Installing a new build of Cumulus (whatever version) over the existing installation does not affect this settings file. No build of Cumulus contains a 'Cumulus.ini' file. If Cumulus software detects a 'Cumulus.ini' when it starts, it looks in that for settings; if it does not find the file, then Cumulus will expect you to tell it some settings, others have defaults. See Cumulus Help, release announcement, and other provided documentation for more.
= File Structure =
The main file consists of a number of sections, each with a heading delimited by '[ ]', (although the order in the file may be different to that in this article). Parameter lines are in the form 'attribute=value' and grouped by those sections. Those attributes can be listed in any order, Cumulus software will always add new attributes to the end of the section. If you are manually adding attributes, it may be best if you sort the attributes so they appear in alphabetical order and thus ensure you do not duplicate attribute names with different values.
Some [[#Sections_dealing_with_interfaces_to_external_sites|sections]] relate to the external websites that Cumulus can optionally supply with updates. These are set by configuration screens and the whole sections will always be present. If you do not use those external services their parameters will be set to the defaults.
Each new version of cumulus may add additional parameters set by revised configuration screens (these initially appear at the end of the relevant section), and/or permit additional parameters to be added manually (these can be inserted anywhere within the section).
== Completeness of this list ==
'''Please note that this list is not updated by the developers when they change the software to react to a new attribute, therefore there is no guarantee that all attributes available appear in this documentation.'''
If you spot a parameter that is missing from this list (check you are looking in the right section, and under the correct sub-heading where a section is sub-divided for ease of using this article), then please add it to this Wiki article. None of the authors who have contributed so far can claim completeness. Sometimes a search on the forum for something else reveals a mention of an additional parameter that can be added to the file but has not been previously added to this list.
There have been over a thousand builds of Cumulus version 1 and much of this article has been written based on experience in using Cumulus, it may not reflect every parameter that can be manually added to the file, although it does reflect all those linked with settings made on various screens.
== Beta builds ==
When beta builds of Cumulus 1 were made by Steve Loft, they could be downloaded by anybody, and if there were any differences for the configuration file in that beta they would be listed in the [[Cumulus.ini_(Beta)|Cumulus.ini Beta article]], because some people might decide to use last stable release. When that beta ended, and only the stable release was available, any details from the beta page would be transferred into this article.
Now that Cumulus 1 is no longer under development, it will not have any beta builds.
Steve Loft kept MX in beta while he was developing it. This page continued to show what applied to Cumulus 1, and what applied to MX was placed in the [[Cumulus.ini_(Beta)|Cumulus.ini Beta article]].
After Mark Crossley took over development of MX he ended that beta. All information that was on the beta page was moved into this article that now covers both Cumulus 1 and MX in one place.
When Mark is producing a new major version of MX he typically issues it in beta to a restricted number of users by email, he does not make any beta release public. For this reason, it is not anticipated there is going to be any use of the [[Cumulus.ini_(Beta)|Cumulus.ini Beta article]] while Cumulus 3 (MX) continues to develop, although of course a Cumulus 4 is in development and we wait to see what might happen when that is ready for a public release.
= Editing the file =
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