There is a parameter in the Notes.Ini file that says
notesprogram=path
Where path is the path to the Notes Program directory. Does anyone know what this is used for? Is there a function within Lotus Notes that actually uses this parameter. I have client ini files that have had the line deleted and it doesn’t seem to make any difference in the day to day operation of the product.
Subject: Info
Thank you for taking the time to respond. I have read that information before I posted my question and I do understand that the parameter points to the Notes program directory however, my question is what is this information used for. I have clients that do not have this line and they seem to work fine. Is there some kind of task or addin that needs to know where the Notes programs reside?
Subject: I believe it’s just for Notes
It’s interesting that you have some clients that don’t have that line since it’s added during initial installation/setup. Maybe someone in the past has “broken down” the workstation by editing the notes.ini so they could do the setup again without doing a full reinstall. It’s a quick way of changing the “identity” of a workstation. Usually when you do that you leave in the notesprogram= line but I suppose if the path on the workstation includes the Notes program directory it may not need the notesprogram=. If you were in an inquisitive mood you could check the paths on the systems that don’t have notesprogram= and see if it includes the program directory.
The other thing the notesprogram= and directory= can be used for is when the location or drive mapping of the target files changes. I’ve often changed directory= when I’ve added a larger drive to a system and wanted to use it for the Notes data directory. I haven’t edited notesprogram= when the mapping of the program files changed but it’s described here: http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/domhelp/v8r0/index.jsp?topic=/com.ibm.help.domino.admin.doc/DOC/H_MOVING_A_DOMINO_SERVER_FROM_ONE_COMPUTER_TO_ANOTHER.html
Anyway, as far as I know the only purpose of notesporgram= is to point to the Notes program files.
Subject: I believe it’s just for Notes
I suspect that your assessment is correct. I have been brought in to this organization on a short term contract to “clean” up the Notes environment. I found that it was a long time habit of the people here to prune the ini file and they always only leave the Notes, kittype and directory lines. The other three have always been deleted. I questioned them on why and they did not know. It was just what they had always done. So we have a lot of machines that are missing those three lines.
I was just curious if the NotesProgram line had any other functionality associated with it other than providing a path to the Notes programs.