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System databases

The aipsrc databases have been implemented via a C-program called getrc. It looks for device and other definitions in a format similar to that of the .Xdefaults database used by X-windows. In resolving a reference it searches the following sequence of aipsrc files:

      ~/.aipsrc
      $AIPS/$ARCH/$VERS/$SITE/$HOST/aipsrc
      $AIPS/$ARCH/$VERS/$SITE/aipsrc
      $AIPS/$ARCH/$VERS/aipsrc

The last of these contains default values, and the other three allow these to be overridden on a user-, host-, and site-specific basis. A -i option provides for getrc to ignore the user's aipsrc file - it would not be appropriate for them to override access restrictions set by the local AIPS++ administrator for example. A -v option causes getrc to indicate how it resolved the reference, and is useful for debugging.

The aipsrc mechanism works well and getrc is now used in a number of AIPS++ scripts, including a simple and easily configurable set of printer utilities, and a utility for printing class header and implementation files in a compact and convenient form.

Next: Future work Up: No Title Previous: System generation