How can I set environment variables for a program executed using `nohup`?

Question

(I'm editing an existing Bash script, so I'm probably making a silly mistake here...)

I have a shell script that saves a command with an environment variable as its argument like this:

COMMAND="mvn clean install -P $MAVEN_PROFILE"

It then executes the command with nohup roughly as follows:

nohup $COMMAND > logfile

This works.

Now, I want to set an environment variable that can be accessed in Maven. I've tried several things like the following:

COMMAND="FORMAVEN=valueForMaven mvn clean install -P $MAVEN_PROFILE"

...but then it just terminates with:

nohup: failed to run command `FORMAVEN=valueForMaven': No such file or directory

I feel like there are several unrelated concepts at work here, none of which I understand or even know about. What do I need to be able to do the above?

score 30 · Accepted Answer · answered Sep 07 '16 at 08:19

30

Three methods:

set (and export) the variable before launching mvn

set the variable on the nohup launch:

FORMAVEN=valueForMaven nohup $COMMAND > logfile

use env to set the variable

COMMAND="env FORMAVEN=valueForMaven mvn clean install -P $MAVEN_PROFILE"

answered Sep 07 '16 at 08:19

AProgrammer

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Excellent! I knew it had to be easier than the directions I was thinking of... – Vincent Sep 07 '16 at 08:52
How come I never realised that it was as simple as export THEN run the command??? Thanks! – cristianoms May 20 '20 at 00:28

How can I set environment variables for a program executed using `nohup`?

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