* Kevin McKinley ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) [030531 13:54]: > On Sat, 31 May 2003 11:57:39 -0600 > [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Bob Proulx) wrote: > > > Leandro Guimar?es Faria Corsetti Dutra wrote: > > > Perhaps not exactly, but wider: /etc/environment is meant to be used > > > by all shells, ... > > > > Really? Can someone point me to documentation or standards which > > describes the use and behavior of /etc/environment? > > /etc/environment seems to be an AIXism that's migrating to Linux. Googling > on "/etc/environment" will get you links to user information at universities > with AIX systems.
Specifically, it looks like it's used by the pam_env module. I haven't done testing to see where exactly its effects are seen, but this makes sense that the variables specified in /etc/environment get set in all "logins" (/bin/login, ?dm, ssh, etc.). Since it's not parsed by init or /etc/init.d/rc, I'd guess its variables are not set in, for example, init scripts, and possibly other scripts/daemons that are run without a user logging in an initiating them (notably, cron (and probably at) do use pam_env, though). The only mention I found regarding debian policy was a note from 1999 saying "we have no policy for /etc/environment, and we should." good times, Vineet -- http://www.doorstop.net/ -- http://www.aclu.org/ It's all about Freedom.
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