When a user logs in to the desktop, the shell environment file (.profile or .login) is not automatically read. The desktop runs the X server before the user logs in, so the function provided by the .profile file or the .login file must be provided by the desktop's login manager.
User-specific environment variables are set in /Home Directory/ .dtprofile. A template for this file is located in /usr/dt/config/sys.dtprofile. Place variables and shell commands in .dtprofile that apply only to the desktop. Add lines to the end of the .dtprofile to incorporate the shell environment file.
System-wide environment variables can be set in Login Manager configuration files. For details on configuring enironment variables, see Common Desktop Environment 1.0: Advanced User's and System Administrator's Guide.