I changed something on my Mac and when I start terminal by simply clicking on the icon, none of the PATH variables are loaded to tell terminal where basic (or any commands) are. I have edited the file .bash_profile but it seems that it is not being sourced to determine the PATH variables.
I have also tried creating a file called .bashrc and putting the same commands from .bash_profile into .bashrc. That also did not work.
Once I type:
PATH=/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/X11/bin
into terminal my basic bash commands start to work. Then, once I login, I notice that it must read .bash_profile because my other path variables are then set.
What does it look like though to provide basic commands for a non-logged in user?