System.getenv doesn't get variables defined in ~/.bash_profile

Question

Here is a line in file ~/.bash_profile

export MESSAGE="Hello World"

I want to access system variable MESSAGE in java.

System.getenv("MESSAGE"); doesn't work.

Answer 1

The .bash_profile file is only sourced for login shells. If your java process is spawned from a shell that is not a login shell (for example a script with a #!/bin/sh at the top) then it will not read it (though it may still inherit MESSAGE from the environment depending on how you run it).

Note also that .bash_profile is also not run for interactive shells that are not "login" shells, so you can't rely on it being run even when you have a shell prompt. People usually use .bashrc, which is sourced for all interactive shells, for that purpose.

If you want a variable to be set in all Bourne shell derivatives regardless of whether they are interactive or not, put it in both .profile and .bashrc.

Answer 2

I would recommend you to test if your environment variable is indeed "defined" by using echo $MESSAGE as suggested above.
In addition, changing the bash_profile file will not effect your current shell,
you must use "source" in order for it to effect your current shell.
I would also recommend reading this article about differences between bashrc and bash_profile.
Maybe you should define the EXPORT at bashrc?