PMGETPMNSLOCATION(3)

💖 pmGetPMNSLocation — bestie edition 💖

okay so this is a page from the Library Functions Manual, and it's all about pmGetPMNSLocation, the lil function that tells you where your PMNS is coming from. yes queen, we're doing Performance Co-Pilot lore today 🎀

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✨ NAME ✨

pmGetPMNSLocation — determine the location of the currently used PMNS

like literally, it's the "where u from" function for the Performance Metrics Name Space 🦋

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✨ C SYNOPSIS ✨

#include <pcp/pmapi.h>

int pmGetPMNSLocation(void);

cc ... -lpcp

yes bestie, that's the whole thing, it takes no arguments, she just returns an int and minds her business 💅

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✨ DESCRIPTION ✨

so picture this: your app is out here living its life and it suddenly needs to know where the Performance Metrics Name Space (PMNS) is coming from. like, is it from an archive? a local file? a remote server?? the not knowing is giving anxiety 😭

that's exactly what pmGetPMNSLocation is for. she returns one of three vibes:

• PMNS_ARCHIVE — the PMNS is coming from an archive
• PMNS_LOCAL — it's coming from a local PMNS file
• PMNS_REMOTE — it's coming from a remote pmcd

and why do we care?? because this info is genuinely useful for figuring out what the right error message is, depending on where the PMNS actually lives. it's giving "know your source before you blame the wrong thing" energy, and honestly? obsessed 🫶

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✨ DIAGNOSTICS ✨

• PM_ERR_NOPMNS — this one pops up when it's just not possible to determine where the location of the PMNS is. tragic. this could be because of problems with the current context, or because it was unable to load a local PMNS. either way, she couldn't figure it out and she's telling you 💀

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✨ PCP ENVIRONMENT ✨

okay so the PCP universe has its own little ecosystem of env vars, and here's the tea 🍓:

environment variables with the prefix PCP_ are what parameterize the file and directory names used by PCP. so like, they control the naming situation.

on each installation, the file /etc/pcp.conf contains the local values for these variables. that's the home base.

and if you wanna be extra and use a different config file? you can — the $PCP_CONF variable may be used to specify an alternative configuration file, as described in pcp.conf(5) ✨

also, if you're writing code and want these values programmatically, you get them using the pmGetConfig(3) function. no cap, that's the move 👑

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✨ SEE ALSO ✨

PMAPI(3), pmGetConfig(3), pmLoadASCIINameSpace(3), pmLoadNameSpace(3), pmTrimNameSpace(3), pcp.conf(5), pcp.env(5) and PMNS(5).

like, go read those too, they're all part of the same friend group 🌈

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and that's the whole page bestie!! now go forth and know where your PMNS is coming from 💜

this has been a Performance Co-Pilot moment — PCP — and yes the page itself is literally titled PMGETPMNSLOCATION(3) if you needed the receipts 🎀