# The SICS Online Help System

SICS has a simple built in help system. Help text is stored in simple ASCII text files which are printed to the client on demand. The help system can search for help files in several directories. Typically one would want one directory with general SICS help files and another one with instrument specific help files. If help is invoked without any options, a default help file is printed. This file is supposed to contain a directory of available help topics together with a brief description. The normal usage is: help topicname . The help system will then search for a file named topicname.txt in its help directories.

A SICS manager will need to configure this help system. A new directory can be added to the list of directories to search with the command:

    help configure adddir dirname

The default help file can be specified with:

    help configure defaultfile filename

Each of these command given without a parameter print the current settings.