Samba Administration Guide - Examples for Filtering Chains

Here are a few examples of commonly occurring filtering chains to illustrate the workings of CUPS.

Assume you want to print a PDF file to an HP JetDirect-connected PostScript printer, but you want to print pages 3-5, 7, and 11-13 only, and you want to print them “two-up” and “duplex”:

Your print options (page selection as required, two-up, duplex) are passed to CUPS on the command line.
The (complete) PDF file is sent to CUPS and autotyped as application/pdf .
The file therefore must first pass the pdftops prefilter, which produces PostScript MIME type application/postscript (a preview here would still show all pages of the original PDF).
The file then passes the pstops filter that applies the command-line options: it selects pages 2-5, 7, and 11-13, creates the imposed layout “two pages on one sheet”, and inserts the correct “duplex” command (as defined in the printer's PPD) into the new PostScript file; the file is now of PostScript MIME type application/vnd.cups-postscript .
The file goes to the socket backend, which transfers the job to the printers.

Assume you want to print the same filter to an USB-connected Epson Stylus Photo Printer installed with the CUPS stphoto2.ppd. The first few filtering stages are nearly the same:

Your print options (page selection as required, two-up, duplex) are passed to CUPS on the command line.
The (complete) PDF file is sent to CUPS and autotyped as application/pdf .
The file must first pass the pdftops prefilter, which produces PostScript MIME type application/postscript (a preview here would still show all pages of the original PDF).
The file then passes the “pstops” filter that applies the command-line options: it selects the pages 2-5, 7, and 11-13, creates the imposed layout “two pages on one sheet,” and inserts the correct “duplex” command (oops this printer and PPD do not support duplex printing at all, so this option will be ignored) into the new PostScript file; the file is now of PostScript MIME type application/vnd.cups-postscript .
The file then passes the pstoraster stage and becomes MIME type application/cups-raster .
Finally, the rastertoepson filter does its work (as indicated in the printer's PPD), creating the printer-specific raster data and embedding any user-selected print options into the print data stream.
The file goes to the usb backend, which transfers the job to the printers.