Hi,
I have been using debian etch for past few weeks.
How do I set system-wide environment variables permanently?
For example, in my case every time I open the shell I have to set the http_proxy . How do I do it permanently (but not from the preferences->network_proxy) ?
I also did not find a .profile file in my home directory.
I found a /etc/environment file but that only contained the "LANG" variable.
which file stores the variables that are listed by the set command ?

Also how to edit environment variables permanently for a particular user only? (like editing the .profile file in UNIX)

Thanks and regards,
Vineet

I don't use Debian etch but I suspect the file you are looking for is .bashrc instead of .profile. Add your export XX=whatever to the end of the script.

for bash, edit .bashrc or .bash_profile (individual users).
For all users, edit /etc/profile