How to set system-wide environment variables in Linux

Last updated on November 22, 2020 by Dan Nanni

Set System-wide Environment Variables on CentOS or RHEL

In RHEL-based Linux, login shell executes /etc/profile script when a user logs in. This script customizes environment variables for all users system-wide. The script /etc/profile also sources all the scripts placed in /etc/profile.d directory. Therefore, in order to set system-wide environment variables in RHEL-based Linux, you can create a custom file with .sh extension in /etc/profile.d as follows.

$ sudo vi /etc/profile.d/proxy.sh

export http_proxy=http://my.proxy.com:8000
export https_proxy=http://my.proxy.com:8000

If the proxy requires authentication, you can specify username and password as well.

export http_proxy=http://username:[email protected]:8000
export https_proxy=http://username:[email protected]:8000

Set System-wide Environment Variables on Ubuntu or Debian

Debian-based systems do not use /etc/profile.d directory. Therefore, in order to set system-wide environment in Ubuntu or Debian, you can use /etc/environment instead.

$ sudo vi /etc/environment

http_proxy=http://my.proxy.com:8000
https_proxy=http://my.proxy.com:8000

For proxy with authentication:

http_proxy=http://username:[email protected]:8000
https_proxy=http://username:[email protected]:8000

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