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| -rw-r--r-- | Doc/lib/libos.tex | 15 |
1 files changed, 12 insertions, 3 deletions
diff --git a/Doc/lib/libos.tex b/Doc/lib/libos.tex index cfb32f8..f60693c 100644 --- a/Doc/lib/libos.tex +++ b/Doc/lib/libos.tex @@ -90,12 +90,21 @@ A mapping object representing the string environment. For example, \code{environ['HOME']} is the pathname of your home directory (on some platforms), and is equivalent to \code{getenv("HOME")} in C. +This mapping is captured the first time the \module{os} module is +imported, typically during Python startup as part of processing +\file{site.py}. Changes to the environment made after this time are +not reflected in \code{os.environ}, except for changes made by modifying +\code{os.environ} directly. + If the platform supports the \function{putenv()} function, this mapping may be used to modify the environment as well as query the environment. \function{putenv()} will be called automatically when -the mapping is modified. \note{On some platforms, including -FreeBSD and Mac OS X, setting \code{environ} may cause memory leaks. -Refer to the system documentation for putenv.} +the mapping is modified. +\note{Calling \function{putenv()} directly does not change +\code{os.environ}, so it's better to modify \code{os.environ}.} +\note{On some platforms, including FreeBSD and Mac OS X, setting +\code{environ} may cause memory leaks. Refer to the system documentation +for \cfunction{putenv()}.} If \function{putenv()} is not provided, this mapping may be passed to the appropriate process-creation functions to cause child processes to |