Arb is aware of several environment variables:
ARBHOME
Should be set to the arb install directory (usually /usr/arb)
LD_LIBRARY_PATH
path to system libraries (should contain $ARBHOME/lib (i.e. /usr/arb/lib if $ARBHOME is /usr/arb)). Set by the 'arb' script. (Note: unused/does not work under OSX, because of SIP)
ARB_TEXTEDIT
The NAME (e.g. "gedit") of the editor you like to use when editing textlike files via ARB (used by script arb_textedit. auto-detected if undefined).
On macOS, it defaults to TextEdit. If you have set a different default text editor for macOS and want to use it with arb, too, set the environment variable to 'open -t'. If you want to use a specific app when opening text files from within ARB, use 'open -a <app name>', e.g. 'open -a BBEdit' to open text files in BBEdit.
ARB_XTERM
The call which is needed to create a normal xterm
(default: xterm -sl 1000 -sb -geometry 150x60
Note: until arb-6.0.x geometry defaulted to "120x50")
ARB_XCMD
The call which is needed to create a xterm invoking external programs (default: $ARB_XTERM -e ).
USER
your username (normally set by shell).
PRINTER
if PRINTER is defined, it may contain the name of your printer. ARB will then automatically use it in the printer command.
ARB_PID
internal PID for communication (set by the 'arb' script)
ARBMACRO
directory name where global ARB-macros may be provides by system administrator (default: $ARBHOME/lib/macros )
ARB_PROP
directory name where your local ARB-properties will be saved to/loaded from (default: $HOME/.arb_prop ). Allows to use different ARB configurations in the same user account.
ARBMACROHOME
directory name where your local ARB-macros will be saved to/loaded from (default: $ARB_PROP/macros )
ARBCONFIG
directory name where your local ARB-configs will be saved to/loaded from (default: $ARB_PROP/cfgSave )
ARB_GS
name of postscript viewer used by ARB (default: 'xreader' or 'gv' or 'ghostview'on Linux, 'open -W' on macOS).
If you want to use a different app to open postscript files on macOS from within ARB, use 'open -W -a <app name>', e.g. 'open -a "Affinity Designer"' to open postscript files in Affinity designer. Please make sure that you add the -W option to the open command. Otherwise, arb might delete the file before the other program reads it.
ARB_PDFVIEW
name of pdf viewer used by ARB (default: 'xreader' or 'epdfview' or 'acroread' or 'gv' on Linux, 'open -W' on macOS).
If you want to use a different app to open postscript files on macOS from within ARB, use 'open -W -a <app name>', e.g. 'open -a "Affinity Designer"' to open postscript files in Affinity designer. Please make sure that you add the -W option to the open command. Otherwise, arb might delete the file before the other program reads it.
ARB_WORKDIR
extra directory appearing in ARB-File-Browsers (default: none)
ARB_DOC
directory where ARB searches for documentation i.e. *.hlp, *.ps, *.ps.gz, *.pdf and *.pdf.gz (default: $ARBHOME/lib/help)
ARB_HTMLDOC
directory where ARB searches for documentation in hypertext format, i.e. *.html (default: $ARBHOME/lib/help_html)