Gnome 1.2 omits some variables exported by /etc/profile

[bbennett unixg ubc ca]

...apparently, including some vital ones, e.g. $MAIL.

That's the (missing) one which made it impossible for me to start the
splendid mail user agent Postilion from a panel launcher in Gnome 1.2,
even though it had been possible in 1.0.53 (and was of course still
possible directly from gnome-terminal).

By running a script

    #!/bin/sh
    printenv > ~/env_vars.txt
    echo done
    sleep 2
    
from a panel launcher ("Run in Terminal") and comparing the result with
printenv's output (directly) in gnome-terminal, one can see what's
missing from the environment as seen by a panel launcher.

I kludged a '/usr/local/bin/postilion-launching' script

    #!/bin/sh
    MAIL=/var/spool/mail/$USER
    export MAIL
    postilion
    
as a temporary workaround for Postilion.

Is this really a new issue in (the generally magnificent) Gnome 1.2, or
is it just me?

Befuddledly,

Bruce Bennett