.\"
.\" Copyright (c) 2005 Gunnar Ritter
.\"
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.\" Sccsid @(#)getconf.1	1.4 (gritter) 8/14/05
.TH GETCONF 1 "8/14/05" "Heirloom Toolchest" "User Commands"
.SH NAME
getconf \- get configuration values
.SH SYNOPSIS
\fBgetconf\fR [\fB\-v\fI\ specification\fR] \fIsystem_var\fR
.br
\fBgetconf\fR [\fB\-v\fI\ specification\fR] \fIpath_var pathname\fR
.br
\fBgetconf \-a\fR
.SH DESCRIPTION
The
.I getconf
command prints values of system configuration variables.
It is a command interface to the values returned by
.IR sysconf (3),
.IR confstr(3),
and
.IR pathconf (3).
The
.I system_var
or
.I path_var
arguments, respectively, specify the parameter name to be queried.
`_SC_', `_CS_', and `_PC_' prefixes
must sometimes be omitted from the parameter names,
as well as leading underscores.
The
.I pathname
argument is passed to
.IR pathconf (3).
.PP
The
.B \-v
option indicates that values according to a specific specification
be queried.
It has currently no effect.
.PP
With the
.B \-a
option, all available configuration variables and their values are printed.
.PP
The local variable `HEIRLOOM_TOOLCHEST_VERSION'
is also available.
It prints the installed version of the Heirloom Toolchest
in the format `YYYYMMDD'.
.PP
The values printed by
.I getconf
differ between the POSIX.2-1992 version in
.B /usr/5bin/posix/getconf
and the POSIX.1-2001 version in
.BR /usr/5bin/posix2001/getconf .
.SH EXAMPLES
The `PATH' variable specifies a value
for the corresponding shell parameter
that makes all utilities
act as specified in the POSIX standard.
Thus after executing
.RS
.sp
.nf
PATH=\`getconf PATH\` export PATH
.fi
.sp
.RE
a script can rely on POSIX behavior.
Note that this does not affect the shell which executes the script.
.PP
The `POSIX2_VERSION' variable
gives the version of the POSIX standard
to which the utilities and
.I getconf
itself correspond.
Thus if POSIX.1-2001 behavior is required by a script,
.RS
.sp
.nf
posix2_version=\`getconf POSIX2_VERSION\`
if test ${posix2_version:\-0} \-lt 200112
then
      echo "error: POSIX.1-2001 or later required" >&2
      exit
fi
.fi
.sp
.RE
aborts the script
if the requirement is not satisfied.
.SH "SEE ALSO"
intro(1),
confstr(3),
pathconf(3),
sysconf(3)
.SH NOTES
The availability of many variables and many of the values
depend on the host platform
and not on the Heirloom Toolchest.