title: Appium ANDROID_HOME env variable issues
body: <p>Happy new year all, I'd gratefully appreciate if someone could help or shed some light into this issue.</p>
  
  <p>I've just set up appium 1.7.2 server on MAC OS High Sierra v 10.13.2, running appium through below command.
  <code>appium -a 127.0.0.1 -p 4723 --log-level=debug</code></p>
  
  <hr>
  
  <p><strong>Below is my .bash_profile</strong></p>
  
  <pre><code>n.nadarajah@EGHJ-MACRDV01 ~ $ cat ~/.bash_profile
  # Setting PATH for Python 2.7
  # The original version is saved in .bash_profile.pysave
  ANDROID_HOME=/Users/n.nadarajah/Library/Android/sdk
  JAVA_HOME=/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.8.0_151.jdk/Contents/Home
  ANDROID_PLATFORM_TOOLS=$ANDROID_HOME/platform-tools
  ANDROID_TOOLS=$ANDROID_HOME/tools
  PATH="/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/bin:${PATH}:$JAVA_HOME:$ANDROID_HOME:
  $ANDROID_PLATFORM_TOOLS:$ANDROID_TOOLS"
  export PATH
  </code></pre>
  
  <hr>
  
  <p><strong>Echoing $ANDRIOD_HOME env variable</strong></p>
  
  <pre><code>n.nadarajah@EGHJ-MACRDV01 ~ $ echo $ANDROID_HOME
  /Users/n.nadarajah/Library/Android/sdk
  </code></pre>
  
  <hr>
  
  <p><strong>Below are the Appium logs on test execution.</strong></p>
  
  <pre><code>n.nadarajah@EGHJ-MACRDV01 ~ $ appium -a 127.0.0.1 -p 4723 --log-l . 
  level=debug
  info: Welcome to Appium v1.4.16 (REV 
  ae6877eff263066b26328d457bd285c0cc62430d)
  info: Appium REST http interface listener started on 127.0.0.1:4723
  info: [debug] Non-default server args: {"address":"127.0.0.1"}
  info: Console LogLevel: debug
  info: --&gt; POST /wd/hub/session {"capabilities":{"alwaysMatch":
  {"platformName":"Android"},"firstMatch":
  [{}]},"desiredCapabilities":{"deviceName":"Android 
  Emulator","app":"/Users/n.nadarajah/sites/Resilient-
  QA/EndToEndTesting/apks/app-
  debug.apk","platformName":"Android","automationName":"appium",
  "appPackage":"com.resilientplc.smartnumbers.debug"}}
  info: Client User-Agent string: Python http auth
  info: [debug] No appActivity desired capability or server param. 
  Parsing from apk.
  info: [debug] Using local app from desired caps: 
  /Users/n.nadarajah/sites/Resilient-QA/EndToEndTesting
  /apks/app-debug.apk
  info: [debug] Creating new appium session 
  a5cfbee9-bcd6-41af-a90c-0389ab244d2c
  info: Starting android appium
  info: [debug] Getting Java version
  info: Java version is: 1.8.0_151
  info: [debug] Checking whether adb is present
  warn: The ANDROID_HOME environment variable is not set to the Android 
  SDK root directory path. 
  ANDROID_HOME is required for compatibility with SDK 23+. 
  Checking along PATH for adb.
  info: [debug] executing cmd: which adb
  info: [debug] Using adb from /Users/n.nadarajah/
  Library/Android/sdk/platform-tools/adb
  info: [debug] Parsing package and activity from app manifest
  info: [debug] Checking whether aapt is present
  warn: The ANDROID_HOME environment variable is not set to the Android 
  SDK root directory path. 
  ANDROID_HOME is required for compatibility with SDK 23+. 
  Checking along PATH for aapt.
  info: [debug] executing cmd: which aapt
  error: Problem parsing package and activity from manifest: Error: Could 
  not find aapt. Please set the ANDROID_HOME environment 
  variable with the Android SDK root directory path.
  info: [debug] Cleaning up android objects
  info: [debug] Cleaning up appium session
  error: Failed to start an Appium session, err was: Error: Could not 
  find aapt. Please set the ANDROID_HOME environment variable 
  with the Android SDK root directory path.
  info: [debug] Error: Could not find aapt. 
  Please set the ANDROID_HOME environment variable with the 
  Android SDK root directory path.at ADB.&lt;anonymous&gt; 
  (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/appium
  /node_modules/appium-adb/lib/adb.js:126:12)
      at ChildProcess.exithandler (child_process.js:279:5)
      at ChildProcess.emit (events.js:159:13)
      at maybeClose (internal/child_process.js:943:16)
      at Socket.stream.socket.on (internal/child_process.js:363:11)
      at Socket.emit (events.js:159:13)
      at Pipe._handle.close [as _onclose] (net.js:568:12)
  info: [debug] Responding to client with error: {"status":33,"value":
  {"message":"A new session could not be created. 
  (Original error: Could not find aapt. Please set the ANDROID_HOME 
  environment variable with the Android SDK root 
  directory path.)","origValue":"Could not find aapt. Please set the 
  ANDROID_HOME environment variable with the 
  Android SDK root directory path."},"sessionId":null}
  info: &lt;-- POST /wd/hub/session 500 164.317 ms - 344
  </code></pre>
  
  <hr>
  
  <p><strong>Questions:</strong>
  1. Why does appium cannot see the system environment variable?</p>
  
  <p>I've tried appium server versions 1.7.2 &amp; 1.7.1 &amp; 1.6.2 &amp; 1.4.16 the symptoms were the same.
  Could someone help me out with this please.</p>
  
  <p>Thanks
  Niro</p>