Pathnames

A pathname is a value which fully describes the location of a file or directory on your computer. Pathnames are used in Sawmill to describe the locations of the log data, the server directory, the Database directory, and other files and directories.

The leftmost part of a pathname generally describes which hard drive or partition the file or directory is on, and as you move from left to right along the pathname, each successive part narrows the location further by providing the name of an additional subdirectory.

It is not generally necessary to type pathnames if you are using the Sawmill graphical web browser interface; the Browse button next to each pathname field provides a friendlier way to specify a pathname, using a familiar directory browsing mechanism. This button is available everywhere except when choosing the server directory in CGI mode, where you must enter the pathname manually.

Pathnames use different formats on different platforms. On Windows, the format is

  driveletter:\directory1\directory2 ... directoryn\filename

for files, and the same for directories, except that the final filename is omitted (but not the final \). For instance, a file my.conf inside the directory configs, which is inside the directory sawmill, which is inside the directory web on the C: drive, is represented by C:\web\sawmill\configs\my.conf . The directory containing my.conf is represented by C:\web\sawmill\configs\ .

On MacOS X, Linux, or other UNIX-type systems, the format is

  /directory1/directory2 ... directoryn/filename

for files, and the same for directories, except that the final filename is omitted (but not the final /). For instance, a file my.conf inside the directory configs, which is inside the directory sawmill, which is inside the directory web (a subdirectory of the root / directory), is represented by /web/sawmill/configs/my.conf . The directory containing my.conf is represented by /web/sawmill/configs/ .