while being at it I tried few other configurations and what does not work is repeated substitution not the default...
this works

LOG_HOME=logs
LOG_PATH=${LOG_HOME}/${APP_NAME}
ARCHIVE_PATH=${LOG_HOME}/archive/${APP_NAME}

this does not work

LOG_HOME1=lo
LOG_HOME2=gs
LOG_HOME=${LOG_HOME1}${LOG_HOME2}
LOG_PATH=${LOG_HOME}/${APP_NAME}
ARCHIVE_PATH=${LOG_HOME}/archive/${APP_NAME}
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