Adding new tinrc variables: . Think of a name for your variable, we'll call it NAME . Add it to tincfg.tbl, the ordering of this file decides the order of the Option 'M'enu. Use an appropriate type. . Add an entry for it to the tin.1 manpage under the "GLOBAL OPTIONS MENU AND TINRC CONFIGURABLE VARIABLES" section and one to the tin.5 manpage under the "FILES" section (subsection tinrc) . Add NAME with the correct type to the master declaration in tinrc.h . Add an initial value for NAME in the correct position in t_config tinrc={}; in init.c . In config.c/options_menu.c, add the following: In read_config_file(), a match_*() function to read NAME into the internal tinrc table, which may not necessarily be the same type. In write_config_file(), code to write out NAME in some ASCII friendly format. In change_config_file(), you may need an OPT_NAME: switch to do any special post-processing needed when NAME is changed on the Option 'M'enu, particularly when using OPT_STRING . Add the following definition to extern.h struct opttxt txt_NAME . Fill the above structure out in lang.c help text - shown as help when asked for in Option 'M'enu should be 80 characters max opt text - the text shown on the left side in the Option 'M'enu should be 36 characters max, including the tailing : tinrc text - the comment text that precedes the variable when written to the tinrc file. This is optional. . If the variable is to be chosen from a list, then the second field of tincfg.tbl is the name of an array which holds the textual descriptions of the options. Add this array to lang.c and extern.h The third field is the maximum value of the variable, ie the array size. Adding a new attribute: . Think of a name, we'll call it NAME . Document it on the tin.5 manpage under the "${TIN_HOMEDIR-"$HOME"}/.tin/attributes" section . Add it to the t_attribute structure in tin.h . Define the default value for it in set_default_attributes() . Add it to the list of enumerated types at the beginning of attrib.c . In read_attributes_file() add a MATCH_ entry to parse it in under the appropriate first letter section. . In do_set_attrib(), add a corresponding SET_ entry . In write_attributes_file(), add a minimal entry in the header to describe the usage of the attribute Add code to write out the attribute in the for_each_group() loop [ Currently unused, but wise to keep it up to date ] . Add code to write out the attribute in dump_attributes() . Free up the attribute in memory.c:free_attributes_array() if needed Where possible try to keep the ordering of the attributes in the various functions and structures consistent