The Debian GNU/Linux FAQ
Chapter 10 - Customizing your installation of Debian GNU/Linux

10.1 How can I ensure that all programs use the same paper size?

Install the libpaper1 package, and it will ask you for a system-wide default paper size. This setting will be kept in the file /etc/papersize.

Users can override the paper size setting using the PAPERSIZE environment variable. For details, see the manual page papersize(5).