cups-config(1)

cups-config1

Get cups api, compiler, directory, and link information (deprecated).

Usage

cups-config --api-version

cups-config --build

cups-config --cflags

cups-config --datadir

cups-config --help

cups-config --ldflags

cups-config [--image] [--static] --libs

cups-config --serverbin

cups-config --serverroot

cups-config --version

Overview

The cups-config command allows application developers to determine the necessary command-line options for the compiler and linker, as well as the installation directories for filters, configuration files, and drivers. All values are reported to the standard output. Note: This command is deprecated and will be removed in a future version of CUPS. The pkg-config(1) command should be used instead.

Options

The cups-config command accepts the following command-line options:

--api-version

Reports the current API version (major.minor).

--build

Reports a system-specific build number.

--cflags

Reports the necessary compiler options.

--datadir

Reports the default CUPS data directory.

--help

Reports the program usage message.

--ldflags

Reports the necessary linker options.

--libs

Reports the necessary libraries to link to.

--serverbin

Reports the default CUPS binary directory, where filters and backends are stored.

--serverroot

Reports the default CUPS configuration file directory.

--static

When used with --libs, reports the static libraries instead of the default (shared) libraries.

--version

Reports the full version number of the CUPS installation (major.minor.patch).

Examples

Show the currently installed version of CUPS:

    cups-config --version

Compile a simple one-file CUPS filter:

    cc `cups-config --cflags --ldflags` -o filter filter.c \
        `cups-config --libs`

Options

The following options are deprecated but continue to work for backwards compatibility:

--image

Formerly used to add the CUPS imaging library to the list of libraries.

Releases

12 releases since Debian 3.1 (Sarge); the text changed 10 times.

  1. 3.1
  2. 4.0
  3. 5.0
  4. 6.0
  5. 7
  6. 8
  7. 9
  8. 10
  9. 11
  10. 12
  11. 13–Arch

--api-version since Debian 4.0 (Etch); --build since Debian 6.0 (Squeeze); --cflags since Debian 4.0 (Etch); --datadir since Debian 4.0 (Etch); --help since Debian 4.0 (Etch); --image since Debian 4.0 (Etch); --ldflags since Debian 4.0 (Etch); --libs since Debian 4.0 (Etch); --serverbin since Debian 4.0 (Etch); --serverroot since Debian 4.0 (Etch); --static since Debian 4.0 (Etch); --version since Debian 4.0 (Etch).

From cups 2:2.4.20-1 in Arch Linux 2026-11-01. Parsed by carta from the page's man source.