Duplicate entries in various environment variables

OpenSubmitted by Chris Marusich.
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4 participants
  • Chris Marusich
  • Leo Prikler
  • Leo Famulari
  • Ludovic Courtès
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Chris Marusich wrote on 26 Mar 2016 04:59
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(address . bug-guix@gnu.org)
874mbt28k4.fsf@gmail.com
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Hi,
I've noticed that my environment variables contain duplicate (sometimesmore) entries. This occurs regardless of whether the user logs indirectly via a tty or via a desktop environment like GNOME.
This behavior should be reproducible. I created a new user to testthis. When I logged into GNOME on GuixSD (built via "guix systemreconfigure" using git commit 43a58615bfc37a053ddaca1fcf11af5c14c0b4b6)as the new user, I opened up the "Terminal" program (which launched bashas an interactive, non-login shell). I then typed
Toggle snippet (3 lines)env > /tmp/myenv
Then, I analyzed the results. First, I defined a little helper functionto do the analysis. For each environment variable, it counts the numberof times each colon-delimited entry occurs in that environment variableand prints them out:
Toggle snippet (10 lines)count_env_var_occurrences () { for environment_variable in $(cat $1 | cut -d = -f 1 | sort); do echo $environment_variable; cat $1 | grep ^${environment_variable}= | cut -d = -f 2 | tr : '\n' | sort | uniq -c; done}
Then I ran it, and got the following results:
Toggle snippet (166 lines)$ count_env_var_occurrences /tmp/myenv _ 1 /run/current-system/profile/bin/envDBUS_FATAL_WARNINGS 1 0DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS 1 abstract 1 unixDISPLAY 1 1 0.0GIO_EXTRA_MODULES 9 /gnu/store/lbkdykh3aa1469li01rwyya02q50r3b9-glib-2.46.1/lib/gio/modules 1 /gnu/store/ygn4vavcgr79p86jrlmvdycjs81ki4dl-dconf-0.24.0/lib/gio/modules 1 /run/current-system/profile/lib/gio/modulesGIT_SSL_CAINFO 1 /etc/ssl/certs/ca-certificates.crtGI_TYPELIB_PATH 1 /gnu/store/1sp33d4j5gx2xd64mncc30q0x01hjbf4-cogl-1.22.0/lib/girepository-1.0 1 /gnu/store/38ir3s81qxhbpa8v8rwf8cbjdcmsr2q0-atk-2.18.0/lib/girepository-1.0 1 /gnu/store/3k8lhk39979kbi3m26fa191wq5jgxf7f-polkit-0.113/lib/girepository-1.0 1 /gnu/store/5l1fab8vi6zpiy8m61aiv2qbr8gfsjha-json-glib-1.0.4/lib/girepository-1.0 1 /gnu/store/67a1962vx46b5shf3myxi23jvziwaclj-gdm-3.18.2/lib/girepository-1.0 1 /gnu/store/73wzvqzffyx867r1rbck5w65by6lbapy-gnome-bluetooth-3.18.1/lib/girepository-1.0 1 /gnu/store/apf78hww8abnhsg0pr6d00gc5w1g7y5h-libgweather-3.18.1/lib/girepository-1.0 1 /gnu/store/b2qdk8kxcb6ls2hdbzgv51smljk2bqh3-clutter-1.24.2/lib/girepository-1.0 1 /gnu/store/bxb7i5qiml1vlxbsks4fxnv4vv5pzac3-gnome-desktop-3.18.1/lib/girepository-1.0 1 /gnu/store/cr289j8247p0mv39j26l4gxbdf6b7g11-network-manager-1.0.10/lib/girepository-1.0 1 /gnu/store/dzdqr0yh7csf3j4ash6akzxjdbqgfln2-network-manager-applet-1.0.10/lib/girepository-1.0 1 /gnu/store/fqp33841n42qn6qx3ma1w9xyq329abyh-gst-plugins-base-1.6.3/lib/girepository-1.0 1 /gnu/store/g7ii95bmy2aq4z5x17wvsqlz4f8lmn5a-gcr-3.18.0/lib/girepository-1.0 1 /gnu/store/h4p0b9qp1v1pxnmlgdpcy53xxddjzajp-gobject-introspection-1.46.0/lib/girepository-1.0 1 /gnu/store/hkl1hwx7cqgb23115rnacin4lywy39fq-libxklavier-5.3/lib/girepository-1.0 1 /gnu/store/l2qcfja7vspdki8birvm80xs82acm2va-gdk-pixbuf-2.32.3/lib/girepository-1.0 1 /gnu/store/m67pffz37qvkr63a7d5i92z10cwznsy9-accountsservice-0.6.40/lib/girepository-1.0 1 /gnu/store/mfdgb0i95bf4j89zc4mnnbd6hp3v08yx-at-spi2-core-2.18.1/lib/girepository-1.0 1 /gnu/store/p79p86324sb5yc80m21nk7q8cjsixb3s-libgee-0.18.0/lib/girepository-1.0 1 /gnu/store/pc9w7sz63d0mims6hbxnzc47g3jy55id-pango-1.38.1/lib/girepository-1.0 1 /gnu/store/pil657vzrprd2bfdhg7q8vhd3f6jwzpb-libsoup-2.52.1/lib/girepository-1.0 1 /gnu/store/rdmyj3ylsfbw57kpdgi9iz15s7xfzxzr-libsecret-0.18.3/lib/girepository-1.0 1 /gnu/store/rjhhm5ixkmgqpxfiik6k1rncwrvdz0z1-upower-0.99.3/lib/girepository-1.0 1 /gnu/store/rsywwl626s8fmmwf154sn2x9si62b4k1-evolution-data-server-3.18.2/lib/girepository-1.0 1 /gnu/store/s1nig50yjs5g6fnbl29dyi0d6cp1vza9-telepathy-glib-0.24.1/lib/girepository-1.0 1 /gnu/store/sm1i06dhgpkhvgj2bhcn6nfi275slgjz-gsettings-desktop-schemas-3.18.0/lib/girepository-1.0 1 /gnu/store/sqd3q1xq5fsbga00bwhghi9shi7xdaac-gtk+-3.18.2/lib/girepository-1.0 1 /gnu/store/vmh2w8bsh5w3arrrkcvb468j98nvbjqf-gstreamer-1.6.3/lib/girepository-1.0 1 /gnu/store/ymx1l8l2gm1jmljh5y24p4f5gk8i2j3c-caribou-0.4.19/lib/girepository-1.0 1 /gnu/store/z2dh08qp3k1829dcsz7wcrinccmj6743-ibus-1.5.11/lib/girepository-1.0 1 /gnu/store/zlq812qd3cykkizdip0l7qw7m2pffj1h-telepathy-logger-0.8.2/lib/girepository-1.0 1 /gnu/store/zvi3k12q95i992gnvhddqs0iildyz4lp-harfbuzz-1.0.6/lib/girepository-1.0GJS_DEBUG_OUTPUT 1 stderrGJS_DEBUG_TOPICS 1 JS ERROR;JS LOGGNOME_DESKTOP_SESSION_ID 1 this-is-deprecatedGST_PLUGIN_PATH 1 /home/alice/.guix-profile/lib/gstreamer-1.0GTK_PATH 3 /gnu/store/7hdyj0dkzp3dbl878g042g300yycasrx-libcanberra-0.30/lib/gtk-3.0 9 /gnu/store/sqd3q1xq5fsbga00bwhghi9shi7xdaac-gtk+-3.18.2/lib/gtk-3.0 3 /gnu/store/ymx1l8l2gm1jmljh5y24p4f5gk8i2j3c-caribou-0.4.19/lib/gtk-3.0 3 /gnu/store/z2dh08qp3k1829dcsz7wcrinccmj6743-ibus-1.5.11/lib/gtk-3.0GUILE_LOAD_COMPILED_PATH 1 /run/current-system/profile/lib/guile/2.0/ccache 1 /run/current-system/profile/share/guile/site/2.0GUILE_LOAD_PATH 1 /run/current-system/profile/share/guile/site/2.0GUIX_GTK2_PATH 1 /run/current-system/profile/lib/gtk-2.0GUIX_GTK3_PATH 1 /run/current-system/profile/lib/gtk-3.0HOME 1 /home/aliceINFOPATH 1 /home/alice/.guix-profile/share/info 2 /run/current-system/profile/share/infoLANG 1 en_US.UTF-8LINUX_MODULE_DIRECTORY 1 /run/booted-system/kernel/lib/modulesLOGNAME 1 aliceMAIL 1 /var/mail/aliceMANPATH 1 /home/alice/.guix-profile/share/man 2 /run/current-system/profile/share/manPATH 1 /gnu/store/a9sqlwcl02z89kh6v5n6yzxvxw5qbs14-glib-2.46.1-bin/bin 1 /home/alice/.guix-profile/bin 1 /run/current-system/profile/bin 1 /run/current-system/profile/sbin 1 /run/setuid-programsPS1 1 \u@\h \w\$ PWD 1 /home/aliceSESSION_MANAGER 1 local/carbuncle 1 /tmp/.ICE-unix/383 1 @/tmp/.ICE-unix/383,unix/carbuncleSHELL 1 /gnu/store/7cdd8s466qyjh64m0byq0rz9gk1jid40-bash-4.3.42/bin/bashSHLVL 1 2SSH_AUTH_SOCK 1 /run/user/30011/keyring/sshSSL_CERT_DIR 1 /etc/ssl/certsSSL_CERT_FILE 1 /etc/ssl/certs/ca-certificates.crtTERM 1 xterm-256colorTZ 1 America/Los_AngelesTZDIR 1 /gnu/store/n80pk0smpzdlshkcgccgga8xy5p2vwz3-tzdata-2015g/share/zoneinfoUSER 1 aliceVTE_VERSION 1 4203WINDOWID 1 23068678XAUTHORITY 1 /home/alice/.XauthorityXDG_CONFIG_DIRS 1 /home/alice/.guix-profile/etc/xdg 1 /run/current-system/profile/etc/xdgXDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP 1 GNOMEXDG_DATA_DIRS 3 /gnu/store/27c82f3szfn2d97ms56hkpsb78q9myhd-gnome-settings-daemon-3.18.2/share 3 /gnu/store/67a1962vx46b5shf3myxi23jvziwaclj-gdm-3.18.2/share 3 /gnu/store/73wzvqzffyx867r1rbck5w65by6lbapy-gnome-bluetooth-3.18.1/share 3 /gnu/store/apf78hww8abnhsg0pr6d00gc5w1g7y5h-libgweather-3.18.1/share 5 /gnu/store/bahndy6sxfxw6g49djc10mpa7292na40-gnome-session-3.18.1.2/share 3 /gnu/store/dzdqr0yh7csf3j4ash6akzxjdbqgfln2-network-manager-applet-1.0.10/share 3 /gnu/store/g7ii95bmy2aq4z5x17wvsqlz4f8lmn5a-gcr-3.18.0/share 3 /gnu/store/kc8j8zcwjzr04nlkm16gy44a7vfr26i8-mutter-3.18.1/share 3 /gnu/store/km25kxpv999ihj058xnvniwycl1zhajl-gnome-control-center-3.18.2/share 9 /gnu/store/lbkdykh3aa1469li01rwyya02q50r3b9-glib-2.46.1/share 3 /gnu/store/rsywwl626s8fmmwf154sn2x9si62b4k1-evolution-data-server-3.18.2/share 9 /gnu/store/sm1i06dhgpkhvgj2bhcn6nfi275slgjz-gsettings-desktop-schemas-3.18.0/share 9 /gnu/store/sqd3q1xq5fsbga00bwhghi9shi7xdaac-gtk+-3.18.2/share 1 /gnu/store/x2hz7q806ry8lmwdya0jlff01w7djbn2-gnome-terminal-3.18.2/share 3 /gnu/store/xnkkvlwvwbv2zzvbca3sclf41m6jxzza-gnome-shell-3.18.3/share 3 /gnu/store/ymx1l8l2gm1jmljh5y24p4f5gk8i2j3c-caribou-0.4.19/share 3 /gnu/store/z2dh08qp3k1829dcsz7wcrinccmj6743-ibus-1.5.11/share 3 /gnu/store/zlq812qd3cykkizdip0l7qw7m2pffj1h-telepathy-logger-0.8.2/share 1 /home/alice/.guix-profile/share 2 /run/current-system/profile/shareXDG_MENU_PREFIX 1 gnome-XDG_RUNTIME_DIR 1 /run/user/30011XDG_SEAT 1 seat0XDG_SESSION_ID 1 c1XDG_VTNR 1 7X_XFCE4_LIB_DIRS 1 /run/current-system/profile/lib/xfce4
As you can see, there are some environment variables with up to 9duplicate entries. Is this expected? Is it a problem? Why is ithappening? Assuming that it is not expected and that it is a problem,how can we prevent it from happening?
I've tried opening multiple subshells (e.g., by running "bash" on thecommand line) to see if the number of duplicate entries increases witheach subshell, but that is not the case. Opening up a new subshell doesnot seem to trigger (in the default GuixSD configuration with GNOME, atleast) whatever it is that it causing this duplication.
-- Chris
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Ludovic Courtès wrote on 26 Mar 2016 19:53
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(name . Chris Marusich)(address . cmmarusich@gmail.com)(address . 23118@debbugs.gnu.org)
87io09ystm.fsf@gnu.org
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Chris Marusich <cmmarusich@gmail.com> skribis:
Toggle quote (6 lines)> This behavior should be reproducible. I created a new user to test> this. When I logged into GNOME on GuixSD (built via "guix system> reconfigure" using git commit 43a58615bfc37a053ddaca1fcf11af5c14c0b4b6)> as the new user, I opened up the "Terminal" program (which launched bash> as an interactive, non-login shell). I then typed
[...]
I think the main problem is that gnome-terminal is wrapped:
Toggle snippet (8 lines)$ cat /gnu/store/x2hz7q806ry8lmwdya0jlff01w7djbn2-gnome-terminal-3.18.2/bin/gnome-terminal #!/gnu/store/b1yqjimbdh5bf9jnizd4h7yf110744j2-bash-4.3.42/bin/bashexport XDG_DATA_DIRS="/gnu/store/lbkdykh3aa1469li01rwyya02q50r3b9-glib-2.46.1/share:/gnu/store/sm1i06dhgpkhvgj2bhcn6nfi275slgjz-gsettings-desktop-schemas-3.18.0/share:/gnu/store/sqd3q1xq5fsbga00bwhghi9shi7xdaac-gtk+-3.18.2/share:/gnu/store/x2hz7q806ry8lmwdya0jlff01w7djbn2-gnome-terminal-3.18.2/share${XDG_DATA_DIRS:+:}$XDG_DATA_DIRS"export GTK_PATH="/gnu/store/sqd3q1xq5fsbga00bwhghi9shi7xdaac-gtk+-3.18.2/lib/gtk-3.0${GTK_PATH:+:}$GTK_PATH"export GIO_EXTRA_MODULES="/gnu/store/lbkdykh3aa1469li01rwyya02q50r3b9-glib-2.46.1/lib/gio/modules:/gnu/store/ygn4vavcgr79p86jrlmvdycjs81ki4dl-dconf-0.24.0/lib/gio/modules${GIO_EXTRA_MODULES:+:}$GIO_EXTRA_MODULES"exec -a "$0" "/gnu/store/x2hz7q806ry8lmwdya0jlff01w7djbn2-gnome-terminal-3.18.2/bin/.gnome-terminal-real" "$@"
This is done automatically by ‘glib-or-gtk-build-system’, but obviouslyit’s not so great here.
I suppose that in practice, it would work to simply switchgnome-terminal to ‘gnu-build-system’.
Could you try that?
There may still be other places that add extra entries, though.
Ludo’.
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Ludovic Courtès wrote on 28 Mar 2016 18:53
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control message for bug #23118
(address . control@debbugs.gnu.org)
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severity 23118 important
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Leo Famulari wrote on 28 Mar 2016 19:53
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Re: bug#23118: Duplicate entries in various environment variables
(name . Ludovic Courtès)(address . ludo@gnu.org)
20160328175301.GA9856@jasmine
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On Sat, Mar 26, 2016 at 07:53:09PM +0100, Ludovic Courtès wrote:
Toggle quote (29 lines)> Chris Marusich <cmmarusich@gmail.com> skribis:> > > This behavior should be reproducible. I created a new user to test> > this. When I logged into GNOME on GuixSD (built via "guix system> > reconfigure" using git commit 43a58615bfc37a053ddaca1fcf11af5c14c0b4b6)> > as the new user, I opened up the "Terminal" program (which launched bash> > as an interactive, non-login shell). I then typed> > [...]> > I think the main problem is that gnome-terminal is wrapped:> > --8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---> $ cat /gnu/store/x2hz7q806ry8lmwdya0jlff01w7djbn2-gnome-terminal-3.18.2/bin/gnome-terminal > #!/gnu/store/b1yqjimbdh5bf9jnizd4h7yf110744j2-bash-4.3.42/bin/bash> export XDG_DATA_DIRS="/gnu/store/lbkdykh3aa1469li01rwyya02q50r3b9-glib-2.46.1/share:/gnu/store/sm1i06dhgpkhvgj2bhcn6nfi275slgjz-gsettings-desktop-schemas-3.18.0/share:/gnu/store/sqd3q1xq5fsbga00bwhghi9shi7xdaac-gtk+-3.18.2/share:/gnu/store/x2hz7q806ry8lmwdya0jlff01w7djbn2-gnome-terminal-3.18.2/share${XDG_DATA_DIRS:+:}$XDG_DATA_DIRS"> export GTK_PATH="/gnu/store/sqd3q1xq5fsbga00bwhghi9shi7xdaac-gtk+-3.18.2/lib/gtk-3.0${GTK_PATH:+:}$GTK_PATH"> export GIO_EXTRA_MODULES="/gnu/store/lbkdykh3aa1469li01rwyya02q50r3b9-glib-2.46.1/lib/gio/modules:/gnu/store/ygn4vavcgr79p86jrlmvdycjs81ki4dl-dconf-0.24.0/lib/gio/modules${GIO_EXTRA_MODULES:+:}$GIO_EXTRA_MODULES"> exec -a "$0" "/gnu/store/x2hz7q806ry8lmwdya0jlff01w7djbn2-gnome-terminal-3.18.2/bin/.gnome-terminal-real" "$@"> --8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---> > This is done automatically by ‘glib-or-gtk-build-system’, but obviously> it’s not so great here.> > I suppose that in practice, it would work to simply switch> gnome-terminal to ‘gnu-build-system’.> > Could you try that?
I tried it. I had to add glib:bin as a native-input.
Trying to run gnome-terminal produces this error (I wrapped the lines):
$ gnome-terminalError constructing proxy fororg.gnome.Terminal:/org/gnome/Terminal/Factory0: Error callingStartServiceByName for org.gnome.Terminal:GDBus.Error:org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.Spawn.ChildSignaled: Processorg.gnome.Terminal received signal 5
Toggle quote (7 lines)> > There may still be other places that add extra entries, though.> > Ludo’.> > >
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Leo Prikler wrote on 3 Dec 2020 11:58
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Re: Duplicate entries in various environment variables
(name . Chris Marusich)(address . cmmarusich@gmail.com)(address . 23118@debbugs.gnu.org)
6ca9bc2b5bb96b0ea6740c3412d6aa4379d553e9.camel@student.tugraz.at
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Hello, Chris
Am Freitag, den 25.03.2016, 20:59 -0700 schrieb Chris Marusich:
Toggle quote (14 lines)> Hi,> > I've noticed that my environment variables contain duplicate> (sometimes> more) entries. This occurs regardless of whether the user logs in> directly via a tty or via a desktop environment like GNOME.> > [...]> > As you can see, there are some environment variables with up to 9> duplicate entries. Is this expected? Is it a problem? Why is it> happening? Assuming that it is not expected and that it is a> problem,> how can we prevent it from happening?
It has been pointed out, that this is somewhat expected when wrappingthe same environment variable multiple times. For instance, you as aGNOME user might already have gtk+ in your GTK path if you run GNOME,but GNOME applications can not rely on that and thus need to add theirown. As the number of software components, that use it increases, sodoes the number of mentions. In the special case of gnome-terminal, this is user-visible by printingout env, but other applications get launched in a similar manner allthe time without you noticing. Perhaps one could patch GNOME terminalto clear those variables before spawning the shell, but that's going tobe a bit fiddly. Alternatively, one could enforce GTK_PATH by using"=" instead of prefix.
More generally, this can become an issue when environment variablesreach a certain size (and has led to bug reports in Guix before, whichhave since been fixed). POSIX mandates a syntax, that would allowremoving already present components first (see [1]), but I can hardlyimagine what monstrosities we would need to cook up to do thisreliably. Not to mention, that some otherwise POSIX-compliant shellsmight not implement that syntax (correctly).
Regards,Leo
[1] https://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/9699919799/utilities/V3_chap02.html#tag_18_06_02
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