## Introduction

The CUPS raster API provides a standard interface for reading and writing CUPS raster streams which are used for printing to raster printers. Because the raster format is updated from time to time, it is important to use this API to avoid incompatibilities with newer versions of CUPS.

## General Usage

The <cups/raster.h> header file must be included to use the `cupsRaster` functions.

Programs using these functions must be linked to the CUPS imaging library: libcupsimage.a, libcupsimage.so.2, libcupsimage.2.dylib, libcupsimage_s.a, or libcupsimage2.lib depending on the platform. The following command compiles myprogram.c using GCC and the CUPS imaging library:

    gcc -o myprogram myprogram.c -lcupsimage

## Compatibility

Unless otherwise specified, the raster API functions require CUPS 1.1 or higher.

## Licensing

The CUPS raster API is provided under the terms of the GNU General Public License, with exceptions for MacOS X-based programs. Please see the CUPS license agreement for more information.