The operation of PRISM can be configured in a number of ways. From the GUI, select "Options" from the main menu to bring up the "Options" dialog. The settings are grouped under several tabs. Those which affect the basic model checking functionality of the tool are under the heading "PRISM". Separate settings are available for the simulator and various aspects of the GUI (the model editor, the property editor and the log).
User options and settings for the GUI are saved locally and reused. They are stored in the file .prism, which can be found in your home directory (~) under Unix, Linux or Mac OS X and in e.g. C:\Documents and Settings\username under Windows. Currently the "Options" dialog in the GUI represents the easiest way to modify the settings, but the .prism file is in a simple textual format and can be edited by hand. To restore the default options for PRISM, click "Load Defaults" and then "Save Options" from the "Options" dialog in the GUI. Alternatively, delete the .prism file and then re-launch the GUI.
From the command-line version of PRISM, options are controlled by switches. A full list can be displayed by typing:
For some switches, whose format is not straightforward, there is additional help available on the command-line, using -help switch. For example:
The .prism settings file is ignored by the command-line version (unlike earlier versions of PRISM, where it was used). You can, however, request that the settings file is read, using the -settings switch, e.g.:
In the following sections, we give a brief description of the most important configuration options available.