root / pykota / trunk / docs / scripts.sgml @ 2775

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<chapter>
  <title>Useful Shell Scripts</title>
  <para>Last modified on $Date$</para>
  
  <para>
    <application>PyKota</application> comes with a number of shell scripts which
    help do complex things. They can be used as-is, but you may prefer to adapt
    them to your own configuration. All are installed in the <filename>/usr/share/pykota</filename>
    directory.
  </para>  
  
  <sect1>
    <title>waitprinter.sh</title>
    <para>
      This script which accepts a printer's hostname or <acronym>IP</acronym> address as its first parameter 
      is used to wait for a printer which supports the <acronym>SNMP</acronym> protocol to be in <literal>idle</literal> state.
      It exits as soon as the printer is <literal>idle</literal>, else loops forever.
    </para>
    
    <para>
      When defining an hardware <literal>accounter</literal> for a printer, it is important to wait for the printer being
      <literal>idle</literal> before asking it for its internal page counter, otherwise results could
      be inaccurate. If the printer is asked while the job is still being printed, then the page counter's
      value will be lower than expected with regard to the real job's size.
    </para>
    
    <para>
      <command>waitprinter.sh</command> can be used to be sure that <application>PyKota</application>
      waits until no job is being printed, and no paper sheet is travelling inside the printer. 
    </para>
    
    <tip>
      <title>Tip</title>
      <para>
        See the sample configuration file <filename>conf/pykota.conf.sample</filename> for examples.
      </para>
    </tip>  
  </sect1>
  
  <sect1>
    <title>papwaitprinter.sh</title>
    <para>
      This script which accepts a printer's AppleTalk name as its first parameter 
      is used to wait for a printer which supports the <acronym>AppleTalk</acronym> protocol to be in <literal>idle</literal> state.
      It exits as soon as the printer is <literal>idle</literal>, else loops forever.
    </para>
    
    <para>
      When defining an hardware <literal>accounter</literal> for a printer, it is important to wait for the printer being
      <literal>idle</literal> before asking it for its internal page counter, otherwise results could
      be inaccurate. If the printer is asked while the job is still being printed, then the page counter's
      value will be lower than expected with regard to the real job's size.
    </para>
    
    <para>
      <command>papwaitprinter.sh</command> can be used to be sure that <application>PyKota</application>
      waits until no job is being printed, and no paper sheet is travelling inside the printer. 
    </para>  
    
    <tip>
      <title>Tip</title>
      <para>
        See the sample configuration file <filename>conf/pykota.conf.sample</filename> for examples.
      </para>
    </tip>  
  </sect1>
  
  <sect1>
    <title>mailandpopup.sh</title>
    <para>
      This script can be used in the <literal>mailto</literal> directive of <filename>pykota.conf</filename>
      to both send an email and display a <application>Winpopup</application> message on the user's screen,
      whenever print quota is low or reached.
    </para>
    
    <para>
      For this script to work successfully, you may need to have a <application>Samba</application> 
      Primary Domain Controller. Some modifications may be needed in other configurations.
    </para>
    
    <tip>
      <title>Tip</title>
      <para>
        See the sample configuration file <filename>conf/pykota.conf.sample</filename> for examples.
      </para>
    </tip>  
  </sect1>
  
  <sect1>
    <title>pagecount.pl</title>
    <para>
      This <application>Perl</application> script can be used in the <literal>accounter</literal> directive of <filename>pykota.conf</filename>,
      to ask a printer for its internal page counter by sending a specially crafted <acronym>PJL</acronym> job
      to it over the AppSocket protocol, usually on <acronym>TCP</acronym> port 9100.
      It accepts the printer's hostname or <acronym>IP</acronym> address as its first parameter,
      and the optional <acronym>TCP</acronym> port as its second parameter (it defaults to 9100).
    </para>  
    
    <para>
      Most of the time you'll use this script in combination with a script which waits for the printer
      to be in <literal>idle</literal> state, in something like :
<screen>      
accounter: hardware(somewaitscript.sh && pagecount.pl %(printer)s)
</screen>
    </para>
    
    <tip>
      <title>Tip</title>
      <para>
        See the sample configuration file <filename>conf/pykota.conf.sample</filename> for examples.
      </para>
    </tip>  
  </sect1>
</chapter>