# newhelp

## NAME



           **newhelp** - generate a performance metrics help database
    


## SYNOPSIS



           **$PCP_BINADM_DIR/newhelp**[**-vV?**]  [**-D** _debug_] [**-n** _pmnsfile_] [**-o**
           _outputfile_] [_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 Metrics Name
           Space (PMNS), however if the **-n** option is specified 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**.
    
           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 consists 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.
    
           Three-part numeric metric identifiers (PMIDs) may be used in place
           of metric names, e.g. 60.0.23 rather than kernel.all.cpu.idle in
           the example above.  Other than for dynamic metrics (where the
           existence of a metric is known to a PMDA, but not visible in the
           PMNS and hence has no name that could be known to _newhelp_) use of
           this syntactic variant is not encouraged.
    
           Lines beginning with ``#'' are ignored, as are blank lines in the
           file before the first ``@''.  The verbose help text is optional.
    
           As a special case, a ``metric'' name of the form _NNN.MM_ (for
           numeric _NNN_ and _MM_) is interpreted as an instance domain
           identification, and the text describes the instance domain.
    


## OPTIONS



           The available command line options are:
    
           **-o** _output_ , **--output** =_outout_
                Specify base name for _output_ files.
    
           **-n** _pmnsfile_ , **--namespace** =_pmnsfile_
                Load an alternative Performance Metrics Name Space (PMNS(5))
                from the file _pmnsfile_.
    
           **-v** _version_ , **--version** =_version_
                Set output version.  This options is deprecated, the only
                supported value is **2**.
    
           **-V** , **--verbose**
                Print verbose output.
    
           **-?** , **--help**
                Display usage message and exit.
    


## 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(5).
    
           For environment variables affecting PCP tools, see
           pmGetOptions(3).
    


## DEBUGGING OPTIONS



           The **-D** or **--debug** option enables the output of additional
           diagnostics on _stderr_ to help triage problems, although the
           information is sometimes cryptic and primarily intended to provide
           guidance for developers rather end-users.  _debug_ is a comma
           separated list of debugging options; use pmdbg(1) with the **-l**
           option to obtain a list of the available debugging options and
           their meaning.
    


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