gnome environment

[Torsten Curdt]

How is the gnome environment being assembled?

I am trying to start a java application via
custom launcher from a panel but it turns
out that the JAVA_HOME variable is not set.

Although it's being set in /etc/profile
and /etc/bash.bashrc! As a usual user it's
set fine for login and non-login shells.
IMHO it should work.

What would be the most appropriate way
to populate this environment variable
throughout the whole system?

cheers
--
Torsten