+/* MONO Comment
+ *
+ * As per the UNIX spec,
+ * "The return value from getenv() may point to static data which may be overwritten by subsequent calls to getenv(), setenv(), or unsetenv()."
+ * Source: Unix Manual Pages for getenv, IEEE Std 1003.1
+ *
+ * This means that using pointers returned from getenv may (and does) lead to many
+ * pointers which refer to the same piece of memory. When one is freed, all will be freed.
+ *
+ * This is unsafe and an ergonomics risk to fix in the callers. While the caller could lock,
+ * this introduces the risk for looping or exiting while inside of a lock. For this reason,
+ * g_getenv does not mimic the behavior of POSIX getenv anymore.
+ *
+ * The memory address returned will be unique to the invocaton, and must be freed.
+ * */
+gchar *
+g_getenv (const gchar *variable)
+{
+ gchar *ret = NULL;
+ pthread_mutex_lock (&env_lock);
+ gchar *res = getenv(variable);
+ if (res)
+ ret = g_strdup(res);
+ pthread_mutex_unlock (&env_lock);
+
+ return ret;
+}
+
+/*
+ * This function checks if the given variable is non-NULL
+ * in the environment. It's useful because it removes memory
+ * freeing requirements.
+ *
+ */
+gboolean
+g_hasenv (const gchar *variable)