UIMA descriptors have an XML construct that can be used in UIMA
descriptors to reference the value of environmental variables, called
<envVarRef>.
But this is misnamed, and misleading to users. It actually substitutes
the value of the Java System property (if one exists). The
documentation says:
In several places throughout the descriptor, it is possible to
reference environment
variables. In Java, these are actually references to Java system
properties. To reference
system environment variables from a Java analysis engine you must
pass the environment
variables into the Java virtual machine by using the -D option on
the java command line.
This seems like a poor design. The Component Descriptor Editor (CDE)
doesn't support using this.
Here are some alternatives to discuss:
1) removing this capability.
2) changing the implementation of this to get environmental variables,
not Java System property values
How does this work in the C++ version (it obviously can't get Java
System properties, it seems)?
-Marshall
