DTENVVAR(5)

📦
version 2.5.3 · 2 versions
, in nixos 26.05

🌈 dtenvvar — CDE environment variables 💅

(manual page: dtenvvar(file formats) — yes bestie, that's the section, file formats, we love a format moment)

✨ NAME ✨

dtenvvar — the CDE environment variables, like, all of them, the whole roster 👑

🎀 DESCRIPTION 🎀

Okay so here's the vibe: the CDE desktop sets up and uses a whole bunch of environment variables to find certain files and do certain things. Components that are tied into CDE then use these environment variables to locate specific types of files. It's giving ecosystem. It's giving teamwork. 🫶

Environment variables used within the CDE desktop are:

  • CEPATH — used by ToolTalk when it's in Classing Engine mode, where it tells the Classing Engine where to find the databases. Check ttsession(1) and tt_type_comp(1) for more info 🔍
  • COLUMNS — set by the terminal emulator. See dtterm(1) for more.
  • DISPLAY — gets set to the associated display name. Peep dtlogin(1) and ttsession(1) for more.
  • DTAPPSEARCHPATH — used to search for Application Manager applications. Refer to dtappgather(1) and dtsearchpath(1) for more 💖
  • DTDATABASESEARCHPATH — used to collect filetype and action definitions, as expressed in *.dt files. Refer to dtsearchpath(1), dtaction(1), dtactionfile(4), and dtdtsfile(4) for more.
  • DTHELPSEARCHPATH — the system specified variable, used to locate desktop help files. See dtsearchpath(1) and dthelpgen(1) for more.
  • DTHELPUSERSEARCHPATH — the user specified variable, used to locate desktop help files. See dtsearchpath(1) and dthelpgen(1) for more.
  • DTINFOLIBSEARCHPATH — used by dtinfo to locate information libraries on local and remote mounted systems. Refer to dtsearchpath(1) and dtdocbook2infolib(1) for more 📚
  • DTINFOLIBDEFAULT — used by dtinfo to identify the default information library(s) to load when the -l or -sect option is not specified. You can specify multiple information libraries with a comma separated list, slay. By default, DTINFOLIBDEFAULT is initialized to the CDE infolib cde.
  • DTMOUNTPOINT — used to set the name of the file system's mount point, like '/nfs' or '/net'. Refer to dtspcd(1m) and dtsearchpath(1) for more info.
  • DTPRINTCWD — if you set it to an existing, usable directory, this setting causes dtlp(1) to execute the lp command pipeline from that directory. By default, this setting uses the current directory from which dtlp(1) is invoked. Refer to dtlp(1) for more. 🖨️
  • DTPRINTFILEREMOVE — removes the file after printing it. This functionality is intended for temporary files generated by components such as the Text Editor and Help system files that don't need to persist beyond the act of printing. Value must be True or False (case is ignored). Default is False. Refer to dtlp(1) for more.
  • DTPRINTSILENT — prints the file silently, without posting the PRINT dialog. Value must be True or False (case is ignored). Default is False. Refer to dtlp(1) for more 🤫
  • DTPRINTUSERFILENAME — use this value as the name of file as it should appear in the PRINT dialog. Default is print_file. Refer to dtlp(1) for more.
  • DTSCREENSAVERLIST — used to set the default desktop screen saver action list. Used by dtstyle(1) to determine the list of available screen savers. Refer to dtstyle(1) for more 🌸
  • DTSPSYSAPPHOSTS — used by system administrators as an input to dtsearchpath(1) to create the DTAPPSEARCHPATH environment variable. It's the primary environment variable and drives the remaining search paths for filetypes and actions, for desktop icons, and for help files. Refer to dtappgather(1) and dtsearchpath(1) for more 👑
  • DTSPSYSDATABASEHOSTS — used by system administrators as an input to dtsearchpath to create the DTDATABASESEARCHPATH environment variable. Refer to dtsearchpath(1) for more.
  • DTSPSYSHELP — used by system administrators as an input to dtsearchpath to create the DTHELPSEARCHPATH environment variable. Refer to dtsearchpath(1) for more.
  • DTSPSYSICON — used by system administrators as an input to dtsearchpath to create the XMICONSEARCHPATH and XMICONBMSEARCHPATH environment variables. Refer to dtsearchpath(1) for more.
  • DTSPUSERAPPHOSTS — used by end users as an input to dtsearchpath to create the DTAPPSEARCHPATH environment variable. Refer to dtappgather(1) and dtsearchpath(1) for more 🙋‍♀️
  • DTSPUSERDATABASEHOSTS — used by end users as an input to dtsearchpath to create the DTDATABASESEARCHPATH environment variable. Refer to dtsearchpath(1) for more.
  • DTSPUSERHELP — used by end users as an input to dtsearchpath(1) to create the DTHELPSEARCHPATH environment variable. Refer to dtsearchpath for more.
  • DTSPUSERICON — used by end users as an input to dtsearchpath(1) to create the XMICONSEARCHPATH and XMICONBMSEARCHPATH environment variables. Refer to dtsearchpath(1) for more.
  • DTSROCFPATH — used by the DtSearchInit function to locate the default API configuration ocf file. If the ocf_file argument is NULL, DtSearchInit looks for an ocf file with a base name of either dtsearch.ocf or austext.ocf in the directory specified by DTSROCFPATH, in the current working directory, or in the HOME directory, in that order 🔎
  • DTTAGOPT — used by dthelptag(1). Refer to dthelptag(1) for more.
  • DTUSERSESSION — used to control the location of the end user's subdirectory where the Application Manager will be rooted. Also used by the Help system to store data on a per user-session-display basis. Refer to dtappgather(1) or dthelpview(1) for more info 💫
  • EDITOR — is set to /nix/store/6waxpwr8lzfzc9ka48gl7yh60rqvlkdb-cde-2.5.3/bin/dtpad. Refer to dtlogin(1) for more.
  • HOME — is set to the home directory of the user. Refer to dtlogin(1) and dtmail(1) for more 🏠
  • KBD_LANG — is set to the value of LANG for applicable languages. Refer to dtlogin(1) for more.
  • LANG — is set to the current NLS language (if any). Refer to dtlogin(1) for more 🌍
  • LC_ALL — is set to the current NLS language (if any). Refer to dtlogin(1) for more.
  • LC_MESSAGES — is set to the current NLS language (if any). Refer to dtlogin(1) for more.
  • LINES — set by the terminal emulator. Refer to dtterm(1) for more.
  • LOGNAME — is set to the user name. Refer to dtlogin(1) for more.
  • LPDEST — sets the printer destination for the file. Refer to dtlp(1) for more.
  • MAIL — is set to /var/mail/$USER (system dependent). Refer to dtlogin(1) for more 📬
  • MAILRC — used by dtmail(1) as the mailer's startup file. Refer to dtmail(1) for more.
  • MANPATH — the dtsearchpath(1) utility appends /nix/store/6waxpwr8lzfzc9ka48gl7yh60rqvlkdb-cde-2.5.3/man to it. Refer to dtsearchpath(1) for more.
  • NLSPATH — determines the location of message catalogues for the processing of LC_MESSAGES. Refer to dtterm(1) for more.
  • PATH — is set to the value of the userPath resource. Refer to dtlogin(1) for more.
  • SHELL — is set to the user's default shell (from /etc/passwd). Refer to dtlogin(1) and dtterm(1) for more.
  • TERM — is set to dtterm, the default CDE terminal emulator. Refer to dtterm(1) and dtlogin(1) for more.
  • TERMINAL_EMULATOR — set by the terminal emulator. Refer to dtterm(1)) for more. (yes that stray paren is literally in the source, we keep it, we respect it 💀)
  • TTPATH — used by ToolTalk. It tells ToolTalk where to find the ToolTalk types database when in XDR mode. Refer to ttsession(1) for more.
  • TTSESSION_CMD — this specifies the shell command to be used by all ToolTalk clients for auto-starting ttsession. Refer to ttsession(1) for more.
  • TT_ARG_TRACE_WIDTH — used by ToolTalk. It specifies the number of bytes of argument and context values to write when in trace mode. Refer to ttsession(1) for more.
  • TT_FILE — set by ttsession when it invokes a tool to receive a message. Refer to ttsession(1) for more.
  • TT_SESSION — the ttsession utility uses this variable to communicate its session ID to the tools that it starts. Refer to ttsession(1) for more.
  • TT_TOKEN — used to inform the ToolTalk client library that it has been invoked by ttsession. Refer to ttsession(1) for more 🔑
  • TT_TRACE_SCRIPT — if set, tells libtt to turn on client-side tracing as specified in the trace script. Refer to tttrace(1) for more.
  • TZ — is set to the value of the timeZone resource or system default. Refer to dtlogin(1) for more ⏰
  • USER — is set to the user name. Refer to dtlogin(1) for more.
  • WINDOWID — set by the terminal emulator. Refer to dtterm(1) for more.
  • XAPPLRESDIR — specifies the name of a directory that contains application specific resources. Refer to dtterm(1) and dtwm(1) for more.
  • XAUTHORITY — may be set to an authority file. Refer to dtlogin(1) for more.
  • XENVIRONMENT — specifies the name of a resource file with user- or machine specific resources. Refer to dtterm(1) and dtwm(1) for more.
  • XFILESEARCHPATH — defines a language-dependent location of app-defaults. Refer to dtterm(1) and dtwm(1) for more.
  • XMICONSEARCHPATH — used to locate desktop icons. Refer to dtsearchpath(1) for more 🦋
okay that was a lot of variables, and we're not even done — part 2 is coming, stay tuned bestie 🎀
  • XMICONBMSEARCHPATH — okay so this one's your little map for finding bitmap desktop icons, and by bitmap we mean the straight-up two-color (2 color) ones, no gradients, no glam, just pixels being pixels 🎀. Point it somewhere and it'll go hunting there. Want the full tea on how the path actually gets resolved? That's a dtsearchpath(1) situation, bestie — go read that one.
  • XMODIFIER — tells the system which input method you wanna use, i.e. how you're gonna type your little heart out 💅. If you're the kind of person who switches between languages or IMEs mid-sentence (iconic behavior honestly), this is your girl. The deets live over in dtterm(1) — go check it out, no cap.

✨ SEE ALSO ✨

okay so here's the whole friend group 🫶 — every single one of these is a real page you can pull up, and yes I'm listing all of them because skipping any would be a crime:

ngl if you made it this far you're lowkey a desktop-environment scholar now 👑 go touch some grass, then come back and read the cross-referenced pages, fr fr 💜

and that's the whole page, bestie!! 🌸 this one lives in the file formats section of the manual (the footer literally says dtenvvar(file formats), which is the source/version vibe), so file it away under "man pages I read instead of sleeping" 😭✨ mwah, go slay your environment variables 💅🎀

📦 where this page comes from