Are there any alternatives to adding to the PATH environment variable in Windows?

Question

Many applications (specially developer tools) require that you add the path to the PATH enviroment variable in Windows. I know what is does, but for me this feels low-level

Aren't there any alternatives for this and other environment variables, causing the same effect in Windows? E.g. could the software be developed in a different way and manage this with another technique?

Answer 1

No, not really.

Of course software could be developed to use another var, but windows would have to use it to search for binaries for as well.

You can create yourself a script to only extend the PATH variable with your dev-tools paths when you need them, otherwise remove them again.

In Linux there’s the source command which the firefox jetpack sdk uses for example, which uses a sub-bash. Dunno if windows has something like that as well. That would be another / best option.

Answer 2

The only other solution is to put all files in the same directory as the executable, so that the path is not required for accessing the files. Or define a shortcut for the executable with a default path name.

This solution is used by many applications, for exactly this reason : avoid adding themselves to the PATH.

Answer 3

It would be "Low-level", if you implement LD_PRELOAD by hooking some FileOpen() call, not by placing .dll to a program's folder. Some aufs/unionfs implementation may be another solution.