CUPS
Updated: 04/26/2017 by Computer Hope
The Common Unix Printing System, also known as CUPS, is a system designed for Unix and Apple's OS X that allows a computer act as a print server. A computer running CUPS can accept print jobs from other computers and route them to local and network printers using IPP (Internet printing protocol).
First released in June 1999, CUPS includes a print spooler, scheduler, a filter to convert data to a format understood by the printer, and a backend processor for routing print jobs. On July 13, 2007, Apple acquired the copyrights to CUPS and uses it in macOS.