Command-line options for Scalable RIP

This page applies to Harlequin v13.1r0 and later; and to Harlequin Core but not Harlequin MultiRIP

clrip.exe supports the following command-line options:

Option	Description
-nrips X	Inform HHR to act as a Scalable RIP and launch X farm RIP instances. The number of farm RIP instances which can be launched is currently limited to 64 although it is unlikely you would ever want to run this many RIPs on currently available hardware. NOTE: When using Scalable RIP, you MUST add a -m argument to set the total amount of RAM that the RIPs will use, as described in the -m option in the next table.
`-rfcd <Directory>`	Override the default Scalable RIP config directory. Inform the farm RIP where it can find the Scalable RIP config directory. The default directory is `SW/RIPFarmConfig` . The Scalable RIP config file `ripfarm_config.json` will only be used if launched directly. If the Scalable RIP is launched using the libripfarm integration DLL, the configuration loaded by the integration DLL will be passed to the Scalable RIP.
`-rfin`	Register the Scalable RIP message interface as a persistent input source. This allows Scalable RIP integrations using the libripfarm integration library with a DFE to keep running while waiting for job submission from the library, without having to use a hotfolder to keep the RIP running.

Some command-line options behave slightly differently when in Scalable RIP mode.:

Option

Description

-m

Memory to be used amongst all the farm RIP instances.

For example, the use of -nrips 4 -m 3000 would split 3000 MB amongst four farm RIPs, giving 750 MiB to each.

-f <filename-format>

The %p filename option reflects the page number as seen by the Scalable RIP and not the individual farm RIP that processed it. The farm RIPs convert %p to pageNumber + pageOffset from the rasterDescription , where the pageOffset is updated by the Scalable RIP for every chunk.

The <filename-format> should include the %p option for the output file to avoid file name conflicts when raster files are written. Example: -f C:\RASTEROUTPUT\%j-%p.tif". If separated output is also requested, %s should also be used in the filename format. Example: -f "C:\RASTEROUTPUT\%j-%p-%s.tif"

Some command-line options get passed along when launching farm RIP instances. Mainly:

Option	Description
-p	Number of threads each farm RIP instance should use.
-D	Drive types to mount.
-X	Log file in SW folder.
-n	Suppress progress.
-f <filename-format>	Filename format. The <filename-format> should include the %p option for the output file to avoid file name conflicts when raster files are written. Example: -f "C:\RASTEROUTPUT\%j-%p.tif". If separated output is also requested, %s should also be used in the filename format. Example: -f "C:\RASTEROUTPUT\%j-%p-%s.tif"
-c <TestConfig>	Although the -c option is not passed to farm RIPs on the command line, the farm RIPs honor this option.

Farm RIP instances have some special new command-line options that only get used when the controlling RIP launches a farm RIP instance. You do not need to use these yourself but for completeness they are documented here:

Finally, when a farm RIP is launched, the controlling RIP will always add the following command-line option, hopefully for obvious reasons: Option -C

All command-line options should appear before any job names just as before. For example:

C:\apps\HHR_SDK_dev> bin\clrip -m 2048 -c CMYKComposite300dpi -nrips 2 C:\T\ThirtyOnePages.pdf

Note that the Scalable RIP will work with all clrip job submission mechanisms including hotfolders. Example:

C:\apps\HHR_SDK_dev> bin\clrip -m 4096 -C -c CMYKComposite300dpi nrips 4 -f OUTPUT\from-hot1\%j-%p.TIFF -H HOTFOLDERS\hot1

The full set of command-line options that may be passed to farm RIPs from the controlling RIP that creates them are:

Option	Comments
-C	Always added.
`-cbc <ipaddr:port>`	Always added.
-D <types>	Passed through.
-f <format>	Passed through.
`-frid <rip ID>`	Always added.
-m <mem>	Modified value passed through.
-n <prog>	Passed through.
-p	Passed through.
-wait	Added for debugging if specified in global config.
`-W <sw-folder>`	Always added.
-X	Passed through.

Table: Full set of command-line options that may be passed to farm RIPs