putenv/getenv, $_ENV, and phpinfo(INFO_ENVIRONMENT) are three completely distinct environment stores. doing putenv("x=y") does not affect $_ENV; but also doing $_ENV["x"]="y" likewise does not affect getenv("x"). And neither affect what is returned in phpinfo().
Assuming the USER environment variable is defined as "dave" before running the following:
<?php
print "env is: ".$_ENV["USER"]."\n";
print "(doing: putenv fred)\n";
putenv("USER=fred");
print "env is: ".$_ENV["USER"]."\n";
print "getenv is: ".getenv("USER")."\n";
print "(doing: set _env barney)\n";
$_ENV["USER"]="barney";
print "getenv is: ".getenv("USER")."\n";
print "env is: ".$_ENV["USER"]."\n";
phpinfo(INFO_ENVIRONMENT);
?>
prints:
env is: dave
(doing: putenv fred)
env is: dave
getenv is: fred
(doing: set _env barney)
getenv is: fred
env is: barney
phpinfo()
Environment
Variable => Value
...
USER => dave
...
