The PATH shell variable is wrong on my system (Mandrake 9.2). I can set it properly with
PATH=/usr/bin:/usr/sbin:...
Where in the system (/etc/ ?) are shell variables set on boot?

Thanks

Environment variables are set depending on the user and upon which shell they choose to use. If you're using bash for your shell (the default on many Linux distributions), check for a file called .bashrc in your home directory. There's also a global set of definitions in /etc/bashrc. If you want to change your path, for instance, you can edit your ~/.bashrc to add any environment variables you want.

By the way, what's wrong with your path variable? Mine's always given me everything I need; usually, normal users should have /bin, /usr/bin, /usr/local/bin, /usr/X11R6/bin and possibly a couple others. Normal users could, I suppose, have /usr/sbin and /sbin on their path as well, but most of the time they don't need to, since they contain system administration binaries, and only root should be running them most of the time.

I am running bash

echo $SHELL
/bin/bash

I have the same .bashrc for both root and my normal user:

# .bashrc

# User specific aliases and functions

# Source global definitions
if [ -f /etc/bashrc ]; then
. /etc/bashrc
fi

There is nothing in /etc/bashrc for PATH.

# /etc/bashrc

# System wide functions and aliases
# Environment stuff goes in /etc/profile

# by default, we want this to get set.
# Even for non-interactive, non-login shells.
if [ "`id -gn`" = "`id -un`" -a `id -u` -gt 99 ]; then
umask 002
else
umask 022
fi

# are we an interactive shell?
if [ "$PS1" ]; then
case $TERM in
xterm*)
PROMPT_COMMAND='echo -ne "\033]0;${USER}@${HOSTNAME}: ${PWD}\007"'
;;
*)
;;
esac
[ "$PS1" = "\\s-\\v\\\$ " ] && PS1="[\u@\h \W]\\$ "

if [ -z "$loginsh" ]; then # We're not a login shell
for i in /etc/profile.d/*.sh; do
if [ -x $i ]; then
. $i
fi
done
fi
fi

unset loginsh

Every time I start a new shell the path is reset to this:
/usr//bin:/bin:/usr/bin::/usr/local/bin:/usr/X11R6/bin:/usr/games:/home/tmoorman/bi

Where is this set?

BTW, I am running Konsole under Kde 3.1

....... adding to what Wap said - check this site out:

http://www.linuxenvy.com/gened/notes/note_path.html

Some PATH stuff is probably set in /etc/profile and/or ~/.profile. It looks like your /etc/bashrc is also pulling in all the scripts from /etc/profile.d/*, which may also be changing the PATH.

If you want your path to be something explicit, you could just add to ~/.profile:

export PATH=/stuff/you/want/on/the/path

but that could disrupt things if you install a new program that also needs to add itself to your path, so it's probably better to use:

export PATH=$PATH:/other/stuff

which will just add to your existing path.

I found the solution at mandrakeclub.com
http://www.mandrakeclub.com/modules....&post_id=32900
There are two variables, SystemPath and UserPath in /usr/share/config/kdm/kdmrc, which were set incorrectly. I changed them, restarted Kde and now I get the correct path with every shell.
This seems to be specific to Mandrake 9.2 upgrades.