.\" Copyright 2001 John Levon <moz@compsoc.man.ac.uk>
.\"
+.\" %%%LICENSE_START(VERBATIM)
.\" Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of this
.\" manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice are
.\" preserved on all copies.
.\"
.\" Formatted or processed versions of this manual, if unaccompanied by
.\" the source, must acknowledge the copyright and authors of this work.
+.\" %%%LICENSE_END
.\"
.\" Additions, aeb, 2001-10-17.
-.TH CLEARENV 3 2007-07-26 "Linux" "Linux Programmer's Manual"
+.TH CLEARENV 3 2017-09-15 "Linux" "Linux Programmer's Manual"
.SH NAME
clearenv \- clear the environment
.SH SYNOPSIS
.nf
.B #include <stdlib.h>
-.sp
+.PP
.B "int clearenv(void);"
.fi
-.sp
+.PP
.in -4n
Feature Test Macro Requirements for glibc (see
.BR feature_test_macros (7)):
.in
-.sp
+.PP
.BR clearenv ():
-_SVID_SOURCE || _XOPEN_SOURCE
+ /* Glibc since 2.19: */ _DEFAULT_SOURCE
+ || /* Glibc versions <= 2.19: */ _SVID_SOURCE || _BSD_SOURCE
.SH DESCRIPTION
The
.BR clearenv ()
pairs and sets the value of the external variable
.I environ
to NULL.
-.SH "RETURN VALUE"
+After this call, new variables can be added to the environment using
+.BR putenv (3)
+and
+.BR setenv (3).
+.SH RETURN VALUE
The
.BR clearenv ()
function returns zero on success, and a nonzero
value on failure.
-.\" Most versions of Unix return -1 on error, or do not even have errors.
+.\" Most versions of UNIX return -1 on error, or do not even have errors.
.\" Glibc info and the Watcom C library document "a nonzero value".
.SH VERSIONS
-Not in libc4, libc5.
-In glibc since glibc 2.0.
-.SH "CONFORMING TO"
-Various Unix variants (DG/UX, HP-UX, QNX, ...).
+Available since glibc 2.0.
+.SH ATTRIBUTES
+For an explanation of the terms used in this section, see
+.BR attributes (7).
+.TS
+allbox;
+lb lb lb
+l l l.
+Interface Attribute Value
+T{
+.BR clearenv ()
+T} Thread safety MT-Unsafe const:env
+.TE
+.sp 1
+.SH CONFORMING TO
+Various UNIX variants (DG/UX, HP-UX, QNX, ...).
POSIX.9 (bindings for FORTRAN77).
POSIX.1-1996 did not accept
.BR clearenv ()
and
.BR putenv (3),
but changed its mind and scheduled these functions for some
-later issue of this standard (cf. B.4.6.1).
+later issue of this standard (see \[sc]B.4.6.1).
However, POSIX.1-2001
-only adds
+adds only
.BR putenv (3),
and rejected
.BR clearenv ().
.SH NOTES
-Used in security-conscious applications.
-If it is unavailable
-the assignment
-.nf
-
- environ = NULL;
-
-.fi
+On systems where
+.BR clearenv ()
+is unavailable, the assignment
+.PP
+.in +4n
+.EX
+environ = NULL;
+.EE
+.in
+.PP
will probably do.
-.LP
+.PP
+The
+.BR clearenv ()
+function may be useful in security-conscious applications that want to
+precisely control the environment that is passed to programs
+executed using
+.BR exec (3).
+The application would do this by first clearing the environment
+and then adding select environment variables.
+.PP
+Note that the main effect of
+.BR clearenv ()
+is to adjust the value of the pointer
+.BR environ (7);
+this function does not erase the contents of the buffers
+containing the environment definitions.
+.PP
The DG/UX and Tru64 man pages write: If
.I environ
has been modified by anything other than the
will return an error and the process environment will remain unchanged.
.\" .LP
.\" HP-UX has a ENOMEM error return.
-.SH "SEE ALSO"
+.SH SEE ALSO
.BR getenv (3),
.BR putenv (3),
.BR setenv (3),