public static long getTimeVar(Configuration conf, ConfVars var, TimeUnit outUnit) {
    assert var.defaultVal.getClass() == TimeValue.class;
    String val = conf.get(var.varname);

    if (val == null) {
      // Look for it under the old Hive name
      val = conf.get(var.hiveName);
    }

    if (val != null) {
      return convertTimeStr(val, ((TimeValue)var.defaultVal).unit, outUnit);
    } else {
      return outUnit.convert(((TimeValue)var.defaultVal).val, ((TimeValue)var.defaultVal).unit);
    }
  }
Get the variable as a long indicating a period of time
@param conf configuration to retrieve it from
@param var variable to retrieve
@param outUnit Timeout to return value in
@return value, or default value if value not in config file
standalone-metastore/metastore-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hive/metastore/conf/MetastoreConf.java