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## Startup file modifications

As you should know, when you log in two startup files are executed (if they exist). They are located in your home directory and are called

- .login
- .cshrc

Two of the many things these files do are setting up search paths for finding executables and man pages. We want to add the location of MPI executables and man pages to these search paths.

Note that by default your account is set up to use the tcsh shell (alternatives are sh, bash, csh, ksh and zsh). You can find which shell you are using by typing `"echo $SHELL"`. If you are using a different shell you will need to talk to your lab demonstrator about the changes you need to make. This discussion addresses only the standard case, tcsh.

I have created a file which contains all the settings you need to run the mpi executables and view the man pages. It is in `/usr/local/units/aca319/bin/pathadd.csh` if you want to have a look at it and see what it does.

Edit your .cshrc file and add the following line at the bottom

`if ( -f /usr/local/units/aca319/bin/pathadd.csh ) source /usr/local/units/aca319/bin/pathadd.csh`

You'll need to make these changes active. You could logout and log back in again, but what a pain when there's an easier way! Just type this:

`cd ; source .cshrc`

As a test, try viewing the man page for mpiCC (the MPI C++ compiler) by typing:
`man mpiCC`

At the end of the course you might want to remove this line from your .cshrc file