B.1 Locating configuration files

PSPP uses the same method to find most of its configuration files:

1. The base name of the file being sought is determined.
2. The path to search is determined.
3. Each directory in the search path, from left to right, is searched for a file with the name of the base name. The first occurrence is read as the configuration file.

The first two steps are elaborated below for the sake of our pedantic friends.

1. A base name is a file name lacking an absolute directory reference. Some examples of base names are: ps-encodings, devices, devps/DESC (under UNIX), devps\DESC (under M$ environments).

   Determining the base name is a two-step process:

   1. If the appropriate environment variable is defined, the value of that variable is used (see Environment variables). For instance, when searching for the output driver initialization file, the variable examined is STAT_OUTPUT_INIT_FILE.
   2. Otherwise, the compiled-in default is used. For example, when searching for the output driver initialization file, the default base name is devices.

   Please note: If a user-specified base name does contain an absolute directory reference, as in a file name like /home/pfaff/fonts/TR, no path is searched—the file name is used exactly as given—and the algorithm terminates.

2. The path is the first of the following that is defined:
   • A variable definition for the path given in the user environment. This is a PSPP-specific environment variable name; for instance, STAT_OUTPUT_INIT_PATH.
   • In some cases, another, less-specific environment variable is checked. For instance, when searching for font files, the PostScript driver first checks for a variable with name STAT_GROFF_FONT_PATH, then for one with name GROFF_FONT_PATH. (However, font searching has its own list of esoteric search rules.)
   • The configuration file path, which is itself determined by the following rules:
     1. If the command line contains an option of the form -B path or --config-dir=path, then the value given on the rightmost occurrence of such an option is used.
     2. Otherwise, if the environment variable STAT_CONFIG_PATH is defined, the value of that variable is used.
     3. Otherwise, the compiled-in fallback default is used. On UNIX machines, the default fallback path is
        1. ~/.pspp
        2. /usr/local/lib/pspp
        3. /usr/lib/pspp

        On DOS machines, the default fallback path is:

        1. All the paths from the DOS search path in the PATH environment variable, in left-to-right order.
        2. C:\PSPP, as a last resort.

        Note that the installer of PSPP can easily change this default fallback path; thus the above should not be taken as gospel.

As a final note: Under DOS, directories given in paths are delimited by semicolons (;); under UNIX, directories are delimited by colons (:). This corresponds with the standard path delimiter under these OSes.