PCP.CONF(5)

💖 PCP.CONF 💖

okay bestie, gather round, we're doing the Performance Co-Pilot configuration and environment file today and honestly? it's giving foundational. this is pcp.conf, from the File Formats Manual, and she is lowkey the backbone of the whole PCP situation. 🎀

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✨ NAME ✨

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

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🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

/etc/pcp.conf

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💅 DESCRIPTION 💅

so here's the tea. when you're using Performance Co-Pilot (PCP) tools and utilities, and when you're calling PCP library functions, there's a whole standard set of environment variables that get defined in /etc/pcp.conf. iconic behaviour. ✨

these variables are generally there to specify the location of all the various PCP pieces in the file system, and they can get 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. versatile queen. 👑

but here's the important bit bestie: 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. she's a fallback, not a fighter. 💖

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. but the pcp.env file can not be relocated — this is the only hard coded path required by PCP. no moving her, she's planted. 🌱

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🎀 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. (self-care lines, we love her 🧚)
3. all variables must be prefixed with PCP_. this is a security issue — variables that do not have this prefix will be silently ignored. not a warning, not an error, just silence. 💀
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. everybody's reading her, so she has to be legible to all of them. 🔥
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. she handles that for you, don't do it yourself. 💅

for further details and an explanation of the use of each variable, see the comments in the /etc/pcp.conf file itself. she's annotated, she's thorough, she ate. 🍓

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🌈 ENVIRONMENT 🌈

• PCP_CONF — specifies an alternative path to the pcp.conf file. ✨

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👑 SEE ALSO 👑

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

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and that's the whole vibe check bestie 💜 this has been the Performance Co-Pilot PCP page, PCP.CONF(5), mwah, go configure something gorgeous 🫶✨