32.1 Introduction for Runtime Environment

maxima-init.mac is a file which is loaded automatically when Maxima starts. You can use maxima-init.mac to customize your Maxima environment. maxima-init.mac, if it exists, is typically placed in the directory named by maxima_userdir, although it can be in any directory searched by the function file_search.

Here is an example maxima-init.mac file:

setup_autoload ("specfun.mac", ultraspherical, assoc_legendre_p);
showtime:all;

In this example, setup_autoload tells Maxima to load the specified file (specfun.mac) if any of the functions (ultraspherical, assoc_legendre_p) are called but not yet defined. Thus you needn’t remember to load the file before calling the functions.

The statement showtime: all tells Maxima to set the showtime variable. The maxima-init.mac file can contain any other assignments or other Maxima statements.