How to set environment variables permanently for one user

Question

Possible Duplicate:
How do I set a user environment variable? (permanently, not session)

I have a user XX and I want to set the env variables for it. I looked for .bash_profile in the home dir but there was none. SO, I tried with .bashrc, but when I try to see the env variables (printenv), my variables are not there. This is killing me. I tried for root, and it works. But it does not work for user XX.

$HOME/.bashrc or $HOME/.bash_profile should work. check for the file permission and ownership, it should be owned by user. and login and re-login, if your root user use 'su - userid' to swtich to user. — sfgroups, Aug 02 '12 at 02:58
There is no .bash_profile file. There is .bashrc and .profile — cindy, Aug 02 '12 at 03:42

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Aug 02 '12 at 02:06

0

export MYVARIABLE="variable-value"

This only works if user XX's default shell is bash since you added the variables in .bashrc.

answered Aug 02 '12 at 02:06

Hermes Conrad

119

sebnukem · Answer 2 · 2012-08-03T14:00:30.783

-1

It should work. You may need to have the user log back in or source the .bashrc file to reload it (. ~/.bashrc), but you shouldn't set your env. variables in .bashrc.

You can also create a new .bash_profile file containing XX's exports and modify his .bashrc to make sure it gets loaded with:

if [ -f ~/.bash_profile ]; then . ~/.bash_profile; fi

edited Aug 03 '12 at 14:00

answered Aug 02 '12 at 16:02

sebnukem

166

No, don't set environment variables in .bashrc. Set them in .profile. See Alternative to .bashrc – Gilles 'SO- stop being evil' Aug 02 '12 at 22:58

How to set environment variables permanently for one user

2 Answers2

Linked