The enable command activates printers, enabling them to print requests submitted by the lp command. enable must be run on the printer server.
The disable command deactivates printers, disabling them from printing requests submitted by the lp command. By default, any requests that are currently printing on printer are reprinted in their entirety either on printer or another member of the same class of printers. The disable command must be run on the print server.
Use lpstat-p to check the status of printers.
Generally, enable and disable are run on the print server to control local print queues. Under some configurations, they can also be run on client systems when IPP is being used to communicate between client and server.
OPTIONS
The following options are supported for use with disable:
-c
Cancels any requests that are currently printing on printer. This option cannot be used with the -W option. If the printer is remote, the -c option is silently ignored.
-W
Waits until the request currently being printed is finished before disabling printer. This option cannot be used with the -c option. If the printer is remote, the -W option is silently
ignored.
-r [reason]
Assigns a reason for the disabling of the printer(s). This reason applies to all printers specified. This reason is reported
by lpstat-p. Enclose reason in quotes if it contains blanks. The default reason is unknown reason for the existing printer, and "new printer" for a printer added to the system but not yet enabled.
OPERANDS
The following operand is supported for both enable and disable:
printer
The name of the printer to be enabled or disabled. Specify printer using atomic or URI-style (scheme://endpoint) names.
See printers.conf(4) regarding the naming conventions for destinations.
EXIT STATUS
The following exit values are returned:
0
Successful completion.
non-zero
An error occurred.
FILES
/etc/printers.conf
System printer configuration database
$HOME/.printers
User-configurable printer database
ou=printers
LDAP version of /etc/printers.conf
printers.conf.byname
NIS version of /etc/printers.conf
printers.org_dir
NIS+ version of /etc/printers.conf
ATTRIBUTES
See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attributes: