How to open ~/.pam_environment?

Question

I wanted to set environment variables JAVA_HOME and PATH. So I wanted to open ~/.pam_environment since it is the best place to set environment variables relevant to a particular user according to the link https://help.ubuntu.com/community/EnvironmentVariables.

The link states:

Session-wide environment variables

Environment variable settings that should affect just a particular user (rather then the >system as a whole) should be set into:

~/.pam_environment - This file is specifically meant for setting a user's
environment. It is not a script file, but rather consists of assignment expressions, one per line.

The problem I have is that I am not able to open the file ~/.pam_environment by using the command gedit ~/.pam_environment.

I do not know whether this is the right way to open this file, please point me in the right direction.

Answer 1

Note that .pam_environment does not use the normal syntax. You should strictly follow the pam_env.conf syntax.

In particular if you want to set the JAVA_HOME and PATH variables you can put this content into your .pam_environment:

JAVA_HOME DEFAULT=<the-path-to-java-home
PATH DEFAULT=${PATH}:extend/the:path

Following Rinzwind answer will most likely brick your login[1]. In which case you can re login into a TTY using Ctrl + Alt + F1 and remove the .pam_environment file with the command:

/bin/rm ~/.pam_environment

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[1] At least on my computer with Kubuntu 12.04

Answer 2

If that file does not exist you create it.

Mind you: if not formatted correctly lines from that file are ignored. The lines need to be formatted like this:

PYTHONPATH=$PYTHONPATH:$HOME/bin/wikidpad/lib/
PATH=/var/lib/gems/1.8/bin:$PATH

where every var is on a separate line (as per the text in the question).

And for the lines to be used you probably need to (at least) login again.