Preface

The Common UNIX Printing System (CUPS) that is provided under the GNU General Public License (GPL) and GNU Library General Public License (LGPL), Version 2, allows you to print from applications such as the web browser. CUPS uses the Internet Printing Protocol (IPP) for managing print jobs, print queues, and it adds network printer browsing and PostScript Printer Description-based printing options. CUPS was first developed by Easy Software Products, but it is currently owned and maintained by Apple Inc.

CUPS converts the page descriptions produced by your application (put a paragraph here, draw a line there, and so forth) into something your printer can understand, and then sends the information to the printer for printing.

Now, since every printer manufacturer does things differently, printing can be very complicated. CUPS does its best to hide this from you and your application so that you can concentrate more on printing and less on how to print. Generally, the only time you need to know anything about your printer is when you use it for the first time, and even then, CUPS can often figure things out on its own.