env

By default, nginx removes all environment variables inherited from its parent process except the TZ variable. This directive allows preserving some of the inherited variables, changing their values, or creating new environment variables. These variables are then:

• inherited during a live upgrade of an executable file;
• used by the ngx_http_perl_module module;
• used by worker processes. One should bear in mind that controlling system libraries in this way is not always possible as it is common for libraries to check variables only during initialization, well before they can be set using this directive. An exception from this is an above mentioned live upgrade of an executable file.

The TZ variable is always inherited and available to the ngx_http_perl_module module, unless it is configured explicitly.

Usage example:

env MALLOC_OPTIONS;
env PERL5LIB=/data/site/modules;
env OPENSSL_ALLOW_PROXY_CERTS=1;

The NGINX environment variable is used internally by nginx and should not be set directly by the user.