From MantidProject
The two .Properties Files
The Mantid framework is configured using two simple text .properties files that are read an interpreted every time the framework is started.
Mantid.Properties
This file defines the default configuration that the development team suggest as sensible defaults. This file should not be altered by users as it will be replaced with every new install or upgrade of Mantid.
Mantid.User.Properties
This is where users may override any property setting in Mantid. Any Property setting in this file will override anything set in the Mantid.Properties file. Simply either enter the property you wish to override in this file together with it's new value. The change will take effect the next time Mantid is started. Subsequent installs or upgrades of Mantid will never alter this file.
The Properties
Note: Use forward slash (/) or double up on the number of backslash (\) characters for all paths
General properties
| Property
| Description
| Example value
|
| algorithms.retained
| The Number of algorithms properties to retain in memory for refence in scripts.
| 50
|
| AlgorithmChaining.SwitchedOn
| Algorithm chain re-running will replay any subsequent algorithms whenever a workspace is replaced. This was an early implementation and its use is no longer advised as it could cause race conditions when combined with scripts.
| 0 or 1
|
Directory Properties
| Property
| Description
| Example value
|
| plugins.directory
| The path to the directory that contains the Mantid plugin libraries
| ../Plugins or c:/MantidIntstall/Plugins
|
| instrumentDefinition.directory
| Where to load instrument definition files from
| ../Test/Instrument
|
| parameterDefinition.directory
| Where to load parameter definition files from
| ../Test/Instrument
|
| requiredpythonscript.directories
| A list of directories containing Python scripts that Mantid requires to function correctly. WARNING: Do not alter the default value.
| ../scripts/SANS;../scripts/Excitations
|
| pythonscripts.directories
| Python will also search the listed directories when importing modules
| ../scripts;C:/MyScripts
|
| pythonscripts.directory (DEPRECATED: Use pythonscripts.directories)
| A single location for the Python scripts directory. Python will also search here when importing modules
| ../scripts
|
| datasearch.directories
| A semi-colon(;) separated list of directories to use to search for data
| ../data;\\\\isis\\isis$\\ndxhrpd
|
| defaultsave.directory
| A default directory to use for saving files
| ../data
|
Managed Workspace Properties
| Property
| Description
| Example value
|
| ManagedWorkspace.LowerMemoryLimit
| Sets the memory limit to trigger the use of a ManagedWorkspace. A ManagedWorkspace will be used for a workspace requiring greater amount of memory than defined by LowerMemoryLimit. LowerMemoryLimit is a precentage of the physical memory available for the process. On Linux it is the free physical memory, on Windows it is the smaller of the free physical memory and the available virtual memory. Setting the limit too high may lead to unrecoverable bad allocations. If this happens the advice is to close Mantid and relaunch it with a smaller LowerMemoryLimit.
| 80
|
| ManagedWorkspace.AlwaysInMemory
| Setting this to 1 will disable managed workspaces completely - use with care!
| 0 or 1
|
| ManagedWorkspace.DataBlockSize
| This should be set to a size in bytes that will fit into the on cache memory of your hard drive. Doing this will improve the performance of ManagedWorkspaces.
| 4000
|
| ManagedWorkspace.FilePath
| The path where temporary files used by Managed workspaces will be placed.
| ../temp
|
Compressed Workspace Properties
| Property
| Description
| Example value
|
| CompressedWorkspace.DoNotUse
| Setting this to 1 will disable the use of compressed workspaces.
| 0 or 1
|
| CompressedWorkspace.VectorsPerBlock
| The number of spectra the compressed workspace will contain in each compression block. Changes in this can alter performance and the compression ratio.
| 4
|
| CompressedWorkspace.EstimatedCompressRatio
| The estimate that the memory manager uses of what compression ration will be achieved with the data.
| 4
|
Logging Properties
The details of configuring the logging functionality within Mantid will not be explained here. For those who want more details look into the POCO logging classes and the Log4J logging module that it closely emulates. There are several comments in the properties file itself that explain the configuration we provide by default. However there are some obvious areas that you may want to alter and those properties are detailed below.
| Property
| Description
| Example value
|
| logging.loggers.root.level
| Defines the lowest level of messages to be output by the system. The default is information, but this can be lowered to debug for more detailed feedback.
| debug, informtion, notice, warning, error, critical or fatal
|
| logging.channels.fileFilterChannel.level
| Defines the lowest level of messages to be output to the log file. The default is warning, but this can be lowered to debug for more detailed feedback. The higher level of this and logging.loggers.root.level will apply.
| debug, informtion, notice, warning, error, critical or fatal
|
| logging.channels.fileChannel.path
| The Path to the log file
| ../logs/mantid.log
|
