Man page 8 : pam_getenv

pam_getenv - get environment variables from /etc/environment

pam_getenv [-l] [-s] env_var

This tool will print out the value of env_var from /etc/environment. It will attempt to expand environment variable references in the definition of env_var but will fail if PAM items are expanded.

The -l option indicates the script should return an environment variable related to default locale information.

The -s option indicates that the script should return an system default environment variable.

Currently neither the -l or -s options do anything. They are included because future versions of Debian may have a separate repository for the initial environment used by init scripts and for system locale information. These options will allow this script to be a stable interface even in that environment.