6. Global (Site, User) Configuration Files

Cylc site and user global configuration files contain settings that affect all suites. Some of these, such as the range of network ports used by cylc, should be set at site level. Legal items, values, and system defaults are documented in (Global (Site, User) Config File Reference).

# cylc site global config file
<cylc-dir>/etc/global.rc

Others, such as the preferred text editor for suite configurations, can be overridden by users,

# cylc user global config file
~/.cylc/$(cylc --version)/global.rc  # e.g. ~/.cylc/7.8.2/global.rc

The file <cylc-dir>/etc/global.rc.eg contains instructions on how to generate and install site and user global config files:

#------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# How to create a site or user global.rc config file.
#------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# The "cylc get-global-config" command prints - in valid global.rc format -
# system global defaults, overridden by site global settings (if any),
# overridden by user global settings (if any).
#
# Therefore, to generate a new global config file, do this:
#   % cylc get-global-config > global.rc
# edit it as needed and install it in the right location (below).
#
# For legal config items, see the User Guide's global.rc reference appendix.
#
# FILE LOCATIONS:
#----------------------
# SITE: delete or comment out items that you do not need to change (otherwise
# you may unwittingly override future changes to system defaults).
#
# The SITE FILE LOCATION is [cylc-dir]/etc/global.rc, where [cylc-dir] is your
# install location, e.g. /opt/cylc/cylc-7.8.2.
#
# FORWARD COMPATIBILITY: The site global.rc file must be kept in the source
# installation (i.e. it is version specific) because older versions of Cylc
# will not understand newer global config items. WHEN YOU INSTALL A NEW VERSION
# OF CYLC, COPY OVER YOUR OLD SITE GLOBAL CONFIG FILE AND ADD TO IT IF NEEDED.
#
#----------------------
# USER: delete or comment out items that you do not need to change (otherwise
# you may unwittingly override future changes to site or system defaults).
#
# The USER FILE LOCATIONS are:
#   1) ~/.cylc/<CYLC-VERSION>/global.rc  # e.g. ~/.cylc/7.8.2/global.rc
#   2) ~/.cylc/global.rc
# If the first lcoation is not found, the second will be checked.
# 
# The version-specific location is preferred - see FORWARD COMPATIBILITY above.
# WHEN YOU FIRST USE A NEW VERSION OF CYLC, COPY OVER YOUR OLD USER GLOBAL
# CONFIG FILE AND TO IT IF NEEDED. However, if you only set a items that don't
# change from one version to the next, you may be OK with the second location.
#------------------------------------------------------------------------------