--- /dev/null
+#ifndef __VIENNA_RNA_PACKAGE_DIST_VARS_H__
+#define __VIENNA_RNA_PACKAGE_DIST_VARS_H__
+
+/**
+ * \file dist_vars.h
+ * \brief Global variables for Distance-Package
+ */
+
+/**
+ * \brief Produce an alignment of the two structures being compared by
+ * tracing the editing path giving the minimum distance.
+ *
+ * set to 1 if you want backtracking
+ */
+extern int edit_backtrack;
+
+/**
+ * \brief Contains the two aligned structures after a call to one of the distance
+ * functions with #edit_backtrack set to 1.
+ */
+extern char *aligned_line[4];
+
+/**
+ * \brief Specify the cost matrix to be used for distance calculations
+ *
+ * if 0, use the default cost matrix (upper matrix in example), otherwise
+ * use Shapiro's costs (lower matrix).
+ */
+extern int cost_matrix;
+
+/* Global type defs for Distance-Package */
+
+typedef struct {
+ int type;
+ int weight;
+ int father;
+ int sons;
+ int leftmostleaf;
+ } Postorder_list;
+
+typedef struct {
+ Postorder_list *postorder_list;
+ int *keyroots;
+ } Tree;
+
+typedef struct {
+ int type;
+ int sign;
+ float weight;
+ } swString;
+#endif