Don’t use environment variables for configuration
I disagree with this post so strongly - having spent most of my career installing, configuring, and managing other people’s software.<p>&gt; The answer is that you, the end user, can not now. Every program is free to do its own thing and most do. If you have ever spent ages wondering why the exact same commands work when run from one terminal but not the other, this is probably why.<p>If the same program is behaving differently between two systems - it can -only- be the environment that’s different.<p>&gt; Instead of coming up with a syntax that is as good as possible for the given problem, instead the goal is to produce syntax that is easy to use<p>Oh to be a developer. The “best possible syntax” is a universe of possibilities - environment variables are, thankfully, limited to strings. If all programs had to be configured with a Turing complete config language - that would just be a programming language! Limitations can set you free.<p>Sorry for the harsh tone. Please, and I believe I speak for most sysadmins, please continue to use environment variables.