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I noticed that when using aliases, some programs launch pager directly (either from PATH or through PAGER). I'd like to define default pager for all cases, not just when I type the command.
Should I set PAGER or put pager in path instead of defining shell alias? What is the convention for other executables like editors?
The pager is most often executed by things outside of your shell, such as the man command, or various git subcommands, so a shell alias doesn't have the power to do anything in that majority of cases and therefore doesn't make much sense. There is a standard $PAGER environment variable — use it!
Alternatively, on a Debian system for system-wide configuration, try:
update-alternatives --config pager
