Easy Software Products has announced that Apple has licensed its Common UNIX Printing System (CUPS) for use with the Mac. The standard CUPS distribution will be provided with Apple’s open-source Darwin release, while an enhanced, Aqua-compliant version of CUPS will be provided with Mac OS X.
CUPS itself is a portable printing layer for UNIX operating systems. Easy Software Products developed CUPS “to promote a standard printing solution for all UNIX/Linux vendors and users.” It uses the Internet Printing Protocol (IPP) as the basis for managing print jobs and queues, with functionality for network printer browsing and PostScript Printer Description (PPD)-based printing, as well.
The company noted that CUPS “will provide enhanced printing capabilities to Mac OS X and other Apple software as well as improved UNIX/Linux and Windows interoperability.”