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Question

Set Environment variables at creation

Posted June 29, 2016 13.5k views
Linux BasicsDeployment

Very simply, I have been struggling to set system-wide environment variables while my droplet is being created. I have attempted to set them via the User-Data option on the dashboard, both using runcmd and straight bash.

The hurdle I am hitting is that after I echo the variables to ~.bashrc, it seems like source ~/.bashrc is not firing.

Once I ssh into the server, I can source and everything is fine, but I would prefer to have them set out of the gate.

Perhaps I am tackling this problem from the wrong angle, as I am new to this sort of thing, but I am trying to avoid manually setting them every time I spin up a new droplet.

Thanks in advance!

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Btibert3
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Btibert3

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2 answers
gndo June 29, 2016

Try adding the following to your ~/.profile file (if it is missing):

if [ "$BASH" ]; then
  if [ -f ~/.bashrc ]; then
    . ~/.bashrc
  fi
fi
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  • Btibert3 June 29, 2016

    I just opened up a new instance, and printed the output. Your code above is not included, so it looks like I am getting somewhere. What is the best way to add that to ~/.profile in the bash script that I am firing at startup?

    Thanks in advance!

    Reply Report
    • gndo June 29, 2016

      @Btibert3 - Perhaps the following comments from /etc/skel/.profile might be a better alternative for you:

      # ~/.profile: executed by the command interpreter for login shells.
# This file is not read by bash(1), if ~/.bash_profile or ~/.bash_login
# exists.
# see /usr/share/doc/bash/examples/startup-files for examples.
# the files are located in the bash-doc package.
      Reply Report
    • rdkaiser June 30, 2016
      [deleted]
      Reply Report
rdkaiser June 30, 2016

Add somthing like this to your user-data section when spinning up a new droplet.

User Data
#cloud-config

users:
  - name: sammy
    shell: /bin/bash
    groups: sudo
    sudo: ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD:ALL
    ssh-authorized-keys:
      - your_public_ssh_key

write_files:
  - path: /home/sammy/.profile
    owner: sammy:sammy
    permissions: '0644'
    content: |
      if [ -n "$BASH_VERSION" ]; then
          if [ -f "$HOME/.bashrc" ]; then
              . "$HOME/.bashrc"
          fi
      fi
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  • Btibert3 June 30, 2016

    Thanks for this. For sake of argument, can I do this as root? This is great, much appreciated.

    Reply Report
    • rdkaiser June 30, 2016

      The write_files and users modules are run once, during initialization, as root. When you log into your droplet for the first time, the given users and files will already exist according to the parameters in your cloud-config.

      If you just want to use root as your primary login, simply drop the users section and replace 

      #cloud-config
. . .
       - path: /home/sammy/.profile
         owner: sammy:sammy
. . .

      with

      #cloud-config
. . .
       - path: /root/.profile
         owner: root:root
. . .

      Check out cloud-init for more details.

      By the way, what distro are you having this problem with? It’s very odd that bash wouldn’t automatically source .bashrc before starting an interactive shell.

      Reply Report
      • Btibert3 July 1, 2016

        Basic Ubuntu 14.04. It has to be user error on my end, but the commands work as expected when I walk through them interactively after the droplet spins up.

        Thanks again, I really appreciate your help!

        Reply Report

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