Table of Contents
User and Developer Documentation for cups-filters - OpenPrinting
About our organization
Openprinting is all about making printing “just work” with Linux and other POSIX-style operating systems. We maintain practically all free software projects for printing: CUPS, cups-filters, PostScript Printer Application, ipp-usb, Foomatic, … We implement standards like IPP, DNS-SD discovery, driverless printing, … and with IPP Scan and multi-function printers we have also expanded to focus on scanning. We also work closely together with printer manufacturers, the Printer Working Group PWG, printing maintainers of operating system distributions, we organize annual meetings together with the PWG, and we build a developer community with the help of the Google Summer of Code, Google Season of Docs, and the Linux Foundation Mentorship Program.
About our project
We need to create the detailed documentation on usage details of all the library functions, CUPS filters, backends, and utilities in the cups-filters project and how to build them. This should especially help developers for printer drivers, Printer and Scanner Applications, and other printing-related software.
Especially changes and new features of cups-filters 2.x (filter functions, libppd, …) should be taken into account.
Current documentation is put together from all the different sources from where the filters and other components came originally, before the cups-filters project got started. Some documentation is in the README file other in man pages, … This should be replaced by a structured documentation covering all at one place, to make using cups-filters easy.
The writer should both put the existing documentation together and improve it and alsogo through the API functions's C code, perhaps use auto-documentation tools (add comments to each API functiomn's code and generate documentation, as GNOME for example does), and also give instructions for common tasks. It should be easy to update the documentation for feature additions in the future.
Our project’s scope
This is about creating user and developer documentation for the cups-filters 2.x project
Work that is out-of-scope for this project
The documentation project is only about the cups-filters project, version 2.x, not any other OpenPrinting projects, like CUPS or PAPPL.
Measuring your project’s success
It will be required by the tech writer to document in detail about all the CUPS Filters, backends, filter functions, library functions with detailed examples of how to use them, also about how to build cups-filters and build options
Project budget
| Budget Item | Amount | Running Total | Justification |
|---|---|---|---|
| Technical writer audit, update, test, and publish new documentation for CUPS Filters | $4500 | $4500 | Grant for the Technical Writer |
| Volunteer Stipends (3 Volunteers) | $1500 | $6000 | 3 volunteer stipends x $500 each |
| Project t-shirts (10 t-shirts) | $150 | $6150 | Will give T-Shirts to the participants and the community members as a token of appreciation for their contribution during the course of this project. |
| Stickers | $50 | $6200 | Give away swags |
| Printer and Cartridges | $100 | $6300 | A printer needs to be provided to the techwriter to document the examples on how to use CUPS-Filters related to printing in Linux |
Previous experience
We have already participated in the Google Season of Docs 2020 and mentored Piyush Goyal to create documentation on designing and packaging printer (and scanner) drivers as Printer Application Snaps. His work makes part of the OpenPrinting web site. As an assignment for our selection process candidates for GSoD he also did some work on cups-filters.
