I'm using Stata 16 MP GUI with a network license on RHEL. I am connected to that system using MobaXterm on Windows 10. Stata's "memory" of my previous session's preferences--things like font sizes/colors, window sizes, combined layout setting, etc.--seems sporadic and entirely dependent on the specific node (and port?) I'm using. I would like to unify these preferences in a single location, if possible.

I can see that all of the relevant .rc files are stored in my ~/.stata16 directory. What appears to happen is that for every new value of my $DISPLAY environment variable, Stata creates a subdirectory with the value of $DISPLAY as its name, with a stata16.rc file inside. This fragments the memory of my previous sessions' preferences. If I have altered my preferences while using a certain $DISPLAY, Stata will remember those changes. If it is my first time using that value of $DISPLAY, Stata initializes with factory defaults. Note that I do not choose the value of $DISPLAY; the node I use in a given session is assigned by slurm.

I need to go the automatically-saved .rc route because using the "save preferences"/"open preferences" feature does not work as expected in my setup and that seems much more difficult to troubleshoot (possibly an issue with x-forwarding on the system). In contrast, the automatic memory works very well but is fragmented across nodes as described above. I don't think the nodes differ in any way that would make maintaining separate .rc files necessary, as I always use X-forwarding to the same Windows 10 machine and display setup.

My question: Is there a way to instruct Stata to use a certain "master" stata16.rc file I specify, regardless of the particular node Stata is running on? If so, perhaps I could just put that instruction in my profile.do file.

The alternative I see is a little hackish, something like -!mkdir ~/.stata16/\$DISPLAY- and then -!cp ~/.stata16/master_stata16.rc ~/.stata16/\$DISPLAY/stata16.rc- in my profile.do and then restarting Stata if needed. This is less ideal for a number of reasons, including that the preferences would be static.