From owner-freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.ORG  Sun Oct 16 05:54:22 2005
Return-Path: <owner-freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.ORG>
X-Original-To: hackers@freebsd.org
Delivered-To: freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.ORG
Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125])
	by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 6756816A41F
	for <hackers@freebsd.org>; Sun, 16 Oct 2005 05:54:22 +0000 (GMT)
	(envelope-from joseph.koshy@gmail.com)
Received: from xproxy.gmail.com (xproxy.gmail.com [66.249.82.204])
	by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 0001143D46
	for <hackers@freebsd.org>; Sun, 16 Oct 2005 05:54:21 +0000 (GMT)
	(envelope-from joseph.koshy@gmail.com)
Received: by xproxy.gmail.com with SMTP id t13so589837wxc
	for <hackers@freebsd.org>; Sat, 15 Oct 2005 22:54:21 -0700 (PDT)
DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; q=dns; c=nofws; s=beta; d=gmail.com;
	h=received:message-id:date:from:to:subject:cc:in-reply-to:mime-version:content-type:content-transfer-encoding:content-disposition:references;
	b=bmmFzmIk7RZ/zwRZWjW3UwK2qfnKury6JvsqRv3xduByDkwSsiwtW44ZGPc+cxJDjf2eCoASJtTZY38luoYTYAEWJNEaB4TiLuvGy9XY56MhH0Wp6clqvM0hvVg1D+Lc/9IdolNIo/cisv5X30XVJCQ5YJJ0OEXgWM8sRAUouFI=
Received: by 10.70.69.20 with SMTP id r20mr1856822wxa;
	Sat, 15 Oct 2005 22:54:21 -0700 (PDT)
Received: by 10.70.116.10 with HTTP; Sat, 15 Oct 2005 22:54:21 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <84dead720510152254j5a75ee1ewad3b7556145fca3@mail.gmail.com>
Date: Sun, 16 Oct 2005 11:24:21 +0530
From: Joseph Koshy <joseph.koshy@gmail.com>
To: Tony Maher <anthony.maher@uts.edu.au>
In-Reply-To: <4351DEDE.9000900@uts.edu.au>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
Content-Disposition: inline
References: <4351DEDE.9000900@uts.edu.au>
Cc: hackers@freebsd.org
Subject: Re: getenv semantics
X-BeenThere: freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org
X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5
Precedence: list
List-Id: Technical Discussions relating to FreeBSD
	<freebsd-hackers.freebsd.org>
List-Unsubscribe: <http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-hackers>, 
	<mailto:freebsd-hackers-request@freebsd.org?subject=unsubscribe>
List-Archive: <http://lists.freebsd.org/pipermail/freebsd-hackers>
List-Post: <mailto:freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org>
List-Help: <mailto:freebsd-hackers-request@freebsd.org?subject=help>
List-Subscribe: <http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-hackers>,
	<mailto:freebsd-hackers-request@freebsd.org?subject=subscribe>
X-List-Received-Date: Sun, 16 Oct 2005 05:54:22 -0000

> Is this analysis correct?  Can someone point me to the (a?)
> standard that describes this.  The FreeBSD behaviour makes
> sense, I am trying to understand what is the expected
> behaviour on other platforms.

>From "The Open Group Base Specifications Issue 6"
http://www.cnop.net/docs/susv3/functions/getenv.html

"The getenv() function shall search the environment of the
 calling process (see the Base Definitions volume of IEEE Std
 1003.1-2001, Chapter 8, Environment Variables) for the
 environment variable name if it exists and return a pointer to
 the value of the environment variable. If the specified
 environment variable cannot be found, a null pointer shall be
 returned."

--
FreeBSD Volunteer,     http://people.freebsd.org/~jkoshy