Enviroment variable for 2 directories

[Bruce Baillie]

I have an enviroment variable that points to a vendor supplied directory. I would like to include a directory with user data. I was told I could do something like this and the 2 directories would look as one. But it doesn't work.

SYMBOL_LIB=/users/symbol_lib
SYMBOL_LIB=${SYMBOL_LIB};/vendor/symbol_lib

[Robert-Jan Goossens]

Hi,

Try the same with :

SYMBOL_LIB=/users/symbol_lib
SYMBOL_LIB=${SYMBOL_LIB}:/vendor/symbol_lib

# echo $SYMBOL_LIB

regards,
Robert-Jan

[David Child_1]

I don't see how the environment variable is going to make two directories look like one.

If these are libraries you want your applcation to access then as long as the application(s) in question search for libraries via the $SYMBOL_LIB variable then it should work. Basically, using the example settings you listed above, the application would first look for a library in /users/symbol_lib, then if not found it will look in /vendor/symbol_lib.

Ensure that the application will use $SYMBOL_LIB. Usually you would set $SHLIB_PATH for shared library paths so double check that.

David

[Patrick Wallek]

It depends entirely on what the environment variable is being used for. If the vendors program is expecting only one item in the environment variable then anything you do is likely to break it.

If it is a search path, then you should be able to do something like:

# export SYMBOL_LIB=$SYMBOL_LIB:/vendor/symbol_lib

Note the use of the ':' (colon) character to separate the two items. In your example you have a ';' (semi-colon) which will not work.

[Manish Srivastava]

Hi,

The second definetion has a ";"
SYMBOL_LIB=${SYMBOL_LIB};/vendor/symbol_lib

replace it with ":". I think you must have got some error message too.

manish

[Bruce Baillie]

I didn't realize it would be this difficult, or not possible. First off the EV is not set, it is read from a file when the application is started. I tried many different combinations, none of which worked.

SYMBOL_LIB=/vendor/symbol_lib works fine
SYMBOL_LIB=/users/symbol_lib works fine

SYMBOL_LIB=/vendor/symbol_lib:/users/symbol_lib does not work

[Patrick Wallek]

You really need to know how the env var is being used.

If it is used in a program or script and doing something like:

${SYMBOL_LIB}/filename

then what you want to do will not work because then it would resolve to a path like:

/usrs/symbol_lib:/vendor/symbol_lib/filename

which is an invalid path.

[Bruce Baillie]

Patrick, that is exactly what is happening. I guess there is no way to do it. The only reason I pursued this is, someone running the same application on a Windows machine can append the 2 directories this way.

[Sridhar Bhaskarla]

Bruce,

Patrick had the answer. Unless this variable is used as a search path like $PATH, $SHLIB_PATH, $MANPATH etc., within your application, it is not going to work. If it is used as a search path for looking up symbols, then you will need to ask your application vendor on how they designed it to be.

-Sri

[Bruce Baillie]

The application is using it as a working directory with read/writes.

[Mel Burslan]

as Patric W. indicated above, unless your application is written with this possibility in mind, i.e., this variable being used as a search path rather than a directory, it will not work. You need to talk to the developers of this application.

also, if the application is making a search in this directory to find its files, i.e., there are multiple leve directories underneath it which the application needs to access, you cann symbollicaly link your new directory under the existing one and when the search is performed, it will include this one as well.

[KapilRaj]

U hv tried it all .. Why not try with a space between the directories ?

Kaps