centos man page for pmgetconfig

PMGETCONFIG(3)						     Library Functions Manual						    PMGETCONFIG(3)

NAME
       pmGetConfig - return Performance Co-Pilot configuration variable

C SYNOPSIS
       #include <pcp/pmapi.h>
       char *pmGetConfig(const char *variable);

       #include <pcp/impl.h>
       char *__pmGetAPIConfig(const char *feature);

       cc ... -lpcp

DESCRIPTION
       The  pmGetConfig function searches for variable first in the environment and then, if not found, in the Performance Co-Pilot (PCP) configu-
       ration 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(5).

       The internal __pmGetAPIConfig function reports on features of the PCP library.  It can be used to query support for multi-threading,  secu-
       rity extensions, and other features.

       The  pmconfig(1)  utility provides command line access to both of these interfaces, and also provides a mechanism for listing all available
       variables and features that are valid arguments to these routines.

RETURN VALUE
       If variable is not found in either the environment nor the PCP configuration file then the return value is an empty  string.   If  the  PCP
       configuration  file  is	not found 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 the pmGetConfig function returns a non-empty string, the returned value points into 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 *).

       The  __pmGetAPIConfig  routine  on the other hand returns NULL on failure to lookup the requested feature.  It does not modify the environ-
       ment, and returns a pointer to a static read-only string which also should not be modified or freed by the caller.

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 configura-
       tion file, as described in pcp.conf(5).	Values for these variables may be obtained programmatically using the pmGetConfig(3) function.

SEE ALSO
       PCPIntro(1), pmconfig(1), exit(2), PMAPI(3), getenv(3C), putenv(3C), pcp.conf(5), pcp.env(5) and environ(5).

Performance Co-Pilot							PCP							    PMGETCONFIG(3)