  * How can I put a printer into a printer group ?
135 
136    Use the pkprinters command to do this.
137   
138      $ pkprinters --help
139     
140    Will print the complete help and tell you how to do.
141   
142  * How quota checking and update is done with printer groups ?   
143 
144    Print accounting and quota checking is done for a printer and
145    all the printers groups it belongs to, recursively.
146    If quota is reached on ANY of these printers for the current user,
147    printing is denied.
148   
149  * Is this feature robust ?
150 
151    It should be. However, beware of integrity problems. LDAP has no
152    sense of database integrity, and PostgreSQL constraints have not
153    yet been fully implemented. The code actually *tries* to forbid
154    circular printers groups, but if you create printer groups with
155    another tool (e.g. psql or gq), then you are mostly on you
156    own to not create infinite loops.
157   
158  * How is computed the job's price ? 
159 
160    A job's price is computed with this formula :
161   
162      SUM((NbPages * PricePerPage) + PricePerJob)
163     
164    For current printer and all the printers groups it is
165    a member of, if any, recursively.
166    This may be difficult to grasp, but offers unprecedented
167    flexibility.
168
169  * My question isn't answered there, can you help ? 
170 
171    Sure. Ask your question to the mailing list. If this is a
172    frequently asked question, or if your problem is on the contrary
173    very specific, it will probably be added to this document.
174   
175    You can also ask questions by IRC :
176   
177        /server irc.freenode.net
178        /join #pykota
179       
180Send any new questions to Jerome Alet - <alet@librelogiciel.com>
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