[CentOS] openoffice & command line printing

Sat Feb 19 04:54:39 UTC 2011
Gregory P. Ennis <PoMec at PoMec.Net>

On Fri, Feb 18, 2011, Gregory P. Ennis wrote:
>
>On 18/02/2011, at 2:29 PM, Gregory P. Ennis wrote:
>
>> Everyone,
>> 
>> I am trying to print some *.doc files from the command line with
>> openoffice on centos 5.5 with using cups as the print server.
>> 
>> I can open the file from the command line with open office and then
>> print it manually from the gui, but when I open the file and print from
>> command line I am not getting anything.
>> 
>> The commands that I have used are the following :
>> 
>> /usr/bin/openoffice.org -pt lpt4 /mnt/lp/document.doc
>> -terminate_after_init
>
>This works for me on LibreOffice on my Mac (also uses Cups)
>
>LibreOffice 3.3  330m12(Build:1)
>
>/path/to/soffice -headless -pt PRINTER_NAME doco.doc
>
>Note though that if you wanted to do this outside of X11, it might fail...

I tried this using NeoOffice on my Macbook Pro which doesn't use
X11, but I expect that it would fail on Linux without X11 as it
presents the normal print dialog box to select the printer even
though it's set on the command line.

Answering the question below, I ran this in background,
terminating the command with "&", which left NeoOffice running,
but gave me the command line back so I could continue.  This is
not entirely a Bad Thing(tm) as it avoids the startup time when
printing multiple documents.

On the other hand, having NeoOffice present the print dialog box
for every file is less than optimal, but it looks like that's a
NeoOffice thing.

I tried the same command with the path to the most recent
OpenOffice.org soffice which didn't present the dialog box, and
terminated after the print job was complete.

Trying this on a CentOS 5 box here it works fine running the job
in background where it is ready to run subsequent print jobs.
This does not present the print dialog box either.  I ran this
test in an xterm via ssh with X11 forwarding from my Macbook Pro.

Another test using 'xterm -e ssh -x' to disable X11 forwarding
failed on startup saying it can't open DISPLAY. Running the
command with 'ssh -Y user at system /path/to/soffice ...'' did work
nicely, and did not leave soffice running on completion.

>--------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>Cameron,
>
>Thanks for your suggestion!!!!
>
>On my system that command results in printing the document on the
>desired printer, but does not return back to the shell prompt.  If I add
>-terminate_after_init  so that the command line is :
>
>openoffice.org -headless -pt lpt3 document.doc -terminate_after_init
>
>The above command returns back to the prompt but the document is not
>printed.
>
>Any other ideas would be appreciated!!!
>
>Greg
>
>_______________________________________________

-- 
Bill
------------------------------------------------------------

Bill,

Thanks for taking the time to confirm my findings and giving me that
link .... lots of good information.  I had hoped this was a simple
problem and my syntax was faulty, but am in agreement with you about
taking this to oo forums.  I did make some progress with the use of
macros from the command line to print a file, but X11 is required, and
so far I have not been able to have it function from a background
script.

Thanks again Bill,

Greg