This COBOL system supports the use of a portable UNIX terminfo database and provides one that includes details for a selection of terminals. The format follows the UNIX specification but omits the UNIX vendor-specific portions. The database can be used by COBOL applications as an adjunct or alternative to the system databases. The system COBOL terminfo database is held in the directory terminfo in the COBOL system directory $COBDIR. If a particular COBOL process requires use of an alternative COBOL terminfo database, then this can be selected by specifying its location in the environment variable COBTERMINFO.
The portable UNIX terminfo database can be maintained using the utilities mftic and mfinfocmp that are described later in this section.