If I set the $BIBINPUTS environment varibale in my .zshrc, it is recognized by emacs-reftex (via emacsclient), if I start emacs from my zsh commandline.

However if I start using the menubar or gmrun it doesn't knot this variable. So where is the correct place to set for the whole user environment?

If there are several alternatives, let me know. Also if it changed between differend ubuntu-versions.

Edit:

I have tried to set it in ~/.pam_environment like

BSTINPUTS=.:/home/myuser/BiBTeX/:$BSTINPUTS
BIBINPUTS=.:/home/myuser/BiBTeX/:$BIBINPUTS

but it seems to have no effect (even after rebooting) and is not listed via printenv.

I am currently using ubuntu natty + gdm + xmonad.