rlprm(1)

📦 version 2.06, in debian bookworm, debian trixie, ubuntu jammy, ubuntu noble, ubuntu questing, ubuntu resolute, ubuntu stonking

🌸 NAME 🌸

rlprm — remove jobs from a remote line printer spooling queue 🖨️✨💅

okay bestie, if you've ever hit "print" on a remote printer and then immediately regretted every life choice that led you there, this is the page for you 🫶

🌈 SYNOPSIS 🌈

rlprm [-qNV] [-Hprinthost] [-Pprinter] [-Xproxyhost] [--debug]
[--timeout=seconds] [--port=port] [-] [ job # ... ] [ username ... ]

✨ DESCRIPTION ✨

rlprm uses TCP/IP to remove jobs you own from printers anywhere on a network 🌐. Like, anywhere. No cap.

Unlike lprm, it does not require that the remote printers be explicitly known to the local system (traditionally through /etc/printcap), and thus is considerably more flexible and requires less administration. it's giving "no setup, just vibes" and honestly? we love that for you 💖

rlprm can be used anywhere a traditional lprm might be used, and is backwards compatible with traditional BSD lprm 🔥. If rlprm is invoked as lprm, it preserves all known lprm semantics, with the exceptions of those semantics mentioned in BUGS / LIMITATIONS below 👀 (yes queen, read the fine print).

rlprm can be set up, installed, and used in the same two ways as rlpr(1) — that is, either with or without the rlprd(8) proxy daemon 🧚. Please see rlpr(1) for details, and to see whether you will need to use the rlprd(8) proxy daemon or not. go check, bestie, it's important 🫶

💅 OPTIONS 💅

🎀 Environment/Setup 🎀

  • --debug — Print gobs of debugging information 🐛. like, gobs. absolutely unhinged amounts of text. it's giving detective mode 🔍
  • -N, --no-bind — Don't try to bind to a privileged port before connecting to lpd 🙅‍♀️. Please see the CONFIGURING A PROXY section in rlpr(1) for information on use of this option.
  • --port=number — Select an alternate port (instead of 7290) to connect to, if using rlprd 🌟. Usually not needed. fr fr, you probably don't need this one.
  • -H, --printhost=host — Select the host to print to (used with -P) 📮.

Instead of using -H, one can specify the hostname directly by including it with the printer name with the printer@hostname syntax ✨. two ways to do the same thing, pick your fighter 💅

  • -P, --printer=printername, --queue=printername — Select the printer to print to (used with -H) 🖨️.
  • -X, --proxy=proxyhost, --proxyhost=proxyhost — Select the proxy host to use, if necessary 🌉.
  • --timeout=seconds — Set the inactivity timer ⏱️. If the connection hangs for more than seconds seconds, then rlprm will give up. Use the special value -1 to wait forever 💀. Default timeout is 3 seconds. three!! she is impatient and honestly same.
  • -V, --version — Print version and exit 👑. short, sweet, iconic.

🦋 Behavior 🦋

  • - — Remove all of your jobs 🧹. Note that this option must be specified immediately following the end of all other options ⚠️. This option is a mutant supported only for compatibility 🙈. Instead of using this, include your username as the first argument to rlprm.
  • -q, --quiet, --silent — Quiet mode — stay quiet (except for fatal errors) 🤫. See BUGS / LIMITATIONS for problems using rlprm in silent-mode operation 👀 (spoiler: she cannot tell you if it worked, and that's a whole thing).

🌱 ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES 🌱

The following environment variables are used by rlprm:

  • RLPR_PRINTHOST — Specifies the default host's queue to remove jobs from 🏠.
  • PRINTER or LPDEST — Specifies the default printer to remove jobs from on the host 🖨️. First PRINTER is consulted, then LPDEST. order matters, bestie, it's a whole hierarchy 💅

Note that one can also specify the host to examine by setting printer to be printer@hostname 🌟. This may be more convenient than setting RLPR_PRINTHOST, but will confuse the traditional BSD print commands 😭.

  • RLPR_PROXYHOST — Specifies a proxy host to use, if necessary 🌉.

📁 FILES 📁

  • ~/.rlprrc — Personal printer/host database 💖
  • /etc/hosts.lpd — Host-based security on printhost 🔒
  • /etc/hosts.equiv — Host-based security on printhost 🔒
  • /etc/passwd — Personal identification 🪪
  • /etc/rlprrc — System-wide printer/host database 🌍

👀 SEE ALSO 👀

rlpr(1), rlpq(1), rlprd(8), rlprrc(5) — the whole friend group 🫶 go read them, they're all slaying.

🎀 AUTHOR 🎀

meem <meem@gnu.org> — the icon, the legend, the one who wrote the manual page 💖👑

💀 BUGS / LIMITATIONS 💀

  • Due to limitations in the current lpd protocol, it is not currently possible to tell whether or not the job removal succeeded when operating in silent mode 😭. like she did something, but did she? nobody knows.
  • Due to limitations in the current lpd protocol, it is not currently possible to emulate the superuser semantics for the - option 💀. Instead, only root's jobs are removed.
  • Due to general niavete in the lpd protocol, rlprm(1) provides a lot of room for misbehavior 😬; it is trivial to imagine how it can be used to remove jobs that do not belong to you. Unfortunately, any security added at this point is just sugar-coating 🍬 — the underlying protocol is flawed.
⚠️ real talk bestie: this is a genuine security caveat from the original page, not me being dramatic. the protocol itself is the problem. keep that in mind.

and that's the whole page!! this was rlpr version 2.04, dated 1999/10/28 🎀✨ — yeah, she's vintage, she's a classic, and she still works. periodt 💅💖🦋

📦 where this page comes from