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