Please no: [OS X TeX] set environment variables forapplications

[Gerben Wierda]

On May 25, 2004, at 4:16 PM, Kino wrote:

> On May 25, 2004, at 20:57, Gerben Wierda wrote:
>
>> I think that if you want to set environment variables for a 
>> subprocess of a GUI application, you should set these for that 
>> application only. You can implement that by setting these in the GUI 
>> of the app, store them in the app preferences, and then apply them to 
>> every subprocess you create.
>
> Ah, I understand. Perhaps you are right. But this would not change the 
> situation for me. As far as I know, there is no other way to set $PATH 
> for shell commands or those contained in User Scripts executed in 
> ProjectBuilder/Xcode and, via TextExtras, in other Cocoa apps.
>
> Even if it were possible to set it per application, I would prefer 
> setting $PATH for them generally. Otherwise, it would be difficult to 
> keep the consistency.

Yes. But suppose you add /sw/bin to the start of your PATH and as a 
result a different version of a command is used and your application 
which uses a subprocess that now suddenly fails. And how do you know 
why?

> But still I don't understand what the problem is. Does $PATH affect 
> your packages? In the installation process? $PATH set in the 
> environment.plist is not effective for commands executed in Terminal 
> if I'm not mistaken.

It is not only PATH. If someone sets TEXMFMAIN because some app wants 
that and suddenly TeX starts behaving different (failing) during 
configuration. People then write me.

And for the rest you are correct. It does not effect the shell in 
Terminal. But my app does not use Terminal.

G

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