Setting environment variables via launchd.conf no longer works in OS X Yosemite/El Capitan/macOS Sierra/Mojave?

Create an environment.plist file in ~/Library/LaunchAgents/ with this content:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
  <key>Label</key>
  <string>my.startup</string>
  <key>ProgramArguments</key>
  <array>
    <string>sh</string>
    <string>-c</string>
    <string>
    launchctl setenv PRODUCTS_PATH /Users/mortimer/Projects/my_products
    launchctl setenv ANDROID_NDK_HOME /Applications/android-ndk
    launchctl setenv PATH $PATH:/Applications/gradle/bin
    </string>

  </array>
  <key>RunAtLoad</key>
  <true/>
</dict>
</plist>

You can add many launchctl commands inside the <string></string> block.

The plist will activate after system reboot. You can also use launchctl load ~/Library/LaunchAgents/environment.plist to launch it immediately.

[Edit]

The same solution works in El Capitan too.

Xcode 7.0+ doesn't evaluate environment variables by default. The old behaviour can be enabled with this command:

defaults write com.apple.dt.Xcode UseSanitizedBuildSystemEnvironment -bool NO

[Edit]

There a couple of situations where this doesn't quite work. If the computer is restarted and "Reopen windows when logging back in" is selected, the reopened windows may not see the variables (Perhaps they are opened before the agent is run). Also, if you log in via ssh, the variables will not be set (so you'll need to set them in ~/.bash_profile). Finally, this doesn't seem to work for PATH on El Capitan and Sierra. That needs to be set via 'launchctl config user path ...' and in /etc/paths.

[Original answer]: You can still use launchctl setenv variablename value to set a variable so that is picked up by all applications (graphical applications started via the Dock or Spotlight, in addition to those started via the terminal).

Obviously you will not want to do this every time you login.

[Edit]: To avoid this, launch AppleScript Editor, enter a command like this:

do shell script "launchctl setenv variablename value"

(Use multiple lines if you want to set multiple variables)

Now save (⌘+s) as File format: Application. Finally open System Settings → Users & Groups → Login Items and add your new application.

[Original answer]: To work around this place all the variables you wish to define in a short shell script, then have a look at this previous answer about how to run a script on MacOS login. That way the the script will be invoked when the user logs in.

[Edit]: Neither solution is perfect as the variables will only be set for that specific user but I am hoping/guessing that may be all you require.

If you do have multiple users you could either manually set a Login Item for each of them or place a copy of com.user.loginscript.plist in each of their local Library/LaunchAgents directories, pointing at the same shell script.

Granted, neither of these workarounds is as convenient as /etc/launchd.conf.

[Further Edit]: A user below mentions that this did not work for him. However I have tested on multiple Yosemite machines and it does work for me. If you are having a problem, remember that you will need to restart applications for this to take effect. Additionally if you set variables in the terminal via ~/.profile or ~/.bash_profile, they will override things set via launchctl setenv for applications started from the shell.

It is possible to set environment variables on Mac OS X 10.10 Yosemite with 3 files + 2 commands.

Main file with environment variables definition:

$ ls -la /etc/environment 
-r-xr-xr-x  1 root  wheel  369 Oct 21 04:42 /etc/environment
$ cat /etc/environment
#!/bin/sh

set -e

syslog -s -l warn "Set environment variables with /etc/environment $(whoami) - start"

launchctl setenv JAVA_HOME      /usr/local/jdk1.7
launchctl setenv MAVEN_HOME     /opt/local/share/java/maven3

if [ -x /usr/libexec/path_helper ]; then
    export PATH=""
    eval `/usr/libexec/path_helper -s`
    launchctl setenv PATH $PATH
fi

osascript -e 'tell app "Dock" to quit'

syslog -s -l warn "Set environment variables with /etc/environment $(whoami) - complete"

Service definition to load environment variables for user applications (terminal, IDE, ...):

$ ls -la /Library/LaunchAgents/environment.user.plist
-rw-------  1 root  wheel  504 Oct 21 04:37 /Library/LaunchAgents/environment.user.plist
$ sudo cat /Library/LaunchAgents/environment.user.plist
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
    <key>Label</key>
    <string>environment.user</string>
    <key>ProgramArguments</key>
    <array>
            <string>/etc/environment</string>
    </array>
    <key>KeepAlive</key>
    <false/>
    <key>RunAtLoad</key>
    <true/>
    <key>WatchPaths</key>
    <array>
        <string>/etc/environment</string>
    </array>
</dict>
</plist>

The same service definition for root user applications:

$ ls -la /Library/LaunchDaemons/environment.plist
-rw-------  1 root  wheel  499 Oct 21 04:38 /Library/LaunchDaemons/environment.plist
$ sudo cat /Library/LaunchDaemons/environment.plist
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
    <key>Label</key>
    <string>environment</string>
    <key>ProgramArguments</key>
    <array>
            <string>/etc/environment</string>
    </array>
    <key>KeepAlive</key>
    <false/>
    <key>RunAtLoad</key>
    <true/>
    <key>WatchPaths</key>
    <array>
        <string>/etc/environment</string>
    </array>
</dict>
</plist>

And finally we should register these services:

$ launchctl load -w /Library/LaunchAgents/environment.user.plist
$ sudo launchctl load -w /Library/LaunchDaemons/environment.plist

What we get:

1. The only place to declare system environment variables: /etc/environment
2. Instant auto-update of environment variables after modification of /etc/environment file - just relaunch your application

Issues / problems:

In order your env variables were correctly taken by applications after system reboot you will need:

• either login twice: login => logout => login
• or close & re-open applications manually, where env variables should be taken
• or do NOT use feature "Reopen windows when logging back".

This happens due to Apple denies explicit ordering of loaded services, so env variables are registered in parallel with processing of the "reopen queue".

But actually, I reboot my system only several times per year (on big updates), so it is not a big deal.

Cited from

Apple Developer Relations 10-Oct-2014 09:12 PM

After much deliberation, engineering has removed this feature. The file /etc/launchd.conf was intentionally removed for security reasons. As a workaround, you could run launchctl limit as root early during boot, perhaps from a LaunchDaemon. (...)

Solution:

Put code in to /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.launchd.limit.plist by bash-script:

#!/bin/bash

echo '<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
        <key>Label</key>
        <string>eicar</string>
        <key>ProgramArguments</key>
        <array>
                <string>/bin/launchctl</string>
                <string>limit</string>
                <string>core</string>
                <string>unlimited</string>
        </array>
        <key>RunAtLoad</key>
        <true/>
        <key>ServiceIPC</key>
        <false/>
</dict>
</plist>' | sudo tee /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.launchd.limit.plist