NAME

       pcp.conf - the Performance Co-Pilot configuration and environment file

SYNOPSIS

       /etc/pcp.conf

DESCRIPTION

       When  using  Performance  Co-Pilot  (PCP) tools and utilities and when calling PCP library
       functions, a standard set of environment variables are defined  in  /etc/pcp.conf.   These
       variables  are  generally  used  to specify the location of various PCP pieces in the file
       system and may be loaded into shell scripts by sourcing the /etc/pcp.env(5)  shell  script
       and queried by C/C++ programs using the pmGetConfig(3) library function.  If a variable is
       already defined in the environment, the values in pcp.conf do not override  those  values,
       i.e. the values in pcp.conf serve as installation defaults only.

       Both  the  pcp.env  and  pcp.conf  files  are expected to be found in /etc by default.  If
       required, the pcp.conf file may be relocated  and  PCP_CONF  set  in  the  environment  to
       specify the full path to the new location.  The pcp.env file can not be relocated (this is
       the only hard coded path required by PCP).

       The syntax rules for pcp.conf are as follows :

       1.  the general syntax is
                              PCP_VARIABLE_NAME=variable value to end of line

       2.  lines that begin with # and all blank lines are ignored.

       3.  all variables must be prefixed with PCP_.  This is a security issue -  variables  that
           do not have this prefix will be silently ignored.

       4.  there  should  be  no  space  between the variable name and the literal = and no space
           between the = and the variable value (unless the value actually starts with a  space).
           This  is  required  because  the pcp.conf file may be sourced directly by Makefiles as
           well as interpreted by the pcp.env script and the pmGetConfig function.

       5.  variable values may contain spaces and should  not  be  quoted.   The  pcp.env  script
           automatically  quotes all variable values from the character immediately following the
           = through to the end of the line.

       For further details and an explanation of the use of each variable, see  the  comments  in
       the /etc/pcp.conf file itself.

ENVIRONMENT

       The PCP_CONF environment variable specifies an alternative path to the pcp.conf file.

SEE ALSO

       PCPIntro(1), pmconfig(1), PCPIntro(3), PMAPI(3), pmGetConfig(3) and pcp.env(5).