FLUSH_ALL

This configuration variable can be used to control the flushing of file buffers to disk. It is one of several variables that control buffer flushing. See the other entries in this appendix that begin with FLUSH.

This variable can take a combination of the following values:

1 (on, true, yes, all)
0 (off, false, no)
MASS_UPDATE
REMOTE

When this variable is set to 1, files opened for MASS-UPDATE are flushed along with other files. This means that the local cache used to hold the MASS-UPDATE buffers is flushed whenever the operating system cache is flushed.

When this variable is set to the default value of 0, files opened for MASS-UPDATE are not flushed.

Setting this variable to MASS_UPDATE causes the runtime to flush local files, including files opened with MASS-UPDATE.

Setting this variable to REMOTE causes the runtime to flush local files not opened with MASSUPDATE, as well as remote files.

You can also set this variable to a combination of values. For example,

FLUSH_ALL  MASS_UPDATE  REMOTE

causes the runtime to flush all local files, including those opened with MASSUPDATE, as well as remote files.

Note on Bitmask Integer Values

Internally, the value of this configuration variable is converted to a bitmask, and its bitmask integer value is determined by the keywords used to set it. Keywords translate into integer values as follows:

FALSE, NO and OFF are equivalent to 0
MASS_UPDATE is equivalent to 1
REMOTE is equivalent to 2
ALL, TRUE, YES and ON are equivalent to –1

When the runtime is started with the -l and -e errfile arguments, only the integer value of FLUSH_ALL is recorded in the error file.