---
name: "printbill_printer"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "printbill"
version: "4.1.2-1"
release: "Debian 3.1 (Sarge)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/printbill_printer"
---

# printbill\_printer(1)

fair printing billing and accounting system.

## NAME

printbill\_printer - fair printing billing and accounting system.

## SYNOPSIS

**printbill\_printer**

## DESCRIPTION

**printbill\_printer** is a very simple print filter which only accepts jobs from the user nominated in the printbilld\_user variable declared in **[printbillrc(5)](/printbillrc/5.md).** It is used in the second-level print queue - this queue should only ever be used by the printbilld\_user (see [printbillrc(5)](/printbillrc/5.md)) and printed to from **[printbilld(1)](/printbilld/1.md).**

## REQUIREMENTS

**printbill\_printer** **printquote requires everything that the** **printbill package requires, including a working** **percentblack/percentcolour and GhostScript.**

## INSTALLATION

Please see the accompanying README file for detailed installation instructions. Chances are if you're reading this it's correctly installed. Note that the program and the accompanying utilities are written in Perl and so may be customised by the user very easily.

## AUTHORS

**printbill\_printer** and the accompanying utilities were written by Daniel Franklin (d.franklin@ieee.org). The web interface was written by Phil Ciufo (phil@snrc.uow.edu.au).

## AVAILABILITY

You can always grab the latest and greatest version from **http://ieee.uow.edu.au/~daniel/software/printbill**

## FILES

- **/etc/printbill/printbillrc**

  This is fairly complex, and is now documented on its own manual page (see **[printbillrc(5)](/printbillrc/5.md)** ).

- **/etc/printbill/mail\_message**

  This contains the message mailed to anybody who has a print job rejected. The default message just informs the user why their job may have been rejected, and suggests some possible remedies.

- **/var/lib/printbill/users/\*.db**

  Current user quotas.

- **/var/lib/printbill/misc.db**

  Global page count, money paid and money spent are stored here.

- **/var/lib/printbill/printers/\*.db**

  Printer databases - contain toner/ink usage and total pages printed.

- **/etc/printcap**

  You need to have a printcap entry which looks similar to this:

  ```
  lp|My Printer
  	:achk=true
  	:as=|/usr/local/sbin/printbill_printer
         ... the rest of your printcap entry, including any output filters
  ```

  You may add an additional print-filter, in case you don't have a PostScript printer. Obviously, if the scripts are located somewhere else, adjust your printcap and config files accordingly.

## SEE ALSO

*[printbill(1)](/printbill/1.md),* *[printbill(8)](/printbill/8.md),* *[printbilld(1)](/printbilld/1.md),* *[printbill\_configure(8)](/printbill_configure/8.md),* *[printbill\_grapher(1)](/printbill_grapher/1.md),* *[percentblack(1)](/percentblack/1.md),* *[percentcolour(1)](/percentcolour/1.md),* *[percent\_cmy(1)](/percent_cmy/1.md),* *[pqcheck(1)](/pqcheck/1.md),* *[printquote(1)](/printquote/1.md),* *[printbillrc(5)](/printbillrc/5.md),* *[printcap(5)](/printcap/5.md),* *[init\_from\_passwd(8)](/init_from_passwd/8.md),* *[pqm(8)](/pqm/8.md).*