How do you copy PATH environment variable across machines

Question

I am a developer and I use several portable Development tools on Windows such as:

• Python
• Ruby
• Java
• MASM
• Git
• Jekyll
• ADB Tools

Often I change systems frequently as as such I copy these portable tools to different systems. My problems lies in setting environment variables. Everytime, I change a system , I have to update environment variable. Currently, I use following batch script to update the environment variables

setx PATH "D:\adt\sdk\platform-tools;d:\PortableJekyll\x86\ruby\bin;d:\PortableJekyll\x86\git\bin;d:\PortableJekyll\x86\python\bin;d:\PortableJekyll\x86\devkit\bin;d:\PortableJekyll\x86\devkit\mingw\bin;F:\Common Tools\gnuwin32\bin"

However, this requires changing drive letters and folders depending upon target system. As a programmer, I would like to automate this one time job of setting up environment variables.

Any tips out there to make it even more automated like detecting certain EXE's and setting them up to be in PATH automatically.

Answer 1

I use linux, but the following can be easily translated to Windows:

I have a bunch of script in a Dropbox folder (in order to have them synchronized), and then, I just check for the machine name in order to setup environment variables.

As an example, take a look to my setup of the PS1 variable:

case $HOSTNAME in
    wilderkrieger)
        PS1='\[\e[3;33m\]\u@\h\[\e[0m\]:\[\e[1;34m\]\W\[\e[1;32m\]`__git_ps1`\[\e[0m\]\$ ';
        ;;
    notparallel)
        PS1='\[\e[3;33m\]\u\[\e[3;36m\]@\[\e[3;33m\]\h\[\e[0m\]:\[\e[1;34m\]\w\[\e[1;32m\]`__git_ps1 " (%s)"`\[\e[0m\]\n\$ '
        ;;
    *)
        PS1='\[\e[0;31m\]\u\[\e[0m\]@\[\e[1;31m\]\h\[\e[0m\]:\[\e[1;34m\]\W\[\e[1;32m\]`__git_ps1`\[\e[0m\]\$ '
        ;;
esac

I invoke those scripts from the .bachrc file so they run automatically on each login, you could create a link from your home folder with mklink and the just invoke the command each time you start a console.