NAME
pmGetConfig - return Performance Co-Pilot configuration variable
C SYNOPSIS
#include <pcp/pmapi.h>
char *pmGetConfig(const char *variable)
cc ... -lpcp
DESCRIPTION
The pmGetConfig function searches for variable first in the environment
and then, if not found, in the Performance Co-Pilot (PCP) configuration
file and returns the string result. If variable is not already in the
environment, it is added with a call to putenv(3) before returning.
The default location of the PCP configuration file is /etc/pcp.conf but
this may be changed by setting PCP_CONF in the environment to a new
location, as described in pcp.conf(4).
RETURN VALUE
If variable is not found in either the environment nor the PCP
configuration file (or the PCP configuration file is not found and
PCP_CONF is not set in the environment), then a fatal error message is
printed and the process will exit(2). Although this sounds drastic, it
is the only course of action available because the PCP
configuration/installation is fatally flawed.
If this function returns, the returned value points to a string in the
environment and so changing it is a bad idea. This function returns
the same type as the getenv(3) function (which should probably be a
const char *).
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(4). Values for these variables may be
obtained programatically using the pmGetConfig(3) function.
SEE ALSO
PCPIntro(1), exit(2), PMAPI(3), getenv(3C), putenv(3C), pcp.conf(4),
pcp.env(4) and environ(5).
DOCUMENTATION CAVEAT
This manual page originated from an earlier release of PCP for IRIX.
Although some porting effort has been made, there may be some remaining
inconsistencies with PCP for Linux (and for other operating systems).
When this documentation is updated, this caveat will be removed.