I don't think distributions should be setting an environment variable as the recommended way to set this up.
I think we can come up with ways to have plugin paths that include both system-wide and user-specific location that the user has some control over.
In all cases, though, I would recommend simplifying the setup as much as we can, rather than complicating everything.
There was also a discussion about having a specific plugin enable/disable flags in config settings, which might alleviate some of this.
I don't think distributions should be setting an environment variable as the recommended way to set this up.
I think we can come up with ways to have plugin paths that include both system-wide and user-specific location that the user has some control over.
In all cases, though, I would recommend simplifying the setup as much as we can, rather than complicating everything.
There was also a discussion about having a specific plugin enable/disable flags in config settings, which might alleviate some of this.