user's PATH inherited by root when su

tvn · 04-24-2004, 10:41 PM

I added a new bin dir to my $PATH in ~/.bash_profile , the user is able to find that new dir fine but when I 'su' as root, it does not find that dir. So how to make root find that dir other than add dir to ROOT/.bash_profile and use "su -" ? Thanks in advance

AMMullan · 04-25-2004, 12:44 AM

Add the following to /etc/bashrc:

PATH=$PATH:DIR

Replace DIR with the new bin dir

Dead Parrot · 04-25-2004, 03:55 AM

If you use option -p with su command (su -p), you get to keep the normal user's shell environment, including $PATH. To make this automatic you can add
alias su='su -p'
into your ~/.bashrc.

To set a default $PATH for the 'super user' you can modify ENV_SUPATH in /etc/login.defs.

AMMullan · 04-25-2004, 04:00 AM

Yes but what if he has to su from another users logon? /etc/bashrc sets that bin directory for everyone that logs on...

Dead Parrot · 04-25-2004, 05:41 AM

To set the same $PATH for all users you can modify /etc/profile.

Quote:

Yes but what if he has to su from another users logon? /etc/bashrc sets that bin directory for everyone that logs on...

The system-wide equivalent for ~/.bashrc is in Debian /etc/bash.bashrc.

AMMullan · 04-25-2004, 06:07 AM

Ummmm ok so you can set it in /etc/bashrc and /etc/profile? Kewl, learnt yet another thing for Linux (lol as I've been told by a good friend of mine, you never stop learning with Linux - and thats why I like it so much)