code: def _check_global_settings():
      
      global settings
      if settings is not None:
          #We must have already loaded this and everything was okay!
          return True
      
      from os import getenv
      result = False
      
      if getenv("PYCI_XML") is None:
          err("The environment variable PYCI_XML for the global configuration "
              "has not been set.")
      else:
          from os import path
          fullpath = path.abspath(path.expanduser(getenv("PYCI_XML")))
          if not path.isfile(fullpath):
              err("The file {} for global configuration does not exist.".format(fullpath))
          else:
              from pyci.config import GlobalSettings
              settings = GlobalSettings()
              result = True
  
      return result
docs: Makes sure that the global settings environment variable and file
      exist for configuration.