Ubuntu Launcher Items Don't Have Correct Environment Vars under NX

Question

I've got an environment variable issue I'm having trouble resolving. I'm running Ubuntu (Karmic, 9.10) and coming in via NX (NoMachine) on a Mac.

I've added several environment variables in my .bashrc file, e.g.:

export JAVA_HOME=$HOME/dev/tools/Linux/jdk/jdk1.6.0_16/

Sitting at the machine, this environment variable is available on the command line, as well as for apps I launch from the Main Menu. Coming in over NX, however, the environment variable shows up correctly on the command line, but NOT when I launch things via the launcher.

As an example, I created a simple shell script called testpath in my home folder:

#!/bin/sh
echo $PATH && sleep 5
quit

I gave it execute privileges:

chmod +x testpath

And then I created a launcher item in my Main Menu that simply runs:

./testpath

When I'm sitting at the computer, this launcher runs and shows all the stuff I put into the $PATH variable in my .bashrc file (e.g. $JAVA_HOME, etc). But when I come in over NX, it shows a totally different value for the $PATH variable, despite the fact that if I launch a terminal window (still in NX), and type export $PATH, it shows up correctly.

I assume this has to do with which files are getting loaded by the windowing system over NX, and that it's some other file. But I have no idea how to fix it.

For the record, I also have a .profile file with the following in it:

# if running bash
if [ -n "$BASH_VERSION" ]; then
    # include .bashrc if it exists
    if [ -f "$HOME/.bashrc" ]; then
    . "$HOME/.bashrc"
    fi
fi

Answer 1

I admit I don't know anything about NX. I'll give this a shot though.

Was an NX specific user created in your /home directory? Maybe there is a .bashrc that needs to be modified there.

Are there NX configuration files in /etc that might let you provide environment variables?

Have you tried adding in your variables to a file that is applied to all accounts automatically like /etc/bashrc or /etc/bash.bashrc or /etc/profile?

Answer 2

I've never used NX but from what I've read it connects using standard ssh. It is possible to set environment variables for the ssh session by putting them in $HOME/.ssh/environment. Try adding your path to that file.