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Re: how can I stop Windows setting HOME?



Larry Hall (Cygwin) wrote:
> 
> Adam Thompson wrote:
>> 2008/6/6 Adam Thompson <adwulf@gmail.com>:
>>> 2008/6/6 anadem <anadem@gmail.com>:
>>>> Is there any way to permanently unset the HOME env-var in Windows? I
>>>> could
>>>> run a batch file at startup but afaik that would not be a systemwide
>>>> removal
>>>> of HOME.
>>>>
>>> I do not think this is a Windows issue.
>>>
> 
> Generally speaking, you're right that Windows doesn't set HOME but
> rather HOMEDRIVE and HOMEPATH.  If HOME is getting set in the Windows
> environment, something else that's installed is setting it and Cygwin
> is just going along with it because it's set in the environment.  If
> it is not possible to figure out what is setting HOME for Windows, you
> can unset it in cygwin.bat, or whatever mechanism Cygwin is started
> with, as you noted.  But it would be better to find the source and
> squash it.  And although you pointed at the right FAQ entry describing
> the hierarchy of rules used for setting HOME within Cygwin's environment,
> your interpretation is a bit off.  As the FAQ states, HOME is determined
> by one of the following in order of decreasing priority:
> 
>     1. HOME from the Windows environment, translated to POSIX form.
>     2. The entry in /etc/passwd
>     3. HOMEDRIVE and HOMEPATH from the Windows environment
>     4. /
> 
> Once one of these rules is fulfilled, the remainder are skipped.  So
> if HOME is set in the Windows environment, Cygwin will use that (converted
> to POSIX form).  If it's not and there's an '/etc/passwd' file with an
> entry
> for the current user, the home path specified there will be used.
> Otherwise,
> HOMEDRIVE and HOMEPATH will be used to define HOME in CYGWIN (again,
> converted to POSIX form).  And, if for some reason none of these other
> rules fire, HOME is set to '/'.
> 
> It is highly recommended that one let rule #2 fire, since '/etc/passwd' is
> the source of the home path used by Cygwin's telnet, ssh, etc. 
> Consistency
> between these utilities and your default Cygwin shell/environment is
> very likely to eliminate future brain strains. ;-)
> 

Ah, yes, thanks all, it's possibly MKS Toolset. Now if only I can figure out
HOW it's doing it. 
There's no autoexec and nothing in Startup. Maybe I'll just adjust
cygwin.bat (plus warn co-workers to unset $HOME before installing cygwin,
and give my strained brain a warm bath.) 
-- 
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