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Asked: 2026-05-11T10:41:34+00:00

Is it possible to update the environment from a makefile? I want to be

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Is it possible to update the environment from a makefile? I want to be able to create a target to set the client environment variables for them. Something like this:

AXIS2_HOME ?= /usr/local/axis2-1.4.1 JAVA_HOME  ?= /usr/java/latest CLASSPATH  := foo foo  setenv:     export AXIS2_HOME     export JAVA_HOME     export CLASSPATH

So that the client can simply do:

make setenv all java MainClass

and have it work without them needing to set the classpath for the java execution themselves.

Or am I looking to do this the wrong way and there is a better way?

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1 Answer

  1. No, you can’t update the environment in the calling process this way. In general, a subprocess cannot modify the environment of the parent process. One notable exception is batch files on Windows, when run from a cmd shell. Based on the example you show, I guess you are not running on Windows though.

    Usually, what you’re trying to accomplish is done with a shell script that sets up the environment and then invokes your intended process. For example, you might write a go.sh script like this:

    !#/bin/sh AXIS2_HOME=/usr/local/axix2-1.4.1 JAVA_HOME=/usr/java/latest CLASSPATH=foo foo export AXIS2_HOME export JAVA_HOME export CLASSPATH java MainClass

    Make go.sh executable and now you can run your app as ./go.sh. You can make your script more elaborate too, if you like — for example, you may want to make ‘MainClass’ a parameter to the script rather than hard coding it.

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