rlprrc(5)

🎀 rlprrc — bestie edition 💅

ok so you found the rlprrc(5) page, welcome to the group chat. this is the remote printing resource file, and honestly? it's giving "quiet little config that runs the whole vibe". let's get into it. ✨

---

✨ NAME ✨

rlprrc — the remote printing resource file 🫶

---

🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

okay so listen. the rlprrc config file gets consulted by the remote printing commands — that's rlpr(1), rlpq(1), and rlprm(1) — whenever they need to resolve a printqueue or a hostname. it's basically the matchmaker of the printing world fr fr. it can do either direction:

• look up a printqueue (aka a printer) when you already know the host 🖨️
• look up a host when you already know the printqueue 🌐

but here's the thing, bestie: if both the printer and the printhost are already known, this file is never consulted. not even a little. it doesn't get a text back. 💀

so how does it find stuff? here's the order of operations:

1. first, the remote printing commands go looking for the file .rlprrc in the user's home directory 🏠
2. if that file can't be found, or it doesn't provide the info needed to resolve the query, then the system-wide /etc/rlprrc gets consulted (if it's present) 🌍
3. if resolution is still unsuccessful — the command fails. no printer for you. 😭

🦋 the format, bestie 🦋

there's one entry per line, and every line looks like this:

hostname: printer1 printer2 ... printerN

which means: host hostname has printers printer1 printer2 ... printerN available. iconic.

now for the ✨rules of engagement✨:

• if the remote printing command knows the host to print to but has no clue which printer to use on that host — the first one wins (printer1 in the example above). first come first served, no cap. 👑
• if the remote printing command knows the printqueue (printer) to print to but doesn't know which host has that queue — the last host which has the specified printqueue is used. yes, last. not first. i said what i said.

if that "last host wins" behavior is not acceptable to you, you can force a certain host to always be used for a certain printqueue by putting a ! right after the printqueue name. periodt. 💅

🍓 example time 🍓

say your .rlprrc file contains:

foo.baz.org: litho laserjet4!
foo.bar.org: laserjet4 lineprinter

then the printqueue laserjet4 will always resolve to foo.baz.org — no matter what other hosts have a printqueue named laserjet4. the ! said "this one's mine" and the file said "say less". 💖

🧚 a lil reminder 🧚

the rlprrc file is only consulted in situations where a printqueue or hostname needs to be resolved. it's provided only for convenience and is not required. so if you don't have one? you're fine. you're valid. go print something. 🌈

---

💜 SEE ALSO 💜

rlpr(1), rlpq(1), rlprm(1), rlprd(8) — the whole friend group, go say hi 🫶

---

⭐ AUTHOR ⭐

meem <meem@gnu.org> — the icon who wrote this 🎀

---

and that's the whole page, bestie! this was rlpr 2.04, dated 1999/10/28, living its little rlprrc(5) life in the UNIX Reference Manual. a retro queen. slay. 💖✨🦋🌸💅