Hi!

Each time I log in to my account as a user on a unix network, I receive the following message:
Word too long

I checked on google many times and the most common answer to this was that the path definition was too long. In fact, when I echoed my path, it was too long... In fact, it was repeating itself!

[arobic@zandra: ~]$ echo $PATH
/canada/zampa03/arobic/bin:/usr/openwin/bin:/usr/bin/X11:/usr/games:
/usr/lib/java/bin:/canada/zampa03/arobic/bin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:
/usr/X11R6/bin:/bin:/usr/lib/java/bin:/usr/games/bin:/usr/games:/opt/gnome/bin:
/opt/kde/bin:/usr/openwin/bin:.:/usr/lib/pgsql/bin:/opt/pilotsdk/bin:.:
/canada/zampa03/arobic/bin:/cern/pro/bin:/zeus/bin:/usr/local/gnu/bin:
/usr/local/bin:/usr/sue/bin:/usr/afsws/bin:/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin/X11:
/afs/desy.de/common/usr/local/bin:/afs/desy.de/common/usr/local/X11/bin:
/afs/desy.de/products:/afs/desy.de/group/zeus.zsmsm/ZEUSSysSoft/cmd/bin:
/afs/desy.de/group/zeus.zsmsm/ZEUSSysSoft/cmd:.:/afs/desy.de/user/a/arobic/bin:
/cern/pro/bin:/zeus/bin:/usr/local/gnu/bin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sue/bin:
/usr/afsws/bin:/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin/X11:/afs/desy.de/common/usr/local/bin:
/afs/desy.de/common/usr/local/X11/bin:/afs/desy.de/products:
/afs/desy.de/group/zeus.zsmsm/ZEUSSysSoft/cmd/bin:
/afs/desy.de/group/zeus.zsmsm/ZEUSSysSoft/cmd:.:
/canada/zampa03/arobic/bin:/cern/pro/bin:/zeus/bin:/usr/local/gnu/bin:
/usr/local/bin:/usr/sue/bin:/usr/afsws/bin:/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin/X11:
/afs/desy.de/common/usr/local/bin:/afs/desy.de/common/usr/local/X11/bin:
/afs/desy.de/products:/afs/desy.de/group/zeus.zsmsm/ZEUSSysSoft/cmd/bin:
/afs/desy.de/group/zeus.zsmsm/ZEUSSysSoft/cmd

I checked and I am not making any PATH definition in my local config files (.bashrc, .profile, .login or .tcshrc). So there must be a self-repeating definition somewhere in the default config files in /etc or something

My questions are:
- What can I change to reduce my path as a normal user?
- Can there be another cause to this word too long error?


Any kind of help will be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

I finally figured out my problem, but I thought it may be useful to other users to know the answer to the original question...

In my personal config file which source my alias and env variables, I was sourcing a file that was sourcing a file that was sourcing... (you know what i mean!!)

This file was adding a path to my path like this:
PATH=$PATH:something/else...

So, at the end, I was sourcing it each time I called .tcshrc, basically each time I was calling a terminal in tcsh! That's why my path was evidently too long and I had this error.

I still don't understant why I had this error at login though. Usually, the path is reset when logout. Is that right?

If anyone have a basic knowledge about path in unix that I am missing, please feel free to add your comment to this thread! I would like to know more about that!