How to set the PATH ?

Forum: User Feedback
Topic: How to set the PATH ?
started by: karistouf

Posted by karistouf on May 27 2005,12:45

hello everybody i do not more remember in wich file to set manually PATH and LD_Libs
setenv do not work and export is not recorded.

Thansk for answer

Posted by skaos on May 27 2005,13:37

Look at .bashrc and/or .bash_profile - not quite sure about the difference between the two.

Posted by mikshaw on May 27 2005,15:02

.bash_profile is for running commands when you open a bash login shell, and .bashrc is for executing commands when you open a non-login bash shell. You can set variables in any shell, but if you want the variable to be in use at all times it's best to export from .bash_profile (or .profile for non-bash shells)

In Bash you set the PATH for the current shell this way:
PATH=/a/path:/another/path:$PATH
The last part appends the current path to the end of the new path (almost always a good idea so you don't lose anything).

Set the path for the current shell and child shells with this command:
export PATH=/a/path:/another/path:$PATH
This should work in most cases.

Setting the LD_LIBRARY_PATH *should* work the same way, but it seems there might be a bug in rxvt. I've seen times when rxvt does not receive the exported LD_LIBRARY_PATH from .bash_profile...not sure why, but I've occasionally had to source .bash_profile in order for that variable to work with scripts run in rxvt.

Posted by karistouf on May 27 2005,15:12

thanks a lot thats why I want to configure manually my path.

I m completely happy with DSL, after having a Mandrake, then an Aurora 10.0 , then a FC2, then a FC3, and tried the Ubuntu 4.0; really damn small and its dsl package is more stable than everybody and I can do wath i need with it.

That s great and perfect !