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I am trying to change $GRAILS_HOME from /usr/grails-1.3.7 to /usr/grails-2.0.0

If I just do export GRAILS_HOME=/usr/grails-2.0.0 it doesn't persist when I log out and back in.

I found a line in /etc/profile using grep -R "GRAILS_HOME" /etc/ which reads like

GRAILS_HOME=/usr/grails-1.3.7
...
export PATH ... GRAILS_HOME ...

So I changed that and logged out. The change does not seem to have taken effect, although my edits to the file remain. I cannot reboot the machine as it is serving stuff for my buddy and he is only giving me some space. But I do want the environment variable changed permanently and everywhere. What do I need to do?

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What shell do you use? – Kyle Jones Mar 7 '12 at 22:02
echo $SHELL says /bin/bash – Mikey Mar 7 '12 at 22:59

2 Answers

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Use export GRAILS_HOME=/usr/grails-2.0.0 in /etc/profile. If you leave off the export part, you're not making GRAILS_HOME persistent in the environment.

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That was already in on another line. Editing my question to make that clear. – Mikey Mar 7 '12 at 23:08
1  
What I would do is put an echo $GRAILS_HOME at the end of /etc/profile so you can both see what the variable value is at that point and verify that /etc/profile is actually being sourced when you login. – Kyle Jones Mar 7 '12 at 23:20
I did that and it now spits out /usr/grails-2.0.0 when I log in but then when i type echo $GRAILS_HOME first thing it says /usr/grails-1.2.2... Ok its also getting set in .bash_profile. There we go. – Mikey Mar 7 '12 at 23:25
The accepted is really for "What I would do..." Nice troubleshooting idea!! – Mikey Mar 7 '12 at 23:26
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You would need to have export GRAILS_HOME as well. Without the export, GRAILS_HOME is only set as an internal shell variable; the export statement turns it into an environment variable that's visible by the processes launched by that shell. You can combine export with the assignment, i.e. write

export GRAILS_HOME='/usr/grails-2.0.0'

If it's not there, then GRAILS_HOME is being set from some other place on your system as well, and you need to go and change that. The other place may or be under /etc or in your account, try with another account.

If GRAILS_HOME is being set from /etc/environment, that's not a shell source file, it just looks a bit like one. But the assignments there are just VAR="VALUE", there are no export statements.

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