NAME

       pmnsmerge - merge multiple versions of a Performance Co-Pilot PMNS

SYNOPSIS

       $PCP_BINADM_DIR/pmnsmerge [-adfxv] infile [...]  outfile

DESCRIPTION

       pmnsmerge merges multiple instances of a Performance Metrics Name Space (PMNS), as used by
       the components of the Performance Co-Pilot (PCP).

       Each infile argument names a file that includes the root of a PMNS, of the form

                 root {
                     /* arbitrary stuff */
                 }

       The order in which the infile files are processed is determined by the presence or absence
       of embedded control lines of the form #define _DATESTAMP YYYYMMDD

       Files  without  a  control  line  are  processed first and in the order they appear on the
       command line.  The other files are then processed in order of ascending _DATESTAMP.

       The -a option suppresses the argument re-ordering and processes all  files  in  the  order
       they appear on the command line.

       The  merging  proceeds  by  matching  names in PMNS, only those new names in each PMNS are
       considered, and these are added after any  existing  metrics  with  the  longest  possible
       matching prefix in their names.  For example, merging these two input PMNS

                 root {                    root {
                                               surprise  1:1:3
                     mine       1:1:1          mine      1:1:1
                     foo                       foo
                                               yawn
                     yours      1:1:2
                 }                         }
                 foo {                     foo {
                     fumble     1:2:1
                                               mumble    1:2:3
                     stumble    1:2:2          stumble   1:2:2
                 }                         }
                                           yawn {
                                               sleepy    1:3:1
                                           }

       Produces the resulting PMNS in out.

                 root {
                     mine      1:1:1
                     foo
                     yours     1:1:2
                     surprise  1:1:3
                     yawn
                 }
                 foo {
                     fumble    1:2:1
                     stumble   1:2:2
                     mumble    1:2:3
                 }
                 yawn {
                     sleepy    1:3:1
                 }

       To  avoid  accidental  over-writing  of  PMNS files, outfile is expected to not exist when
       pmnsmerge starts.  The -f option allows an existing outfile to be unlinked  (if  possible)
       and truncated before writing starts.

       Normally  duplicate  names for the same Performance Metric Identifier (PMID) in a PMNS are
       allowed.  The -d option is the default option and is included for backwards compatibility.
       The -x option reverses the default and pmnsmerge will report an error and exit with a non-
       zero status if a duplicate name is found for a PMID in any of the input PMNS files  or  in
       the merged output PMNS.

       The -v option produces one line of diagnostic output as each infile is processed.

       Once  all  of the merging has been completed, pmnsmerge will attempt to load the resultant
       namespace using pmLoadASCIINameSpace(3) - if this fails for any reason, outfile will still
       be created, but pmnsmerge will report the problem and exit with non-zero status.

       Using  pmnsmerge  with  a  single  input argument allows that PMNS file to be checked.  In
       addition to syntactic checking, specifying -x will also enable a check for duplicate names
       for all PMIDs.

CAVEAT

       Once the writing of the new outfile file has begun, the signals SIGINT, SIGHUP and SIGTERM
       will be ignored to protect the integrity of the new file.

PCP ENVIRONMENT

       Environment variables with the prefix PCP_ are used to parameterize the file and directory
       names used by PCP.  On each installation, the file /etc/pcp.conf contains the local values
       for these variables.  The $PCP_CONF  variable  may  be  used  to  specify  an  alternative
       configuration file, as described in pcp.conf(5).

SEE ALSO

       pmnsadd(1), pmnsdel(1), pmLoadASCIINameSpace(3), pcp.conf(5), pcp.env(5) and pmns(5).