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1# $Id$
2
3PyKota - Print Quota for CUPS and LPRng
4
5(c) 2003-2004 Jerome Alet <alet@librelogiciel.com>
6This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
7it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
8the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
9(at your option) any later version.
10
11This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
12but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
13MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
14GNU General Public License for more details.
15
16You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
17along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
18Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA.
19
20====================================================================
21
22READ SPECIAL LICENSING AND REDISTRIBUTION TERMS IN THE FILE 'LICENSE'
23
24====================================================================
25
26PyKota features :
27-----------------
28
29    Operating systems :
30   
31        - Any Unix-like system as print server.
32           
33        - Any operating system as client.
34           
35    Printing systems :
36   
37        - Supports both CUPS and LPRng as the printing system.
38       
39    Databases :
40   
41        - Supports PostgreSQL as the Quota Storage backend.
42          Complete database creation script in SQL is included.
43       
44        - Supports OpenLDAP as the Quota Storage backend.
45          Complete LDAP schema and sample empty tree are included.
46          Plugging PyKota into your existing LDAP infrastructure
47          is really easy thanks to PyKota's great configurability.
48           
49    Printers :       
50   
51        - Hardware or Software accounting methods are completely
52          configurable.
53         
54        - Supports any printer which can report its internal
55          page counter. Can ask printers for their internal
56          page counter via SNMP, Netatalk, PJL, PS, or any
57          other way.
58          This is completely configurable.
59         
60        - Supports DSC compliant and binary PostScript, PDF, PCL5,
61          and PCLXL (aka PCL6) printers natively for software
62          accounting methods. More formats to come.
63           
64    Quota systems :       
65   
66        - Supports printers and printers groups quotas.
67       
68        - Supports users and users groups quotas.
69       
70        - Supports page quotas.
71          Page quotas can be set differently on a per printer
72          and per user/group basis.
73       
74        - Supports account balance quotas in any currency.
75          Account balance quotas can be set on a per user
76          basis. The account balance is shared amongst
77          all printers. The history of payments (positive
78          or negative credits to an user account) is kept.
79         
80        - Page quotas and account balance can be set/reset
81          independantly.
82         
83        - Page quotas and account balances can be set on
84          a per user or per group basis.
85         
86        - Price per page and per job can be set differently 
87          on any printer.
88       
89        - Low level of page quota or account balance are
90          configurable.
91         
92        - Both soft and hard limit with configurable grace delay 
93          can be set for page quota.
94         
95        - Possibility to disable quota enforcement for any user
96          or group, while still keeping page accounting.
97             
98    Administration :       
99   
100        - Powerful administration tools can be used to
101          automate setting or resetting of quotas or
102          account balances at specific intervals.
103         
104        - Administration tools can modify several users, 
105          groups, or printers at once.
106         
107        - Account balances can be set, incremented, or 
108          decremented. History of payments is kept.
109         
110        - Both printers and users can be automatically added on
111          first print in a completely configurable way.
112         
113        - Quota report generator available either from the 
114          command line or in any web browser.
115          The web-based quota report generator can be
116          user/password protected.
117         
118        - Print quote generator can tell users how much 
119          a print job will cost them in advance.
120         
121        - Policy with regard to unregistered users can   
122          be configured for each printer to either deny
123          printing, allow printing, or delegate the
124          decision to any external tool.
125         
126        - Warning and error messages can be automatically 
127          sent via email to the administrator, the user,
128          both, or none.
129         
130        - Warning and error messages' content is completely
131          configurable.
132         
133        - Configuration can be changed without needing to 
134          restart the printing system.
135       
136        - Complete print job history is kept. This can be
137          disabled if needed.
138         
139        - Automated low quota or balance remainder can be
140          scheduled regularly or launched manually.
141         
142    User Interface :         
143   
144        - All the command line tools accept the -h | --help
145          command line option which prints all the available
146          options and show usage examples.
147         
148        - Completely internationalized. Actually supports the 
149          English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Brasilian, Swedish
150          and Italian languages. More to come.
151
152====================================================================
153       
154Planned features are described in the TODO file.
155
156Actually two (or an infinity of) page accounting methods are
157implemented :
158
159  - The 'hardware' method consists in querying the printer (via SNMP
160    or Netatalk or any other method of your choice) for its total pages
161    counter.
162   
163    This is done both at the beginning and at the end of a
164    print job. The counters difference is then immediately used to
165    decrease the user's account balance or increase his quota usage.
166   
167  - The 'software' method consists in delegating the computation of the
168    job's size in number of pages to any external command of your choice.
169    The command can read the job's data from its standard input and MUST
170    output the job's size on its standard output. Changes to the user
171    account are reported immediately.
172   
173PyKota is known to work fine with most laser printers, either with
174software accounting, or with hardware accounting if the printer
175supports this.
176
177============================================================
178
179INSTALLATION:
180=============
181
182NB :
183====
184
185  You may learn more about PyKota, if it fits your own organization,
186  its internal working, and some potential performance drawbacks and
187  how to avoid them, in a WiKi administered by Ryan Suarez at :
188 
189    http://webcrossing.macosxlabs.org/webx?14@30.QAu3a5k0c4z.7@.26bf4661
190
191Prerequisite :
192--------------
193   
194  You need to have the following tools installed on the CUPS Server :
195 
196    - CUPS or LPRng
197    - Python v2.1 or above
198    - eGenix' mxDateTime Python extension
199    - SNMP tools (specifically the snmpget command) if you plan to
200      request your printer's lifetime page counter via SNMP.
201    - Netatalk (specifically the pap command) if you plan to
202      request your printer's lifetime page counter via AppleTalk.
203    - PostgreSQL's PygreSQL Python extension and the PostgreSQL client
204      libraries if you plan to use PostgreSQL as the Quota Storage
205      backend.
206 or     
207    - python-ldap Python module and the OpenLDAP client libraries 
208      if you plan to use OpenLDAP as the Quota Storage backend.
209   
210  On Intel i386 architecture, and for performance reasons if you
211  print in PCL5 or PCL6 format, it is strongly suggested that you 
212  install the Python accelerator Psyco, available at :
213 
214      http://psyco.sourceforge.net
215     
216  Under Debian :   
217 
218      $ apt-get install python-psyco
219     
220  Other architectures may be supported as well in the future, check   
221  this on Psyco's website.
222 
223  Installing Psyco is not mandatory, but it will speedup PCL5 parsing
224  by almost 3 times. PostScript and PDF parsing can also benefit,
225  but in an almost unnoticeable manner since this part of the code
226  is already optimal. For PCL5 this is a completely different matter,
227  and if you install Psyco you will never regret it !
228  Same remark applies for PCL6 (aka PCLXL) : the parser is completely
229  different, but the performance gain with Psyco is impressive.
230 
231  You may also benefit from having the following tools installed to
232  deal with some printers :
233 
234    - npadmin
235    - netcat
236    - ghostscript
237   
238  You need to have the following tools installed on the Quota Storage 
239  Server :
240 
241    - PostgreSQL
242   
243  or 
244 
245    - OpenLDAP
246   
247NB :   
248
249  PygreSQL must be linked with the PostgreSQL client libraries on
250  the Print Server. The PostgreSQL client libraries' version must
251  match the PostgreSQL version used on the Quota Storage Server.
252 
253or 
254
255  python-ldap must be linked with the OpenLDAP client libraries on the
256  Print Server. The OpenLDAP client libraries' version must match the
257  OpenLDAP version used on the Quota Storage Server.
258 
259  This list of prerequisite software may change in the future, when
260  PyKota will support more functionnalities you will be given
261  alternatives.
262 
263  Of course the Print Server and the Quota Storage Server can be the
264  very same machine if you've got a tiny network, or you can have
265  multiple Print Servers all storing their quotas on the same Quota
266  Storage Server if you've got a bigger network.
267 
268Then :   
269------
270 
271Download the latest PyKota version from the CVS tree on :
272
273    http://savannah.nongnu.org/projects/pykota
274
275Just type :
276
277    python setup.py install
278
279You may need to be logged in with sufficient privileges (e.g. root)
280
281The installation script will now automatically check if some software
282is missing and ask you if you still want to proceed with the
283installation or abort it completely.
284
285Go to the initscripts subdirectory of PyKota's sources, and choose
286the appropriate storage backend for your configuration. Read carefully
287the associated README file and execute the initialization script
288to create an empty PyKota Storage. Upgrade scripts may be
289provided as well.
290
291Copy the conf/pykota.conf.sample and  conf/pykotadmin.conf.sample
292sample configuration files to /etc/pykota/pykota.conf and
293/etc/pykota/pykotadmin.conf (the installation script tries to do
294this for you if needed and you agreed to this action). You need to
295adapt these files to your own needs. Especially you may have to create
296sections named after your own printers, and change the
297administrator's email address which by default is root@localhost.
298Read and try to understand these two very well commented files,
299so that you'll encounter less problems later.
300
301Also be sure to double check that commands that query printers
302for their internal page counter work from the command line
303before using them in PyKota's configuration.
304
305The rest of the installation depends on your printing system :
306
307  - CUPS Printing System :
308 
309    Once and for all :
310   
311        Create a symbolic link to the cupspykota backend
312        in CUPS's backend directory :
313       
314          $ cd /usr/lib/cups/backend
315          $ ln -s /usr/share/pykota/cupspykota cupspykota
316         
317        Restart CUPS so that the new backend can be detected.
318       
319          $ /etc/init.d/cupsys restart
320         
321        or :   
322     
323          $ /etc/rc.d/init.d/cupsysrestart
324         
325        or any similar command depending on your operating system. 
326         
327    For new printers :
328   
329        Go to CUPS management interface (http://localhost:631)
330        and choose the appropriate PyKota managed device depending
331        on the type of printer you use. For example, if your
332        printer is waiting on :
333       
334            socket://myprinter.example.com:9100
335           
336        Then choose :   
337       
338            cupspykota:socket://myprinter.example.com:9100
339           
340        Configure your printer as usual.   
341       
342        Now double check /etc/pykota/pykota.conf
343       
344        You should manually create a section named after the
345        printer you've just added, unless you have set
346        all options globally.
347       
348        The new pkhint command can help you with correct settings
349        for your printers, but don't rely on it because it is still
350        experimental work. To use pkhint, you have to feed it with
351        CUPS' printers.conf file this way :
352       
353          $ pkhint </etc/cups/printers.conf
354       
355        pkhint will try to tell you what is the best accounting
356        method for each printer and will print some lines you'll
357        just have to copy&paste in the appropriate sections in
358        /etc/pykota/pykota.conf
359       
360        That's all.
361   
362    For existing printers :
363   
364        If you had already installed a version of PyKota earlier
365        than 1.16alpha7, then remove the *cupsFilter lines in your
366        PPD files for each printer already managed printers. Each
367        line to remove is of the form :
368       
369          *cupsFilter: "application/vnd.cups-postscript 0 /usr/share/pykota/pykota"
370       
371        This means that each time the pstops filter will be executed, it will
372        pass the job's data through the pykota filter which is present in
373        /usr/share/pykota
374       
375        Don't touch anything else, especially any other *cupsFilter line.
376        Then save each of these files.
377       
378        Then, the easiest is to directly modify the DeviceURI lines
379        in /etc/cups/printers.conf, you just have to put
380        'cupspykota:' in front of what is already on these lines.
381        For example, replace :
382   
383            DeviceURI socket://myprinter.example.com:9100
384       
385        with :   
386   
387            DeviceURI cupspykota:socket://myprinter.example.com:9100
388           
389        or :   
390       
391            DeviceURI cupspykota://socket://myprinter.example.com:9100
392       
393        Save the file and restart CUPS.
394       
395        Here too, you may find it interesting to use the pkhint command as
396        described above to help with manual configuration of the file
397        /etc/pykota/pykota.conf
398
399  - LPRng Printing System :
400 
401    For each printer on which you want to use PyKota :
402   
403        Modify the printer's entry in /etc/printcap : you have to add
404        the three following lines :
405       
406          :achk=true:\
407          :as=/usr/share/pykota/lprngpykota:\
408          :ae=/usr/share/pykota/lprngpykota:\
409         
410        This will tell LPRng to activate accounting, and use the lprngpykota
411        accounting filter both at the start and at the end of printing.
412       
413    When all modifications are done, just save the /etc/printcap file and   
414    restart LPRng :
415   
416          $ /etc/init.d/lprng restart
417         
418        or :   
419     
420          $ /etc/rc.d/init.d/lprng restart
421         
422        or any similar command depending on your operating system. 
423       
424    NB : the pkhint command can't be used with LPRng for now, so you   
425         have to modify /etc/pykota/pykota.conf carefully. The comments
426         in this file will help you.
427     
428Now you can begin to populate the PyKota's database with printers,
429users and groups :
430 
431Add printers and users to the quota system and set their quota values :
432
433Starting from version 1.18alpha2, the preferred command to manage
434printers is named pkprinters
435
436    $ pkprinters --help
437   
438    will tell you how to create, manage or delete printers and
439    printers groups.
440   
441    $ pkprinters --add --charge 0.05 hp2100
442   
443    would add the printer named hp2100 with a price per page
444    of 0.05 unit.
445
446Now set quotas for users on this printer :     
447
448    $ edpykota --add -P hp2100 -S 40 -H 50 user1 ... userN
449       
450    launching edpykota without any argument or with the --help
451    command line option will show you all the possibilities.
452   
453    by default, each user is limited by "quota", this means that on
454    each printer he can have a different soft and hard limit.
455    You may want to limit the user by his account balance value,
456    in which case, the print quota is shared between all printers
457    instead of being different. To do this, use the following :
458   
459    $ edpykota --add -P hp2100 --limitby balance --balance 10 user1 ... userN
460   
461    This will put 10 $ (or Euros, PyKota doesn't care) on each user's account
462    balance, and tell PyKota to limit them by their account balance value.
463    Whenever they print on any printer, their account balance value is
464    decreased by an amount which depends on the particular price per page
465    and per job that you may have defined on the printer with edpykota's
466    --charge command line option.
467    Soft and Hard limits are not used if "--limitby balance" is used,
468    but you can define a "poorman"'s threshold in /etc/pykota/pykota.conf
469    to obtain a similar result (warning message when quota is low).
470
471Restart CUPS or LPRng, for example under Debian GNU/Linux systems :         
472
473    $ /etc/init.d/cupsys restart
474   
475  or :
476 
477    $ /etc/init.d/lprng restart
478       
479Your users now should be able to print but not exceed their
480printing quota.
481
482To see printer quota usage, you can use :
483
484    $ repykota --printer lp
485   
486or :
487
488    $ repykota
489   
490    which will print quota usage for all users on all printers,
491    along with totals, if you are the root user. If you are
492    a regular user, only your own quota report will be produced.
493   
494Quota reports are also available remotely by using the CGI script
495printquota.cgi provided in the cgi-bin/ subdirectory. You can
496also use the CSS stylesheet present in the stylesheets/ subdirectory
497and put it at your web server's DocumentRoot, to benefit from a nicer
498look, especially quota violations will appear in different colors.
499
500For different security concerns, please give a look at the SECURITY
501file which is part of this software.
502           
503============================================================
504
505Mailing list :
506--------------
507
508  A mailing list is dedicated to Pykota, you can subscribe to it
509  or consult its archives at :
510 
511    http://cgi.librelogiciel.com/mailman/listinfo/pykota
512   
513  The mailing list is the preferred way to obtain support, because 
514  all members can help and can also benefit from the solutions
515  proposed by other members.
516 
517  Posts by non-members are usually rejected.
518 
519  The mailing list language is english and only english.
520   
521IRC :   
522-----
523
524  You can also chat with us :
525 
526        /server irc.freenode.net
527        /join #pykota
528       
529  Preferred language on this channel is english, but french     
530  is also accepted. Try to avoid exposing complex problems
531  in french because english speaking people on the channel
532  wouldn't benefit from the solutions.
533 
534  PyKota's main author is known as 'tamere' on IRC.
535   
536============================================================
537   
538Please e-mail bugs to the mailing list at : pykota@librelogiciel.com
539or to the main author at : alet@librelogiciel.com (Jerome Alet)
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