Pine uses a resource file to keep track of its configuration, user preferences, and other information. By customizing the option settings in your PINE RESOURCE file, you can customize your pine environment to your liking. Generally the best way to set or change option settings in your PINE RESOURCE file is from within pine, via the CONFIG option of the SETUP submenu accessed from pine's main menu. (Context sensitive help is available within pine for each such configurable item so you can get hints on setting your options.) However, the PINE RESOURCE file is a normal text file, so it is also possible to modify the PINE RESOURCE file using a text editor.
1 – Location
On OpenVMS systems, the Pine resource file is named PINE.PINERC and is located in the PMDF_INIT: directory. By default, PMDF_ INIT is a logical which translates to SYS$LOGIN. Users wanting to keep their pine resource file elsewhere can redefine the PMDF_ INIT logical. The logical name PINERC can be used to specify an alternate file name. For instance, the definition $ DEFINE PINERC PINE.RC causes the file name PINE.RC to instead be used, thereby accessing the file PMDF_INIT:PINE.RC The definition of the PINERC logical must not contain a device or directory reference.
2 – Format
In the Pine resource file, any line starting with # is considered to be a comment line. Lines not beginning with # contain settings for configuration options using the format option=value[,value,...] All values are strings; quotes can be used around any value. If a value is absent, then the associated option is not set and a system-wide default setting, if there is one, will be used instead. For some options, only the values YES and NO are allowed. A line beginning with a space or tab is considered to be a continuation of the previous line.
3 – Dollar Sign
The dollar sign, $, has a special meaning in the Pine resource file: it means that the word following it is an "environment variable", i.e., a DCL symbol or logical name, the value of which is then substituted at that point in the file. To specify $ in a value, you need to prefix it with a backslash; e.g., SYS\$LOGIN:SIGNATURE.TXT