NAME

       newhelp - generate a performance metrics help database


SYNOPSIS

       $PCP_BINADM_DIR/newhelp [-V] [-n pmnsfile] [-o outputfile]
       [-v version] [file ...]


DESCRIPTION

       newhelp generates the Performance Co-Pilot help text files
       used by Performance Metric Domain Agents (PMDAs).

       Normally  newhelp operates on the default Performance Met­
       rics Namespace (PMNS), however if the -n option is  speci­
       fied  an  alternative  namespace  is  loaded from the file
       pmnsfile.

       When there is only one input file, the base  name  of  the
       new  database  is derived from the name of the input file,
       otherwise the -o flag must be given to explicitly name the
       database.   If  no input files are supplied, newhelp reads
       from the standard input stream, in which case the -o  flag
       must be given.

       If  the  output file name is determined to be foo, newhelp
       will create foo.dir and foo.pag.

       Although historically there have been multiple  help  text
       file  formats,  the  only format currently supported using
       the -v option is version 2, and this is the default if  no
       -v flag is provided.

       The  -V  flag  causes verbose messages to be printed while
       newhelp is parsing its input.

       The first line of each entry in a help  source  file  con­
       sists of an ``@'' character beginning the line followed by
       a space and then the performance metric  name  and  a  one
       line  description  of  the metric.  Following lines (up to
       the next line beginning with ``@'' or  end  of  file)  may
       contain a verbose help description.  E.g.

            #
            # This is an example of newhelp's input syntax
            #
            @ kernel.all.cpu.idle CPU idle time
            A cumulative count of the number of milliseconds
            of CPU idle time, summed over all processors.

       Lines beginning with ``#'' are ignored, as are blank lines
       in the file before the first ``@''.  The verbose help text
       is optional.

       (for numeric NNN and MM) is  interpreted  as  an  instance
       domain identification, and the text describes the instance
       domain.


FILES

       $PCP_VAR_DIR/pmns/*
                 default PMNS specification files


PCP ENVIRONMENT

       Environment variables with the prefix  PCP_  are  used  to
       parameterize the file and directory names used by PCP.  On
       each installation, the  file  /etc/pcp.conf  contains  the
       local  values for these variables.  The $PCP_CONF variable
       may be used to specify an alternative configuration  file,
       as described in pcp.conf(4).


SEE ALSO

       chkhelp(1),   PMAPI(3),   pmLookupInDomText(3),  pmLookup­
       Text(3), pcp.conf(4) and pcp.env(4).


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