environment variables store certain settings/values that are needed by programs on your machine. it allows you to specify the settings/values in a central location. environment variables are usually stored in /etc/profile (for access by all users) or /home/user/.bashrc (for access by only "user").
for example, a lot of programs that use java need to know where your java virtual machine (jvm) is located. you can store the location of your jvm in the environment variable in one of the above files as: JAVA_VM=/usr/java/jvm/sun/131_01/bin export JAVA_VM then, a program, which needs to know where you jvm is located, you can simply specify (in one that application's configuration files) $JAVA_VM. then you don't have to write out the entire path. also, when you change the path for your JAVA_VM, you won't have to update each configuration file. just the JAVA_VM "environment variable". in short, environment variables can be thought of as a type of alias... At 17:36 01/12/09 -0300, you wrote: >These days i've read about the environment variables in this list but i don't >know what they are > >Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? >Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com
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