[SOLVED] Devuan 3.0

Pinguino99 · 09-20-2020, 05:41 AM

some commands from the sbin directory are not working without specifying the path, what is the best way to solve this?

fatmac · 09-20-2020, 08:55 AM

These are root owned files, so first I'd check their permissions.

hazel · 09-20-2020, 09:30 AM

If you're using them via sudo, it depends a lot on how the program was built. Some builds of sudo set it to use the root command path, so that commands in /sbin and /usr/sbin are instantly available. Others stick with your user-defined path, which doesn't usually include these directories.

Pinguino99 · 09-21-2020, 12:03 AM

even if I'm root the problem continues :\

the commands only work that way, example

Code:

# /sbin/shutdown
ou
# /sbin/mkfs.vfat

hazel · 09-21-2020, 05:39 AM

Can you post the results of

Code:

echo $PATH

for yourself and root?

Pinguino99 · 09-21-2020, 06:05 AM

Code:

# echo $PATH
/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/local/games:/usr/games

hazel · 09-21-2020, 06:16 AM

Well, there you are then! /sbin and /usr/sbin are not on root's command path. They ought to be. I don't know how Devuan does it but in most distros, the user login files, .profile and .bashrc, source standard profile and bashrc files in /etc that set these variables. That ensures that they are correctly set for all users.

In your case, the simplest solution is to edit the correct path in by hand in the appropriate root login file.

Pinguino99 · 09-21-2020, 07:30 AM

what would be the best solution?
from what I understand the Debian 10 buster has the same problem

boughtonp · 09-21-2020, 08:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pinguino99

from what I understand the Debian 10 buster has the same problem

Not sure what problem you're referring to - it's necessary to use sudo/root for shutdown command but root's PATH on my Buster machine is correct.

It appears to be handled at the top of "/etc/profile"...

Code:

$ head -n10 /etc/profile
# /etc/profile: system-wide .profile file for the Bourne shell (sh(1))
# and Bourne compatible shells (bash(1), ksh(1), ash(1), ...).

if [ "`id -u`" -eq 0 ]; then
  PATH="/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin"
else
  PATH="/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/local/games:/usr/games"
fi
export PATH

My guesses would be: your file is different; something is stopping it being executed; or something executed later is overriding PATH when it should be appending?

hazel · 09-21-2020, 08:28 AM

The way it's supposed to be done is that useradd creates a home directory for a new user and copies over any files it finds in /etc/skel. These files include specimen .bashrc and .profile files, and these in turn source /etc/profile and /etc/bashrc. It's complicated but necessary in an office system, where new accounts may need to be created frequently. For a home system, which typically has only one user account, it's overkill.

In this case, only the root path is problematic, so why not just edit the path in whichever file in /root sets it (probably .profile) adding ":/sbin:/usr/sbin" at the end of the line?

fatmac · 09-21-2020, 02:20 PM

Here's my Debian path, Devuan should be the same.

Quote:

$ echo $PATH
/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/local/games:/usr/games:/sbin:/usr/sbin

N.B. I'm in the sudo group.

Pinguino99 · 09-21-2020, 02:46 PM

in which file should i add the correct path?

michaelk · 09-21-2020, 02:57 PM

Are you logging in directly as root or using su to become root?

If the latter are you using su - ? The - switches the environment from your regular user to root's which should then be the path as posted above.

Pinguino99 · 09-21-2020, 03:24 PM

I'm using the su command

michaelk · 09-21-2020, 07:12 PM

Use su - command instead.