Linux: where are environment variables stored?

Question

If I type into a terminal,

export DISPLAY=:0.0

... where is the shell storing that environment variable?

I\'m using Ubuntu 8.10. I\

Answer 1

It's stored in the process (shell) and since you've exported it, any processes that process spawns.

Doing the above doesn't store it anywhere in the filesystem like /etc/profile. You have to put it there explicitly for that to happen.