Environment variables at login

[Christoph Kuenkel]

In article <956 at gara.une.oz>, wtoomey at gara.une.oz (Warren Toomey) writes:
> Could anybody tell me where I can put a list of environment variables
> [...] that everybody will get at login, regardless of which shell they login
We use the following scheme:

	- each interactive login shell (sh, csh, tcsh, ksh, whatever)
	  gets a link named ``-<usual name>'' (-sh, -csh, ...)
	- the systems bourne shell gets one extra link per login shell
	  named ``sh-<login shell>'' (sh-csh, sh-tcsh...)
	- any users gets one of the bourne shell links as login shell 
	    e.g. user:pw:uid:gid:gecos:home:/bin/sh-csh
	- any initialization (not only environment setting) is done
	  in /etc/profile
	- the last statement in /etc/profile overlays the bourne shell
	  with the real login shell, which is selected using $0

	    % grep -relevant /etc/profile
	    if [ $0 = -sh-csh ]; then
		SHELL=/bin/csh export SHELL
		exec -csh
	    fi
	    if [ $0 = sh-csh ]; then
		SHELL=/bin/csh export SHELL
		exec csh
	    fi
	    etc. pp.
	    # you could use a case statement instead...

the net effect is that any login shell will interpret /etc/profile using
/bin/sh and then start up the real shell which will still believe that its
the login shell (due to the -<name> linkname) [and thus will - for example -
execute ~/.login].

> I've tried putting them in /etc/rc, but for some reason they are not
> passed onto the children process at bootup time.
the shell which executes rc is a child of init just like all the gettys are.
so no environment is passed from rc to gettys :-(

And now my question for the wizards:  will the problem of setting up an
uniform process environment for any interactive and/or non-interactive
use be solved in a more elegant fashion in SysVR5 or in some BSD
version?
-- 
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Christoph Kuenkel/UniWare GmbH       Kantstr. 152, 1000 Berlin 12, West Germany
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