File: fire.ini

Description

The System Configuration File (fire.ini) providing Fire with general configuration information.

Creation

External text editor.

Type

Text

Notes

The Fire Configuration File provides Fire with miscellaneous default information and is read when Fire starts up. Such information includes database interface program names, message file names, start macro name, and others. Fire will make three attempts at locating a fire.ini file before giving up and using its own defaults:

1. Look for fire.ini (i.e. in the current directory).

2. Look for $HOME/.fire (i.e. in the login directory).

3. Look for $MXSITE/.fire (i.e. in the site directory).

With this system, network wide configuration can be set up by the site administrator via $MXSITE/fire.ini, an individual Unix user can set up his own defaults via $HOME/fire.ini, or, for transient experimentation, a local ./fire.ini can be set up. Fire will use the first one it finds in the search order outlined above.

Each record in the file has the format:

<key> <value>

e.g.

xfont fixed

in this case setting a default X font to be used by graphics.

All lines beginning with a # are treated as comment lines.

Within the Fire language, values from the file may be queried using the config string function. Users may therefore put their own key/value entries in the file to be queried within application macros, but the key must not conflict with system keys listed below.

Many of the options may also be specified by Fire command line parameters. See here for details.

Records

• but <2|3>
  Sets the mouse type, either a 2-button or 3-button mouse. e.g.

but 2

• devel <0|1>
  Invokes (value 1) or doesn't invoke (value 0) the Fire development system on startup. The default value is 0. If requested, the development system will be invoked before any start macro or command line application is executed. An alternative to this is to add the command start @fire in your start macro.

devel 1

• dbif <name> <program> fx
  Details of a database interface program. There can be as many of these as there are types of database at your installation.

• <name> - a vendor name supplied so that Fire can pick up the value via the proprietor definition on the database command.

• <program> - the interface program name, often resident in the $MXBIN directory.

e.g.

dbif informix fxinformix fx
dbif oracle fx9i fx
dbif odbc fxodbc fx

• mess <file>
  The name of the file containing system messages. For non-English language systems, this can be redefined. <file> should be a .mes file created by the utility program genmess. The default value is $MXSYS/etc/messages.mes. e.g.

message $MXSYS/etc/german.mes

• monitor <n>
  The state of the monitor window at Fire startup. <n> can have a value of 1 for visible, 0 for iconic, or -1 for invisible. For full functionality the monitor window should be visible at all times but some closed applications prefer to have the monitor window invisible to save screen clutter. The default value is 1. e.g.

monitor 0

• monlog <n>
  Whether or not Fire is to create and maintain a monitor log file. A value of 1 indicates that it is. Such a log file is created at Fire startup, and records all monitor output during the session. The file is in Fire log format. The default value is zero, i.e. no monitor log file. e.g.

# Enable monitor logging
monlog 1

• netsock <port>
  A socket through which peer processes can connect to Fire. This option determines the value of the system identifier network_socket. If omitted, a value zero is used, which means a port number will be chosen arbitrarily when required.

netsock 3333

• start <file>
  The name of the macro executed when Fire starts up. This should be a .cmd file. Fire uses this macro only when no start information is supplied on the Fire program invocation line. e.g.

start $HOME/mystart.cmd

• wm <wm_name>
  The name of the X window manager currently operating. This entry is usually redundant because Fire can generally work out for itself which window manager is running, but some window managers are difficult to recognize. Window managers known to Fire include mwm (Motif) and olwm (Open Look). If your window manager is another (e.g. twm from MIT) it should be entered in the Configuration File. e.g.

wm twm

• xfont <font>
  The name of an X-windows font to be used when Fire requires a default. <font> should be a system X font selected from one of those available at your installation. To help with your choice, the function choosefont is an interactive font browser. The defaults are Rom14.500 for IBM/AIX and 8x13 for other X servers. e.g.

xfont fixed

See Also