GETENV(3)						     Linux Programmer's Manual							 GETENV(3)

NAME

       getenv, secure_getenv - get an environment variable

SYNOPSIS

       #include <stdlib.h>

       char *getenv(const char *name);

       char *secure_getenv(const char *name);

   Feature Test Macro Requirements for glibc (see feature_test_macros(7)):

       secure_getenv(): _GNU_SOURCE

DESCRIPTION

       The getenv() function searches the environment list to find the environment variable name, and returns a pointer to the corresponding value
       string.

       The GNU-specific secure_getenv() function is just like getenv() except that it returns NULL in cases where "secure execution" is  required.
       Secure execution is required if one of the following conditions was true when the program run by the calling process was loaded:

       *  the process's effective user ID did not match its real user ID or the process's effective group ID did not match its real group ID (typ-
	  ically this is the result of executing a set-user-ID or set-group-ID program);

       *  the effective capability bit was set on the executable file; or

       *  the process has a nonempty permitted capability set.

       Secure execution may also required if triggered by some Linux security modules.

       The secure_getenv() function is intended for use in general-purpose libraries to avoid vulnerabilities that could occur if  set-user-ID	or
       set-group-ID programs accidentally trusted the environment.

RETURN VALUE

       The getenv() function returns a pointer to the value in the environment, or NULL if there is no match.

CONFORMING TO

       getenv(): SVr4, POSIX.1-2001, 4.3BSD, C89, C99.

       secure_getenv() is a GNU extension.

VERSIONS

       secure_getenv() first appeared in glibc 2.17.

NOTES

       The strings in the environment list are of the form name=value.

       As typically implemented, getenv() returns a pointer to a string within the environment list.  The caller must take care not to modify this
       string, since that would change the environment of the process.

       The implementation of getenv() is not required to be reentrant.	The string pointed to by the return value of getenv()  may  be	statically
       allocated, and can be modified by a subsequent call to getenv(), putenv(3), setenv(3), or unsetenv(3).

       The "secure execution" mode of secure_getenv() is controlled by the AT_SECURE flag contained in the auxiliary vector passed from the kernel
       to user space.

SEE ALSO

       clearenv(3), getauxval(3) putenv(3), setenv(3), unsetenv(3), capabilities(7), environ(7)

COLOPHON

       This page is part of release 3.44 of the Linux man-pages project.  A description of the project, and information about reporting bugs,  can
       be found at http://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/.

GNU
								    2012-08-14								 GETENV(3)