Re: Setting enviroment variables

["Larry W. Virden" <lvirden cas org>]

From: Joe Kelsey <joek mail flyingcroc net>

> GDM sources ~/.profile as part of Xsession.  Therefore, all subprocesses 
> of gnome-session inheirit the environment set up by GDM/Xsession.

This actually came up as a problem last week for us.

GDM reads .profile pretty early in the process, then, as it goes to start
the gnome session, prepends /usr/bin to the front of the $PATH .

This results in an environment where the user is unable to set, within
his/her .profile, $PATH in a way that newer versions of applications
that may live in other directories than /usr/bin .

For instance, as new versions of java come in house, they are NOT installed
as the /usr/bin version - instead, they are installed elsewhere and
only after sufficient testing do they go into /usr/bin.

Users before GNOME were able to set their $PATH in $HOME/.profile and
know that during the login process, that PATH would be used to locate
applications.

Now, with GDM putting /usr/bin unconditionally in front of the newer
versions of those directories, older versions of java are being picked up.

Of course, the same is true for any other command in /usr/bin ...

-- 
Tcl - The glue of a new generation.  <URL: http://wiki.tcl.tk/ >
Larry W. Virden <mailto:lvirden cas org> <URL: http://www.purl.org/NET/lvirden/>
Even if explicitly stated to the contrary, nothing in this posting should 
be construed as representing my employer's opinions.
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