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anis_huq 04-30-2011 06:51 PM

How to run my C program from anywhere within the System (Ubuntu 10.10)?
 
Friends,
I want to add my C program's path to the environment variable PATH. My C program called "md5". So that I can execute it from anywhere (i.e any directory).

My md5 program is located at "/home/ahuq/MappingServer/md5_program". So what I did was to put: "export PATH=$PATH:/home/ahuq/MappingServer/md5_program" in the running SHELL. This only makes temporary changes and lets me run the "md5" program from anywhere temporarily.

root@ahuq-kitchen:/home/ahuq# md5 -sanis
MD5 ("anis") = 38a1ffb5ccad9612d3d28d99488ca94b

But I want to make this change permanent.

I tried to put the line "PATH=$PATH:/home/ahuq/MappingServer/md5_program" at the end of "/home/ahuq/.bashrc" and "/home/ahuq/.profile" files. I logged out of the SHELL and
went in again. But it didn't work:

root@ahuq-kitchen:/home/ahuq# md5 -sanis
No command 'md5' found, did you mean:
Command 'cd5' from package 'cd5' (universe)
Command 'mdu' from package 'mtools' (main)
Command 'mdb' from package 'mono-debugger' (universe)
md5: command not found

Maybe I am putting the PATH statement in the wrong place of the above mentioned files. There are a lot if-else-fi structures inside those two files. Do I need to put the PATH statement inside any of those structures? Do I just logout or do I have to restart the system to make the changes active?

Bye.

DarkVenger 04-30-2011 07:07 PM

Put that modified PATH line in /etc/environment
More on the subject https://help.ubuntu.com/community/En...nt%20variables

anis_huq 04-30-2011 07:13 PM

I tried putting in: "export PATH=$PATH:/home/ahuq/MappingServer/md5_program" at the end of "/home/ahuq/.bashrc" and "/home/ahuq/.profile" files do not help. The contents of .bashrc file:
Code:

# ~/.bashrc: executed by bash(1) for non-login shells.

# see /usr/share/doc/bash/examples/startup-files (in the package bash-doc)

# for examples



# If not running interactively, don't do anything

[ -z "$PS1" ] && return



# don't put duplicate lines in the history. See bash(1) for more options

# ... or force ignoredups and ignorespace

HISTCONTROL=ignoredups:ignorespace



# append to the history file, don't overwrite it

shopt -s histappend



# for setting history length see HISTSIZE and HISTFILESIZE in bash(1)

HISTSIZE=1000

HISTFILESIZE=2000



# check the window size after each command and, if necessary,

# update the values of LINES and COLUMNS.

shopt -s checkwinsize



# make less more friendly for non-text input files, see lesspipe(1)

[ -x /usr/bin/lesspipe ] && eval "$(SHELL=/bin/sh lesspipe)"



# set variable identifying the chroot you work in (used in the prompt below)

if [ -z "$debian_chroot" ] && [ -r /etc/debian_chroot ]; then

    debian_chroot=$(cat /etc/debian_chroot)

fi



# set a fancy prompt (non-color, unless we know we "want" color)

case "$TERM" in

    xterm-color) color_prompt=yes;;

esac



# uncomment for a colored prompt, if the terminal has the capability; turned

# off by default to not distract the user: the focus in a terminal window

# should be on the output of commands, not on the prompt

#force_color_prompt=yes



if [ -n "$force_color_prompt" ]; then

    if [ -x /usr/bin/tput ] && tput setaf 1 >&/dev/null; then

        # We have color support; assume it's compliant with Ecma-48

        # (ISO/IEC-6429). (Lack of such support is extremely rare, and such

        # a case would tend to support setf rather than setaf.)

        color_prompt=yes

    else

        color_prompt=

    fi

fi



if [ "$color_prompt" = yes ]; then

    PS1='${debian_chroot:+($debian_chroot)}\[\033[01;32m\]\u@\h\[\033[00m\]:\[\033[01;34m\]\w\[\033[00m\]\$ '

else

    PS1='${debian_chroot:+($debian_chroot)}\u@\h:\w\$ '

fi

unset color_prompt force_color_prompt



# If this is an xterm set the title to user@host:dir

case "$TERM" in

xterm*|rxvt*)

    PS1="\[\e]0;${debian_chroot:+($debian_chroot)}\u@\h: \w\a\]$PS1"

    ;;

*)

    ;;

esac



# enable color support of ls and also add handy aliases

if [ -x /usr/bin/dircolors ]; then

    test -r ~/.dircolors && eval "$(dircolors -b ~/.dircolors)" || eval "$(dircolors -b)"

    alias ls='ls --color=auto'

    #alias dir='dir --color=auto'

    #alias vdir='vdir --color=auto'



    alias grep='grep --color=auto'

    alias fgrep='fgrep --color=auto'

    alias egrep='egrep --color=auto'

fi



# some more ls aliases

alias ll='ls -alF'

alias la='ls -A'

alias l='ls -CF'



# Alias definitions.

# You may want to put all your additions into a separate file like

# ~/.bash_aliases, instead of adding them here directly.

# See /usr/share/doc/bash-doc/examples in the bash-doc package.



if [ -f ~/.bash_aliases ]; then

    . ~/.bash_aliases

fi



# enable programmable completion features (you don't need to enable

# this, if it's already enabled in /etc/bash.bashrc and /etc/profile

# sources /etc/bash.bashrc).

if [ -f /etc/bash_completion ] && ! shopt -oq posix; then

    . /etc/bash_completion

fi

#my program's path
export PATH=$PATH:/home/ahuq/MappingServer/md5_program

---------- Post added 05-01-11 at 06:14 AM ----------

The contents of my .profile file is:

# ~/.profile: executed by the command interpreter for login shells.

# This file is not read by bash(1), if ~/.bash_profile or ~/.bash_login

# exists.

# see /usr/share/doc/bash/examples/startup-files for examples.

# the files are located in the bash-doc package.



# the default umask is set in /etc/profile; for setting the umask

# for ssh logins, install and configure the libpam-umask package.

#umask 022



# if running bash

if [ -n "$BASH_VERSION" ]; then

    # include .bashrc if it exists

    if [ -f "$HOME/.bashrc" ]; then

        . "$HOME/.bashrc"

    fi

fi



# set PATH so it includes user's private bin if it exists

if [ -d "$HOME/bin" ] ; then

    PATH="$HOME/bin:$PATH:"

fi



export PATH=$PATH:/home/ahuq/MappingServer/md5_program


anis_huq 04-30-2011 07:19 PM

found it. put the "export PATH=$PATH:/home/ahuq/MappingServer/md5_program" line in:
/etc/bash.bashrc and problem solved!

anis_huq 04-30-2011 07:27 PM

Thanks @ DarkVenger ......... :)

paulsm4 04-30-2011 07:42 PM

Hi -

Glad you got it working. And changing /etc/bash.bashrc is definitely the way to go to modify the $PATH for all users.

However, "/home/ahuq/.bashrc" and "/home/ahuq/.profile" should have worked, too. It didn't look like you had any syntax errors, and there shouldn't be any "special place" you needed to put your changes. You shouldn't have to restart the system ... but you *should* log out from and log back in to your entire GUI session. Or, equivalently, log in from another "virtual terminal" (e.g. <Ctl-Alt-F1>. Either way, it should have read your modified local environment and given you the new $PATH.

jschiwal 04-30-2011 07:52 PM

You could have put it in your ~/.profile file, and exported it. Not exporting PATH is why it didn't work originally. Using .profile or .bash_login (which ever one you use) is better than .bashrc because .bashrc will be run again whenever you create a subshell, adding the same directory to your PATH variable for each subshell. The .profile script will be sourced once when you log in.

For programs and scripts you do yourself, you can also put them in $HOME/bin/ which should be in $PATH already instead of changing a system directory or file.

MTK358 05-01-2011 09:55 AM

@ anis_huq

Edit post #3 to use [code]code goes here[/code] tags. And use code tags from now on whenever posting code or command output.

paulsm4 05-02-2011 02:17 AM

@mtk358 -

Didn't your mommy ever teach you the importance of using words like "Please" and "Thank you"? ;)


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