Environment variables

This page lists the environment variables that Russet reads. For settings that persist between runs, use preferences instead.

Recipe variables

When you run russet run or russet install, Russet turns every environment variable whose name starts with AUTOPKG_ into a recipe variable. The variable name is the part after the prefix. For example, AUTOPKG_MUNKI_REPO sets the recipe variable MUNKI_REPO.

An environment variable overrides the recipe’s Input values and your preferences. Values from a recipe list and from the --key option override the environment variable. These variables can’t supply GITHUB_TOKEN, which Russet reads only from preferences.

To see the variables that Russet applies, run the recipe with -vv.

Russet variables

The following variables change Russet’s own behavior:

Variable	Description
RUSSET_AUTOPKG_PREFERENCES_FILE	Path of a file that Russet uses instead of Python AutoPkg’s preferences, for testing. Only russet migrate and russet repo-delete read AutoPkg’s preferences.
RUSSET_CACHE_DIR	Cache folder when the CACHE_DIR preference isn’t set.
RUSSET_DEBUG	If set, Russet prints execution diagnostics, such as the download backend that it chooses, to standard error.
RUSSET_DISABLE_RECIPE_MAP	If set to any non-empty value, Russet doesn’t create or refresh the recipe map. Russet also accepts AUTOPKG_DISABLE_RECIPE_MAP.
RUSSET_NATIVE	On macOS, uses Russet’s built-in replacements instead of Apple’s tools, for comparing the two. Set it to all or to a comma-separated list of tool names. Today the replacements are aa (extraction), codesign (verification), ditto, hdiutil (reading and creating images), icons (Munki icon extraction), installer (read-only queries), mkbom, pkgbuild, pkgutil (expanding, flattening, and checking package signatures), and xar. Russet stops with an error if the value names an unknown tool or one without a replacement. Linux always uses the replacements, and recipes and preferences can’t set this variable.
RUSSET_PKG_OWNER	Owner, as uid:gid, that packages built on Linux record for files owned by the user running Russet. Defaults to 501:20, the first user and the staff group on a Mac, which is what the macOS helper records. chown entries in the request still apply.
RUSSET_PREFERENCES_FILE	Path of a file that Russet uses instead of its own preferences on every platform, so that tests don’t read or change Russet’s real preferences. On macOS, Russet also stops reading GITHUB_TOKEN, CURL_PATH, and UseRussetDownloader directly from the com.github.russet domain. Russet creates the file the first time that it saves a change. A file whose name ends in .json uses JSON, and any other file uses the property list format.
RUSSET_RECIPE_MAP_PATH	Location of the recipe map file. Overrides the RECIPE_MAP_PATH preference. When this variable isn’t set or is empty, Russet uses AUTOPKG_RECIPE_MAP_PATH instead. Russet ignores both variables when it runs as root and prints a security warning that names the variable.
RUSSET_SCRATCH_DIR	Folder for disk images that Russet reads with its built-in reader, on Linux or with RUSSET_NATIVE. Defaults to the system temporary folder. Each image needs free space about the size of its contents.

System variables

Russet also reads the following standard variables:

Variable	Platform	Description
HOME	All	Home folder for paths that start with ~. On Windows, Russet uses HOME when it’s set and USERPROFILE otherwise.
USERPROFILE	Windows	Home folder when HOME isn’t set.
XDG_CONFIG_HOME	Linux	Parent of the Russet preference folder. Defaults to ~/.config.
LOCALAPPDATA	Windows	Parent of the Russet preference folder. Russet fails if this variable isn’t set.
PATH	All	Search path for curl, Git, and other tools that Russet runs by name.
SSL_CERT_FILE	All	Certificate bundle for Transport Layer Security (TLS) connections. On macOS, if this variable names an existing file, Russet doesn’t supply its bundled certificates to curl or to its downloader.
SSL_CERT_DIR	Linux, macOS	Folder of hashed certificates that URLDownloaderPython adds to its trust store.

Russet doesn’t clear the environment of the tools that it runs. For example, curl and Git still read their own environment variables, such as proxy settings. Russet’s downloader doesn’t use a proxy, so if you set a proxy variable such as https_proxy, Russet downloads files with curl.

Related pages

• Preferences
• Run recipes