Environment Variables

This page describes the environment variables of your operating system/shell that Synchronet may use.

Paths in the environment variable values may or may not end with a path delimiter (e.g. / or \).

The SBBSCTRL environment variable should be set to the path of your Synchronet ctrl directory, especially if Synchronet is not installed in the default installation location (e.g. /sbbs/ctrl).

If this variable is not set, most Synchronet programs allow passing the path to the ctrl directory as the last argument.

The SBBSEXEC environment variable may be set to the path of your Synchronet exec directory. This may be needed for some development situations.

The SBBSNODE environment variable should NOT be set. This variable is set dynamically¹⁾, by Synchronet, for the use of external online programs (e.g. doors).

For Microsoft Windows NT-based operating systems (this includes Windows 2000, XP, Vista, and Windows 7), goto the Windows Control Panel->System->Advanced->Environment Variables->System Variables->New... and set

• Variable name: SBBSCTRL
• Variable value: c:\sbbs\ctrl

(replace c:\sbbs\ctrl with the full path to your ctrl directory)

For Mirosoft Windows 9x-based operating systems, edit your C:\AUTOEXEC.BAT file and add the line:

  SET SBBSCTRL=c:\sbbs\ctrl

(replace c:\sbbs\ctrl with the full path to your ctrl directory)

For Unix bash/sh: In the home directory of the user the BBS will be running as, edit the file named either .profile or .bash_profile depending on if you're running bash or sh and add the line:

  SBBSCTRL=/sbbs/ctrl && export SBBSCTRL

(replace /sbbs/ctrl with the full path to your ctrl directory)

For Unix csh/tcsh: Again, in the home directory of the user the BBS will be running as, in the file named .tcshrc (for tcsh) or .cshrc (for csh) add the line:

  setenv SBBSCTRL /sbbs/ctrl

(replace /sbbs/ctrl with the full path to your ctrl directory)