-bash: /bin/: Argument list too long

zeeshan673 · 02-22-2007, 05:03 AM

Hello folks,

I was having a problem setting the path environments so I modified .bashrc and .bash_profile where I wrote the following lines:

export PATH=$PATH: /home/zahmed/Marvell/simulators/

In fact, in the above specified directory (../simulators), there is a software installed called cver and I wanted to set the path for it so that I don't have to give the path for it in all of my scripts. Similarly I set the path for three other simulators and then logged out and when I am logged back in, it is giving me the following errors:

[zahmed@hafez ~]$ ls
-bash: /bin/ls: Argument list too long

[zahmed@hafez ~]$ vi .bashrc
-bash: /usr/bin/vim: Argument list too long

when I wrote "echo $PATH", it gave me a big list. Seems like for everything, it is giving me an argument list too long error.

Is there any suggestion how to fix it. I will really appreciate it.

My email address is zeeshan673@gmail.com

Warmest regards,
Zeeshan

Daws · 02-22-2007, 05:30 AM

Quote:

export PATH=$PATH: /home/zahmed/Marvell/simulators/

Probably a typo, but there shouldn't be a space between : and /home.

Slightly more useful is this from the coreutils faq.

zeeshan673 · 02-22-2007, 05:55 AM

The problem is when I am trying to modify the .bash_profile or .bashrc files, it is not opening the vim or any text editor so that I can fix it.

[zahmed@hafez ~]$ vi .bashrc
-bash: /usr/bin/vim: Argument list too long

[zahmed@hafez ~]$ vi .bash_profile
-bash: /usr/bin/vim: Argument list too long

So the main problem is: How to fix it back so that it will be able to work again.

Thanks for your time.

Warmest regards,
Zeeshan

Daws · 02-22-2007, 06:45 AM

Ah. That could be a problem. Can you login as root or use su?

If you can try something like this as root:

Code:

exec /bin/env -i HOME=/root TERM=$TERM PS1=$PS1 PATH=/bin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/usr/sbin /bin/bash

This should clear the environment of the offending PATH variable temporarily, just to correct the files.

Obviously there is a chance you will get a similar argument list too long error. In that case you will want to find a live cd and use it to edit the files.

timmeke · 02-22-2007, 10:25 AM

Why not simply use

Code:

unset PATH

or reset $PATH to a more sane value:

Code:

PATH=/usr:/usr/bin:/bin

The issue with $PATH can also be avoided by simply using specifying the necessary paths.
So:

Code:

#Don't do this, as the shell will consult $PATH to find "vi" program.
#vi .bashrc
#Instead, do:
/bin/vi ./.bashrc
#of course, you can also use another editor, like vim (usually in /usr/bin/)