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Annotated edit history of EnvironmentVariable version 13 showing authors affecting page license. View with all changes included.
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5 JohnMcPherson 1 A crude, simple means of InterProcessCommunication, often used for trivial configuration needs.
2
3 AddToMe: inherited by child processes, cannot be changed at runtime from outside process, etc.
4
5 Invoke [printenv(1)] to print a list of the current values of all the [EnvironmentVariable]s in the invoking process.
6
7 Since [make(1)] often uses [EnvironmentVariable]s named after commands to store the path to command in question, such names should be avoided for other purposes. Examples include <tt>CC</tt>, <tt>BISON</tt>, <tt>YACC</tt>, <tt>LEX</tt>, <tt>FLEX</tt>, <tt>F77</tt>, <tt>LD</tt> etc. It also uses the <tt>FLAGS</tt> suffix for default flags to pass a command, eg: <tt>CFLAGS</tt>, <tt>LDFLAGS</tt>, etc.
8
9 ----
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9 LawrenceDoliveiro 11 !! A list of environment variables consulted by commonly used programs, libraries etc
5 JohnMcPherson 12
6 AristotlePagaltzis 13 ''No claims as to comprehensiveness or correctness made.''
5 JohnMcPherson 14
6 AristotlePagaltzis 15 <tt>APT_CONFIG</tt>:
16 see [apt.conf(5)]
17 <tt>ASPELL_CONF</tt>:
18 Configuration file for aspell, see [aspell(1)]
19 <tt>BROWSER</tt>:
20 The user's prefered browser (see [The BROWSER project | http:/catb.org/~esr/BROWSER/])
21 <tt>BZCAT</tt>:
22 Command line arguments for bzcat
23 <tt>BZIP2</tt>:
24 Command line arguments for BZIP2
25 <tt>COLUMNS</tt>:
26 Number of columns on the screen
27 <tt>DEAD</tt>:
28 used by [Mail(1)] apparently.
29 <tt>DISPLAY</tt>:
30 Current [X(1)] display
31 <tt>EDITOR</tt>:
32 Users prefered program to edit text files
33 <tt>ftp_proxy</tt>:
34 ftp proxy server, used by various programs (eg see [apt.conf(5)], [lynx(1)], [wget(1)], ...)
35 <tt>HOME</tt>:
36 Home directory
37 <tt>HOSTALIASES</tt>:
38 Path to host aliases file, see [hostname(7)].
39 <tt>HOSTFILE</tt>:
40 Path to <tt>/etc/hosts</tt>
41 <tt>http_proxy</tt>:
42 http proxy server, used by various programs (eg see [apt.conf(5)], [lynx(1)], [wget(1)], ...)
43 <tt>[HZ]</tt>:
44 Kernel timer mechanism
45 <tt>IFS</tt>:
46 Internal Field Seperator, used for word splitting in shells, see [bash(1)]
47 <tt>INPUTRC</tt>:
48 Path to .inputrc file. see [bash(1)]
49 <tt>LANG</tt>:
50 The name of the locale to use for locale categories. See [locale(5)]
51 <tt>LC_ADDRESS</tt>:
52 Locale settings, see [locale(1)]
53 <tt>LC_ALL</tt>:
54 Locale settings, see [locale(1)]
55 <tt>LC_COLLATE</tt>:
56 Locale settings, see [locale(1)]
57 <tt>LC_CTYPE</tt>:
58 Locale settings, see [locale(1)]
59 <tt>LC_IDENTIFICATION</tt>:
60 Locale settings, see [locale(1)]
61 <tt>LC_MEASUREMENT</tt>:
62 Locale settings, see [locale(1)]
63 <tt>LC_MESSAGES</tt>:
64 Locale settings, see [locale(1)]
65 <tt>LC_MONETARY</tt>:
66 Locale settings, see [locale(1)]
67 <tt>LC_NAME</tt>:
68 Locale settings, see [locale(1)]
69 <tt>LC_NUMERIC</tt>:
70 Locale settings, see [locale(1)]
71 <tt>LC_PAPER</tt>:
72 Locale Paper size, see [locale(1)]
73 <tt>LC_TELEPHONE</tt>:
74 Locale settings, see [locale(1)]
75 <tt>LD_AOUT_LIBRARY_PATH</tt>:
76 LD_LIBRARY_PATH for a.out binaries
77 <tt>LD_AOUT_PRELOAD</tt>:
78 LD_PRELOAD for a.out binaries
9 LawrenceDoliveiro 79 <tt>LD_ASSUME_KERNEL</tt>:
13 LawrenceDoliveiro 80 used to control the choice of threading implementation by [pthreads(7)], and [other things as well|http://people.redhat.com/drepper/assumekernel.html].
6 AristotlePagaltzis 81 <tt>LD_BIND_NOW</tt>:
82 Disable lazy linking, see [ld.so(8)]
83 <tt>LD_KEEPDIR</tt>:
84 Don't ignore directory names of a.out libraries. see [ld.so(8)]
85 <tt>LD_LIBRARY_PATH</tt>:
86 Path to search for libraries, see [ld.so(8)]
87 <tt>LD_NOWARN</tt> :
88 Suppress warnings of a.out minor version differences, see [ld.so(8)]
89 <tt>LD_PRELOAD</tt>:
90 Libraries to load before all others, see [ld.so(8)]
91 <tt>LD_TRACE_LOADED_OBJECTS</tt>:
92 Give ldd output instead of running, see [ld.so(8)]
93 <tt>LESSANSIENDCHARS</tt>:
94 see [less(1)]
95 <tt>LESSBINFMT</tt>:
96 see [less(1)]
97 <tt>LESSCHARDEF</tt>:
98 Charset definition for [less(1)]
99 <tt>LESSCHARSET</tt>:
100 Charset used by [less(1)] to display.
101 <tt>LESSCLOSE</tt>:
102 see [less(1)]
103 <tt>LESSECHO</tt>:
104 see [less(1)]
105 <tt>LESSEDIT</tt>:
106 Editor used by [less(1)]
107 <tt>LESSGLOBALTAGS</tt>:
108 see [less(1)]
109 <tt>LESSKEY</tt>:
110 Name of the [lesskey(1)] file
111 <tt>LESSKEY_SYSTEM</tt>:
112 Name of the system wide [lesskey(1)] file
113 <tt>LESSMETAESCAPE</tt>:
114 see [less(1)]
115 <tt>LESSOPEN</tt>:
116 [less(1)] preprocessor
117 <tt>LESS</tt>:
118 options passed to [less(1)] automatically
119 <tt>LESSSECURE</tt>:
120 Put [less(1)] into secure mode.
121 <tt>LESSSEPERATOR</tt>:
122 used by [less(1)]
123 <tt>LINES</tt>:
124 Number of lines on the screen
125 <tt>LISTER</tt>:
126 Used by [Mail(1)], obsolete version of <tt>PAGER</tt>?
127 <tt>LOCALDOMAIN</tt>:
128 Local domain, see [hostname(7)]
129 <tt>LOGNAME</tt>:
130 The name of the logged in user
131 <tt>LPDEST</tt>:
132 Default printer
133 <tt>MAILCHECK</tt>:
134 How often to check for mail (in seconds), see [bash(1)]
135 <tt>MAIL</tt>:
136 File for the shell to check for mail, see [bash(1)]
137 <tt>MAILPATH</tt>:
138 Files for the shell to check for mail, see [bash(1)]
139 <tt>[MALLOC_CHECK_]</tt>:
140 Change the implementation of [malloc(3)] to catch more bugs.
141 <tt>MANPATH</tt>:
142 Path to search for man pages
143 <tt>MBOX</tt>:
144 Path to mbox file? see [Mail(1)]
145 <tt>NGPRNTER</tt>:
146 Default printer, see [lpr(1)]
147 <tt>NPRINTER</tt>:
148 Default printer, see [lpr(1)]
149 <tt>PAGER</tt>:
150 The user's prefered pager program
151 <tt>PATH</tt>:
152 Path to search for programs
153 <tt>[POSIXLY_CORRECT]</tt>:
154 Makes programs/libraries adhere to strict [POSIX] requirements.
155 <tt>PRINTER</tt>:
156 Default printer
12 AristotlePagaltzis 157 <tt>PROMPT_COMMAND</tt>:
158 Command for the shell to run every time it displays a prompt, see [bash(1)]
159 <tt>PS1</tt>:
160 Shell prompt; see [bash(1)], particularly the __PROMPTING__ section for info on how to change the shell prompt.
161 <br><tt>PS1='\e[31m\A\e[0m \u@\h:\w>'</tt> looks quite nice :)
162 <tt>PS2</tt>:
163 Secondary Shell prompt, displayed when a previous line continues; see [bash(1)]. (You will see this prompt if you forget to close a quote.)
164 <tt>PS3</tt>:
165 Shell prompt, see [bash(1)]
166 <tt>PS4</tt>:
167 Shell prompt, see [bash(1)]
168 <tt>PWD</tt>:
6 AristotlePagaltzis 169 Process Working Directory (set by some shells)
170 <tt>REPLYTO</tt>:
171 Used by [Mail(1)], reply to address?
172 <tt>RESOLV_ADD_TRIM_DOMAINS</tt>:
173 Adds to Trim Domains, see [resolv+(8)]
174 <tt>RESOLV_HOST_CONF</tt>:
175 Filename of <tt>/etc/host.conf</tt>. see [resolv+(8)], [host.conf(5)]
176 <tt>RESOLV_MULTI</tt>:
177 Overrides "multi" keyword from <tt>/etc/host.conf</tt>, see [resolv+(8)]
178 <tt>RESOLV_OVERRIDE_TRIM_DOMAINS</tt>:
179 Overrides Tirm Domains from <tt>/etc/host.conf</tt>, see [resolv+(8)]
180 <tt>RESOLV_REORDER</tt>:
181 Overrides the "reorder" keyword from <tt>/etc/host.conf</tt>, see [resolv+(8)]
182 <tt>RESOLV_SERV_ORDER</tt>:
183 Overrides "order" keyword in <tt>/etc/host.conf</tt>, see [resolv+(8)]
184 <tt>RESOLV_SPOOF_CHECK</tt>:
185 Sets Spoof Checking see [resolv+(8)]
186 <tt>SHELL</tt>:
187 The user's shell
188 <tt>SSH_ASKPASS</tt>:
189 Used by [ssh(1)]
190 <tt>SSH_AUTH_SOCK</tt>:
191 Used by [ssh(1)]
192 <tt>SSH_CLIENT</tt>:
193 Used by [ssh(1)]
194 <tt>SSH_ORIGINAL_COMMAND</tt>:
195 Used by [ssh(1)]
196 <tt>SSH_TTY</tt>:
197 Used by [ssh(1)]
198 <tt>SYSTEM</tt>:
199 Operating System, used by [apropos(1)]
200 <tt>TERMCAP</tt>:
201 Terminal type capabilities file
202 <tt>TERM</tt>:
203 The terminal type
204 <tt>TIMEFORMAT</tt>:
205 format of the [time(1)] command, see [time(1)] and [bash(1)]
206 <tt>TMOUT</tt>:
207 Timeout for shells to log you out, see [bash(1)]
208 <tt>TMPDIR</tt>:
8 PerryLorier 209 Directory for temp files, see [tempnam(3)], [sort(1)] etc See PerUserTempDirs
6 AristotlePagaltzis 210 <tt>TZDIR</tt>:
211 Set TimeZone information
212 <tt>TZ</tt>:
213 Set TimeZone information, [tzset(1)]
214 <tt>USER</tt>:
215 The currently logged in user
216 <tt>VISUAL</tt>:
217 The user's prefered visual editor