hi Ian,
No, environment variables are not expanded in that way, because optionlists are not evaluated by a shell. Yes, it would be nice if they were, however :) You can do it in parameter files, but not in optionlists. Usually, in this case, we either set the paths explicitly, resulting in a multitude of almost-identical optionlists, or let the external library automatically detect the location by finding an executable on the path (MPI does this, but I don't know if any others do).
I've never used it, but it looks like simfactory provides a solution. In simsubs.py SubAll, it looks like you can use @ENV(EBROOTHDF5)@. Let us know how you get on with that.
ah, i see. i don't usually use simfactory, so i guess i'll just set the paths explicitly. it just seems to defeat the purpose of this module environment that clusters nowadays tend to use, though...
thanks! Miguel