PrinterGenerator

This script will generate a "nopkg" style pkginfo file for Munki to install a printer.

See Managing Printers with Munki for more details.

This is a fork of nmcspadden/PrinterGenerator, initiated by jutonium.

Enhancements

This updated version implements some cool new things:

• Support for macOS 10.14, 10.15, 11, 12, 13 and 14
• Usage of the Munki-included Python3
• Enhances usage of Microsoft Excel to edit the CSV file: for regions which use the comma as the decimal separator, Microsoft Excel expects a semicolon as separator in CSV files. The script will distinguish between both variants.
• The order of the csv columns do not have to be preserved, but keep the names of the 1st row.
• Sanity checks for the csv fields
• Option to setup printers using AirPrint provided PPDs, using airprint-ppd
• Option to define a path to Munki repo and an optional subdirectory
• Option to define a separate name for the Munki pkginfo item
• Option to define a Munki category
• This script should preserve backward compatibility!

Caveats

It might show an error on systems not using English or German on the command line but still successfully install all printers.

Usage

The script can either take arguments on the command line, or a CSV file containing a list of printers with all the necessary information.

The script will generate a pkginfo file. This pkginfo file is a "nopkg" style, and thus has three separate scripts:

• installcheck_script
• preinstall_script
• postinstall_script
• uninstall_script

The installcheck_script looks for an existing print queue named PRINTERNAME. If it does not find one, it will exit 0 and trigger an installation request. If it does find one, it will compare all of the options provided (DRIVER, ADDRESS, DISPLAYNAME, LOCATION, and OPTIONS) for differences. If there are any differences, it will trigger an installation request.

The preinstall_script is used to retrieve the PPD for the printer on the fly, in case the given printer should be setup using AirPrint. In all other cases, this script will be completely removed.

The postinstall_script will attempt to delete the existing print queue named PRINTERNAME first, and then will reinstall the queue with the specified options.
Note that it does not check to see if the printer queue is in use at the time, so it is possible that existing print jobs will be cancelled if a user is printing when a Munki reinstall occurs.

The uninstall_script will delete the printer queue named PRINTERNAME if uninstallation is triggered.

Using a CSV file:

A template CSV file is provided to make it easy to generate multiple pkginfos in one run. Pass the path to the csv file with --csv:

./print_generator.py --csv /path/to/printers.csv

Note: if a CSV file is provided, all other command line arguments – besides the optional --repo – are ignored.

The CSV file's columns should be pretty self-explanatory:

• Printer name: Name of the print queue
• Location: The "location" of the printer as displayed in System Preferences
• Display name: The visual name that shows up in the Printers & Scanners pane of the System Preferences, and in the print dialogue boxes. Also used in the Munki pkginfo.
• Address: The IP or DNS address of the printer. If no protocol is specified, we expect lpd://
• Driver: Name of the driver file in /Library/Printers/PPDs/Contents/Resources/, an absolute path to a ppd file or airprint-ppd for generic AirPrint printers (requires airprint-ppd)
• Description: Used only in the Munki pkginfo.
• Options: Any printer options that should be specified. These must be space-delimited key=value pairs, such as "HPOptionDuplexer=True OutputMode=normal". Do not use commas to separate the options.
• Version: Used only in the Munki pkginfo, defaults to 1.0
• Requires: Required packages for Munki pkginfo. These must be space-delimited, such as "CanonDriver1 CanonDriver2". Be sure to add a reference to airprint-ppd to setup your printer via AirPrint.
• Icon: Optionally specify an existing icon in the Munki repo to display for the printer in Managed Software Center.
• Catalogs: Space separated list of Munki catalogs in which this pkginfo should be listed
• Category: Populates the Munki category, defaults to Printers
• Subdirectory: Subdirectory inside Munki's pkgsinfo directory, only used if --repo is defined.
• Munki Name: A specific name for this pkgsinfo item. This defaults to AddPrinter_Printer Name

Command-line options

A full description of usage is available with:

./print_generator.py -h
usage: print_generator.py [-h] [--printername PRINTERNAME] [--driver DRIVER] [--address ADDRESS] [--location LOCATION] [--displayname DISPLAYNAME] [--desc DESC] [--requires REQUIRES] [--options [OPTIONS ...]] [--version VERSION] [--icon ICON] [--catalogs CATALOGS] [--category CATEGORY] [--munkiname MUNKINAME] [--repo REPO] [--subdirectory SUBDIRECTORY] [--csv CSV]

Generate a Munki nopkg-style pkginfo for printer installation.

optional arguments:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  --printername PRINTERNAME
                        Name of printer queue. May not contain spaces, tabs, # or /. Required.
  --driver DRIVER       Either the name of driver file in /Library/Printers/PPDs/Contents/Resources/ (relative or full path) or \'airprint-ppd\' for
                        AirPrint printers. Required.
  --address ADDRESS     IP or DNS address of printer. If no protocol is specified, defaults to lpd://. Required.
  --location LOCATION   Location name for printer. Optional. Defaults to printername.
  --displayname DISPLAYNAME
                        Display name for printer (and Munki pkginfo). Optional. Defaults to printername.
  --desc DESC           Description for Munki pkginfo only. Optional.
  --requires REQUIRES   Required packages in form of space-delimited 'CanonDriver1 CanonDriver2'. Be sure to add a reference to airprint-ppd
                        to setup your printer via AirPrint.Optional.
  --options [OPTIONS ...]
                        Printer options in form of space-delimited 'Option1=Key Option2=Key Option3=Key', etc. Optional.
  --version VERSION     Version number of Munki pkginfo. Optional. Defaults to 1.0.
  --icon ICON           Specifies an existing icon in the Munki repo to display for the printer in Managed Software Center. Optional.
  --catalogs CATALOGS   Space delimited list of Munki catalogs. Defaults to 'testing'. Optional.
  --category CATEGORY   Category for Munki pkginfo only. Optional. Defaults to 'Printers'.
  --munkiname MUNKINAME
                        Name of Munki item. Defaults to printername. Optional.
  --subdirectory SUBDIRECTORY
                        Subdirectory of Munki's pkgsinfo directory. Optional.
  --repo REPO           Path to Munki repo. If specified, we will try to write directly to its containing pkgsinfo directory. If not defined, we will write to current working directory. Optional.
  --csv CSV             Path to CSV file containing printer info. If CSV is provided, all other options besides '--repo' are ignored.

As in the above CSV section, the arguments are all the same:

• --printername: Name of the print queue. May not contain spaces, tabs, "#" or "/" characters. Required.
• --driver: Either the name of driver file in /Library/Printers/PPDs/Contents/Resources/ (relative or full path) or 'airprint-ppd' for AirPrint printers. Required.
• --address: The IP or DNS address of the printer. If no protocol is specified, lpd://ADDRESS will be used. Required.
• --location: The "location" of the printer. If not provided, this will default to the value of --printername.
• --displayname: The visual name that shows up in the Printers & Scanners pane of the System Preferences, and in the print dialogue boxes. Also used in the Munki pkginfo. If not provided, this will default to the value of --printername.
• --desc: Used only in the Munki pkginfo. If not provided, will default to an empty string ("").
• --requires: Add required packages in the Munki pkginfo. If not provided, no packages will be required.
• --options: Any number of printer options that should be specified. These should be space-delimited key=value pairs, such as "HPOptionDuplexer=True OutputMode=normal".
• --version: The version number of the Munki pkginfo. Defaults to "1.0".
• --icon: Used only in the Munki pkginfo. If not provided, will default to an empty string ("").
• --catalogs: Space delimited list of Munki catalogs. Defaults to 'testing'. Optional.
• --category: Name of the Munki category. Defaults to 'Printers'. Optional.
• --munkiname: Name of Munki item. Defaults to printername. Optional.
• --subdirectory: Subdirectory of Munki's pkgsinfo directory. Optional.
• --repo: Path to Munki repo. If specified, we will try to write directly to its containing pkgsinfo directory. If not defined, we will write to current working directory. Optional.

Figuring out required PPD

When having defined the printer in macOS, look for the name of the printer driver and note the model part of it, like "C5030". To find the path to the PPD file, enter lpinfo -m | grep -i "C5030"in terminal and inspect the file names.

Figuring out options

Printer options can be determined by using lpoptions on an existing printer queue:
/usr/bin/lpoptions -p YourPrinterQueueName -l

Here's a snip of output:

OutputMode/Quality: high-speed-draft fast-normal *normal best highest
HPColorMode/Color: *colorsmart colorsync grayscale
ColorModel/Color Model: *RGB RGBW
HPPaperSource/Source: *Tray1
Resolution/Resolution: *300x300dpi 600x600dpi 1200x1200dpi

Options typically have the actual PPD option name on the left side of the /, and a display name (which is likely to show up in the printer settings dialogue boxes) on the right of the /. The possible values for the printer are listed after the colon. The current option is marked with an "*".

Despite lpoptions using a "Name/Nice Name: Value *Value Value" format, the option must be specified more strictly:
"HPColorMode=grayscale"

This is the format you must use when passing options to --options, or specifying them in the CSV file.

Note that /usr/bin/lpoptions -l without specifying a printer will list options for the default printer.