$path

Pedroski · 06-03-2008, 09:50 AM

Someone please tell me what I'm doing wrong!!
Want to amend PATH.
I enter PATH=$PATH:/usr/lib export PATH in a shell (bash)

echo $PATH gives me the correct PATH
But on restart, it's not there anymore!! Argggh!

I put
PATH=$PATH:/usr/lib export PATH in my .bash_profile in my home directory

Also put PATH=$PATH:/usr/lib export PATH in /etc/profiles.

Where the hell do I have to put it to make it stick?

shadowsnipes · 06-03-2008, 10:15 AM

Set it either in /etc/profile (global) or your ~/.profile (user-specific). If you use the latter you may also want to source your ~/.profile from ~/.bashrc

Code:

if [ -f ~/.profile ]; then
	source ~/.profile
fi

cmnorton · 06-03-2008, 10:19 AM

If you want your PATH updated only upon logging in, edit ~/.bash_profile (usually Red Hat/rpm-based systems) or ~/.profile for Debian-based systems (at least for Ubuntu).

PATH=$PATH:$HOME/bin

export PATH
unset USERNAME

Please note PATH is exported. PATH is usually defined/updated in the login-only files, rather than .bashrc, which is executed, I believe, every time a shell starts up.

It was not clear from your post if you were adding to PATH on the command line or in a login file as noted above. Unless you absolutely do not want a launched program to have your modified PATH, pre-prending export to the environment variable is a useful thing to do (with any environment variable for that matter).

Pedroski · 06-03-2008, 10:39 AM

Thanks, but that's what I did. In a bash terminal I put
PATH=$PATH:/usr/lib export PATH in one line, then pressed enter.
I also put exactly that in my home .bash_profile, and to be sure in /etc/profile. On restart, echo $PATH gave me the old PATH again, without /usr/lib That's why I thought I'm doing something wrong here! Am I?

shadowsnipes · 06-03-2008, 11:32 AM

In my ~/.profile I have this for modifying my PATH

Code:

PATH=~/ProgramBuilds:$PATH

I don't need to export it there. Granted, I'm using Slackware, so Debian may be doing things slightly different.

Try just adding

Code:

PATH=$PATH:/usr/lib

to /etc/profile. If it is there you should not need it in any of the files specific to your user.

Was /etc/profile there before this or did you create it? Perhaps Debian look under /etc/profile.d/* instead.

Edit: Just a warning: You probably don't want /usr/lib to be at the end of your PATH, but rather the current directory (".").

chrism01 · 06-03-2008, 06:49 PM

1. Put the PATH definition on one line and the 'export PATH' on another.
2. do not put your current dir ('.') in your PATH. This is a security hole.

shadowsnipes · 06-03-2008, 09:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chrism01

2. do not put your current dir ('.') in your PATH. This is a security hole.

I disagree with this when used in the context of a normal user and when '.' is at the end of the PATH. I agree that it shouldn't be in root's PATH.

chrism01 · 06-04-2008, 12:06 AM

1. the damage may be less than root, but its still not fun
2. if you use
su
instead of
su -
you maintain your ORIG env, instead of getting root's ... think about that ...

shadowsnipes · 06-04-2008, 12:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chrism01

1. the damage may be less than root, but its still not fun
2. if you use
su
instead of
su -
you maintain your ORIG env, instead of getting root's ... think about that ...

which is why I always use su -

When running as root I often use absolute paths for all my commands anyways...

Pedroski · 06-04-2008, 12:48 AM

This is my /etc/profile

Quote:

# /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/games:/usr/lib:/usr/include:/usr/include/jasper"
fi

if [ "$PS1" ]; then
if [ "$BASH" ]; then
PS1='\u@\h:\w\$ '
else
if [ "`id -u`" -eq 0 ]; then
PS1='# '
else
PS1='$ '
fi
fi
fi

export PATH
PATH=$PATH:/usr/lib:/usr/include:/usr/include/jasper
export PATH

umask 022

How come I'm still not getting /usr/lib in my PATH????

Pedroski · 06-04-2008, 12:55 AM

/etc/profile is a root file, ie only root can modify it. But I started gedit as su to add /usr/lib and the others. But on starting the computer this morning I still only have $PATH=/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/bin/X11:/usr/games
Arrrrghh!!

Pedroski · 06-04-2008, 01:05 AM

Oh, and /etc/profile was there, I just modified it, according to what I read on the net. Wouldn't know how to write a script!
Far as I can see, I'm not doing anything wrong, but it doesn't work!!! Maybe missed a dot or a comma???

shadowsnipes · 06-04-2008, 10:41 AM

I don't think you need the

Code:

PATH=$PATH:/usr/lib:/usr/include:/usr/include/jasper
export PATH

since you already set these extras previously at

Code:

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/games:/usr/lib:/usr/include:/usr/include/jasper"
fi

Login as a non-root user and

Code:

echo $PATH

Show us what you get.

Pedroski · 06-04-2008, 11:09 AM

I get the following, but only because this morning I set PATH using PATH=$PATH:/usr/lib, as it didn't have /usr/lib, even though /etc/profile is/was as shown above.

If I do a restart now, I'll probably end up with the old PATH again, can try. Will try and get back to you.

Pedroski · 06-04-2008, 11:10 AM

OOps, forgot to paste the answer:

peter@vaya:~$ echo $PATH
/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/bin/X11:/usr/games:/usr/lib:/usr/include:/usr/include/jasper
peter@vaya:~$