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.

OPTIONS

       The available command line options are:

       -a   Process files in command line order.

       -d, --dupok
            Allow duplicate metric names per PMID.  This is the default.

       -f, --force
            Overwrite output file if it already exists.

       -v, --verbose
            Verbose input processing.

       -x, --nodups
            Do not allow duplicate metric names per PMID.

       -?, --help
            Display usage message and exit.

CAVEATS

       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).