#### 4.2.1 Using a configuration file

A configuration file may be used to configure a PolyORB node. A sample configuration file may be found in `src/polyorb.conf`.

The syntax of the configuration file is:

- empty lines and lines that have a ’#’ in column 1 are ignored;
- sections can be started by lines of the form `[ SECTION-NAME ]`;
- variable assignments can be performed by lines of the form `VARIABLE-NAME = VALUE`.

  Any variable assignment is local to a section.

  Assignments that occur before the first section declaration are relative to section [environment]. Section and variable names are case sensitive.

  Furthermore, each time a value starts with `"file:"`, the contents of the file are used instead.

Default search path for `polyorb.conf` is current directory. Environment variable `POLYORB_CONF` may be used to set up information on configuration file.

PolyORB’s configuration file allows the user to

1. enable/disable the output of debug information
2. set up default reference on naming service
3. select the default protocol personality
4. set up each protocol personality

The configuration file is read once when running a node, during initialization. Look in the sample configuration file `src/polyorb.conf` to see the available sections and variables.