Setting environment variables in linux

Question

I am trying to set a path for LD_LIBRARY_PATH.

I tried to execute:

export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/local/lib

Then I opened the bash_profile file:

vi ~/.bash_profile

and added:

LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/local/lib
export LD_LIBRARY_PATH

Now if I restart the terminal, typing echo $LD_LIBRARY_PATH displays no result.

How do I set this path permanently?

Answer 1

You need to add more information about your distribution. So for ubuntu you'll have to add a custom .conf file to /etc/ld/so/conf/d:

sudo gedit /etc/ld.so.conf.d/randomLibs.conf

Now in this file write the complete path to the directory containing the libraries that you want to add.

/home/linux/myLocalLibs

Just remember to add the path to the directory and not the file itself. All the files inside the directory will automatically be indexed.

Once done, just run:

sudo ldconfig

This will update the system with new libraries.