.TH SPOOL 4
.SH NAME
spool, view, print \- file spooler viewer and printer
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B spool
[
.B \-abcdr
]
[
.B -m
.I mnt
]
.I module
[
.I moduleargs
]
.B ...
.PP
.B view
.PP
.B print
[
.I printername
]
.SH DESCRIPTION
.I Spool
serves
a flat directory that can be used to operate on files by copying them into it.
What is done to files copied into this directory depends on the
.I module
given as an argument. For example, using
.I view
as a module provides a file viewer and using
.I print
provides a printer spooler. Any module implementing
.IR spooler (2)
can be used.
Spooled files are copied into local storage and kept in the directory served. They are handed
to
.I module
for processing. Removing them stops processing them, if the
.I module
supports that.
.PP
A file
.B ctl
is provided to retrieve status for the spooler. For example, when using
.I print
it reports the printer status.
.PP
.I View
uses
.IR cmd (3)
to run a viewer in the host to view the file. For example, the file is plumbed on
Plan 9 systems and given to
.CW open
on MacOSX systems.
Different file formats can be viewed by copying
them into the directory served.
Usually, PDF, PostScript, GIF, JPEG, and other various formats are understood,
but this depends on the host system used.
.PP
If the file name terminates in
.B .url
.I view
reads its contents, a URL, and displays the URL in a web browser.
.PP
.I Print
spools files to an underling printer spooler. The printer name, given as
an argument, is
.B default
by default. Removing the file attempts to cancel the print job.
.PP
By default,
.I spool
speaks Styx using the standard input, for use with
.IR mount (1).
Flag
.B -m
can be used to ask
.I spool
to mount itself at
.IR mnt .
Options
.B -abc
determine the mount flag, as in
.IR bind (1).
Flag
.B -d
is used to debug the program, and makes it very verbose.
.PP
If flag
.B -r
is given, any attempt to read a file copied into the spool would launch again
the module used to spool the file. This is appropriate, for example, when viewing files.
.SH SOURCE
.B /usr/octopus/port/spool.b
.br
.B /usr/octopus/port/lib/view.b
.br
.B /usr/octopus/MacOSX/print.b
.br
.B /usr/octopus/Plan9/print.b
.SH SEE ALSO
.IR spooler (2)
.SH BUGS
May not work on some platforms. Also, the files are kept hanging around for
too long, because we do not know when the module (e.g., the host file viewer) would cease using
them.