It is not set for Julia's sake, but I agree that it is a bit annoying to set since it makes different Julia version clash with each other. How about a more targeted deletion of LD_LIBRARY_PATH? Something like

diff --git a/stdlib.sh b/stdlib.sh
index 372e76d..6b143fe 100755
--- a/stdlib.sh
+++ b/stdlib.sh
@@ -1027,7 +1027,15 @@ use_julia() {
     return 1
   fi
 
+  # Julia is happier without LD_LIBRARY_PATH set: store the value (if set)
+  # and reset the value after load_prefix.
+  if [ -n "${LD_LIBRARY_PATH+x}" ]; then local _LD_LIBRARY_PATH="${LD_LIBRARY_PATH}"; fi
   load_prefix "$julia_prefix"
+  if [ -n "${_LD_LIBRARY_PATH+x}" ]; then
+      LD_LIBRARY_PATH="${_LD_LIBRARY_PATH}"
+  else
+      unset LD_LIBRARY_PATH
+  fi
 
   log_status "Successfully loaded $(julia --version), from prefix ($julia_prefix)"
 }

I like the idea but if a user is setting LD_LIBRARY_PATH for some other non-julia purpose then wouldn't this clobber their setup? I think we would need to check if they were pointing to a julia lib and if so then replace it with the new location.

No, my suggestion should leave LD_LIBRARY_PATH identical to what it was before (unset if unset, populated if populated).

Ah I see, but when using load_prefix it will also set CPATH which shouldn't be set. It is more (complex) code to call a function (load_prefix) that doesn't do what is needed and then to fix it with more code before and after calling it. If load_prefix changes in the future then it may do something unwanted to use_julia. If PATH (and MANPATH) are the recommended env vars in default circumstances then shouldn't those only be set (instead of setting extra env vars and then returning them to their original state)?

Do the other variables cause any problems?

I don't know but I don't see any Julia docs or recommendations to set them.

Hi, I ran into this issue again causing julia master to segfault. I don't get why LD_LIBRARY_PATH is set when it causes issues and it is not supposed to be set.