When the printer configuration is saved using the
Printer Configuration Tool, the application creates its own
configuration file that is used to create the files in the
/etc/cups/ directory. You can use the command line
options to save or restore the Printer Configuration Tool
file. If the /etc/cups/ directory is saved and restored
to the same locations, the printer configuration is not restored because
each time the printer daemon is restarted, it creates a new
/etc/printcap file from the
Printer Configuration Tool configuration file. When creating
a backup of the system's configuration files, use the following method to
save the printer configuration files.
To save your printer configuration, type this command as root:
/usr/sbin/system-config-printer-tui --Xexport > settings.xml |
Your configuration is saved to the file
settings.xml.
If this file is saved, it can be used to restore the printer settings. This
is useful if the printer configuration is deleted, if Red Hat Enterprise Linux is reinstalled,
or if the same printer configuration is needed on multiple systems. The file
should be saved on a different system before reinstalling. To restore the
configuration, type this command as root:
/usr/sbin/system-config-printer-tui --Ximport < settings.xml |
If you already have a configuration file (you have configured one or
more printers on the system already) and you try to import another
configuration file, the existing configuration file is
overwritten. If you want to keep your existing configuration and add the
configuration in the saved file, you can merge the files with the
following command (as root):
/usr/sbin/system-config-printer-tui --Ximport --merge < settings.xml |
Your printer list then consists of the printers you configured on
the system as well as the printers you imported from the saved
configuration file. If the imported configuration file has a print queue
with the same name as an existing print queue on the system, the print
queue from the imported file will override the existing printer.
After importing the configuration file (with or without the
merge command), you must restart the printer
daemon. Issue the following command as root:
/sbin/service cups restart |
