[NCLUG] /etc/environment

[Tim Swanson]

I'm having some trouble with environment variables. It could be that my 
problem is unsolvable, but I'm not sure.

I'm trying to create a set of shared (all users) environment variables to 
locate my various software packages. I want to use the value of 
previously-defined variables in the new ones. For example:

  DEVELOPMENT_HOME=/usr/local/development
  JAVA_PROJECT_HOME=$DEVELOPMENT_HOME/Java/projects

I started by editing the /etc/bash.bashrc file. That worked fine once I 
remembered to add "export". However, once I tried using the variables outside 
a terminal environment, they were no longer there. So in apps launched from 
the desktop environment, for example, I couldn't refer to them.

Some Googling convinced me that I needed to move the definitions to the 
/etc/environment file. That worked, but when I put the definitions in as 
above, the environment variables don't get recursively resolved. So I have 
this problem:

  $ echo $DEVELOPMENT_HOME
    /usr/local/development

  $ echo $JAVA_PROJECT_HOME
    $DEVELOPMENT_HOME/Java/projects

  $ cd $JAVA_PROJECT_HOME
    bash: cd: $DEVELOPMENT_HOME/Java/projects: No such file or directory

Can I do what I'm trying to do, or do I just have to define my environment 
variables without using other environment variables? Why does this work in 
/etc/bash.bashrc but not in /etc/environment?


Thanks,
Tim Swanson