Forward/enable environment variables from docker (-e) to be visible even after changing user from root with "su -"

gistfile1.md

Dockerfile

FROM centos:6
RUN useradd appuser
CMD env|grep JAVA_OPTIONS|awk -F= '{print "export "$1"=\""$2"\""}'>/etc/profile.d/00_java-env.sh;bash

Usage

1. docker build -t javaenv .
2. docker run -it -e JAVA_OPTIONS="-DjvmProperty1=1 -DjvmProperty2=2" javaenv

Observe:

• printenv on root includes JAVA_OPTIONS (as it would by default)
• su - appuser wipes the environment variables set from docker run ... -e (as su - is intended to), but since we wrote the JAVA_OPTIONS to /etc/profile.d/ it is shared globally between all users (at least on CentOS) and printenv for appuser still includes the JAVA_OPTIONS passed to docker initially :)