You can configure the development environment to modify its behavior or look and feel. You use a mechanism known as the Application Configuration System to do this. As its name indicates, you can also use it to configure the behavior and appearance of your own applications. For a full description of how to use the Application Configuration System, see the chapter Configuring your Applications in your Program Development Guide.
The configuration information for the development environment is held in two files: the global configuration file and the local configuration file. The global configuration file is called mfcobolrc. When you install the COBOL system this file is put in the directory pointed to by the environment variable COBDIR. The local configuration file is called .mfcobolrc and the COBOL system always looks for it in your home directory. The COBOL system does not create this file. To change any local configuration details, create the file $HOME/.mfcobolrc containing the details you want. You can edit these two files using any text editor.
Using two files enables the system to support a networked or multi-user environment. The global configuration file stores installation-wide defaults for the environment. The local configuration file for each user overrides these defaults without affecting any other user. This file must be in a directory that has write permissions.
Some configuration information affects the whole of the development system while some affects individual tools, such as the Editor. If there are settings to configure an individual tool, they are described in the documentation for that tool
When a tool starts, it reads its configuration information from both the global and local configuration files. The configuration details are stored in the configuration files under headings called tags. Under each tag are lines containing configuration details for each tool. A tool usually reads details from more than one tag.
Some tools read all the lines under a tag from the local configuration file only, or from the global configuration file only. An example of this is the tag [EDIT-USER], which describes the defaults to be used by the COBOL Editor. If this tag exists in the local configuration file, Animator reads the menu information from that file only, and ignores any entries under [EDIT-USER] in the global configuration file. Other tools read all the lines under a tag from the global configuration file, then apply any overrides listed under the same tag in the local configuration file.