---
name: "dbus-update-activation-environment"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "dbus"
version: "1.16.2-2"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/dbus-update-activation-environment"
---

# dbus-update-activation-environment(1)

update environment used for D-Bus session services

## NAME

dbus-update-activation-environment - update environment used for D-Bus session services

## SYNOPSIS

**dbus-update-activation-environment** \[--systemd\] \[--verbose\] --all \| *VAR*... \| *VAR*=*VAL*...

## DESCRIPTION

**dbus-update-activation-environment** updates the list of environment variables used by **dbus-daemon --session** when it activates session services without using **systemd**.

With the **--systemd** option, if an instance of **systemd --user** is available on D-Bus, it also updates the list of environment variables used by **systemd --user** when it activates user services, including D-Bus session services for which **dbus-daemon** has been configured to delegate activation to **systemd**. This is very similar to the **import-environment** command provided by [**systemctl**(1)](/systemctl/1.md)).

Variables that are special to **dbus-daemon** or **systemd** may be set, but their values will be overridden when a service is started. For instance, it is not useful to add **DBUS\_SESSION\_BUS\_ADDRESS** to **dbus-daemon**'s activation environment, although it might still be useful to add it to **systemd**'s activation environment.

## OPTIONS

- **--all**

  Set all environment variables present in the environment used by **dbus-update-activation-environment**.

- **--systemd**

  Set environment variables for systemd user services as well as for traditional D-Bus session services.

- **--verbose**

  Output messages to standard error explaining what dbus-update-activation-environment is doing.

*VAR*

If *VAR* is present in the environment of **dbus-update-activation-environment**, set it to the same value for D-Bus services. Its value must be UTF-8 (if not, it is skipped with a warning). If *VAR* is not present in the environment, this argument is silently ignored.

*VAR*=*VAL*

Set *VAR* to *VAL*, which must be UTF-8.

## EXAMPLES

**dbus-update-activation-environment** is primarily designed to be used in Linux distributions' X11 session startup scripts, in conjunction with the "user bus" design.

To propagate **DISPLAY** and **XAUTHORITY** to **dbus-daemon** and, if present, **systemd**, and propagate **DBUS\_SESSION\_BUS\_ADDRESS** to **systemd**:

```
        dbus-update-activation-environment --systemd \
            DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS DISPLAY XAUTHORITY
```

To propagate all environment variables except **XDG\_SEAT**, **XDG\_SESSION\_ID** and **XDG\_VTNR** to **dbus-daemon** (and, if present, **systemd**) for compatibility with legacy X11 session startup scripts:

```
        # in a subshell so the variables remain set in the
        # parent script
        (
          unset XDG_SEAT
          unset XDG_SESSION_ID
          unset XDG_VTNR
          dbus-update-activation-environment --systemd --all
        )
```

## EXIT STATUS

**dbus-update-activation-environment** exits with status 0 on success, EX\_USAGE (64) on invalid command-line options, EX\_OSERR (71) if unable to connect to the session bus, or EX\_UNAVAILABLE (69) if unable to set the environment variables. Other nonzero exit codes might be added in future versions.

## ENVIRONMENT

**DBUS\_SESSION\_BUS\_ADDRESS**, **XDG\_RUNTIME\_DIR** and/or **DISPLAY** are used to find the address of the session bus.

## LIMITATIONS

**dbus-daemon** does not provide a way to unset environment variables after they have been set (although **systemd** does), so **dbus-update-activation-environment** does not offer this functionality either.

POSIX does not specify the encoding of non-ASCII environment variable names or values and allows them to contain any non-zero byte, but neither **dbus-daemon** nor **systemd** supports environment variables with non-UTF-8 names or values. Accordingly, **dbus-update-activation-environment** assumes that any name or value that appears to be valid UTF-8 is intended to be UTF-8, and ignores other names or values with a warning.

## BUGS

Please send bug reports to the D-Bus bug tracker or mailing list. See **https://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/dbus/**.

## AUTHOR

See **https://dbus.freedesktop.org/doc/AUTHORS**

## SEE ALSO

[**dbus-daemon**(1)](/dbus-daemon/1.md), [**systemd**(1)](/systemd/1.md), the **import-environment** command of [**systemctl**(1)](/systemctl/1.md)

## COPYRIGHT

Copyright © 2015 Collabora Ltd.\

This man page is distributed under the same terms as dbus-update-activation-environment (MIT/X11). There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.