14

I added a directory to PATH in /etc/profile. This works for my user account but not for root. It's easy to add it to my /root/.bashrc but I would like to understand what's wrong. It's a mostly unmodified Debian 6 so I think my changes should do the trick.

Here is my /etc/profile:

# /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/lib/distcc/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin"
else
  PATH="/usr/lib/distcc/bin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/local/games:/usr/games"
fi
export PATH

if [ "$PS1" ]; then
  if [ "$BASH" ]; then
    # The file bash.bashrc already sets the default PS1.
    # PS1='\h:\w\$ '
    if [ -f /etc/bash.bashrc ]; then
      . /etc/bash.bashrc
    fi
  else
    if [ "`id -u`" -eq 0 ]; then
      PS1='# '
    else
      PS1='$ '
    fi
  fi
fi

# The default umask is now handled by pam_umask.
# See pam_umask(8) and /etc/login.defs.

if [ -d /etc/profile.d ]; then
  for i in /etc/profile.d/*.sh; do
    if [ -r $i ]; then
      . $i
    fi
  done
  unset i
fi

Edit: The path I added is the distcc-stuff. Here is what echo $PATH tells me:

$ echo $PATH
/usr/lib/distcc/bin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/local/games:/usr/games
# echo $PATH
/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin
6
  • How do you log in as root? Do you actually run a login shell?
    – Daniel Beck
    May 25, 2011 at 13:39
  • I do su from a user shell in Gnome.
    – techshack
    May 25, 2011 at 13:41
  • Oh I see, logging in on a terminal leads to correct set PATH. What's the difference?
    – techshack
    May 25, 2011 at 13:42
  • Try su - to load roots profile.
    – cularis
    May 25, 2011 at 13:50
  • That does the trick.
    – techshack
    May 25, 2011 at 13:54

3 Answers 3

11

You need to run a login shell (or run a non-interactive shell, but that's not what you want) to load /etc/profile.

Use

su - username

or in case of root

su -

to do this.

- is the same as -l or --login and makes the shell a login shell.

1

You need to simulate a login shell, which you can do with sudo using -i:

sudo -i <command>

From man sudo:

 -i [command]
             The -i (simulate initial login) option runs the shell specified by the password
             database entry of the target user as a login shell.  This means that login-spe‐
             cific resource files such as .profile or .login will be read by the shell.  If a
             command is specified, it is passed to the shell for execution via the shell's -c
             option.  If no command is specified, an interactive shell is executed.  sudo
             attempts to change to that user's home directory before running the shell.  The
             security policy shall initialize the environment to a minimal set of variables,
             similar to what is present when a user logs in.  The Command Environment section
             in the sudoers(5) manual documents how the -i option affects the environment in
             which a command is run when the sudoers policy is in use.
1
  • /etc/profile seems to be ignored when running sudo su to be root. However /root/.bashrc is respected.
    – Marc
    Jun 12, 2020 at 8:39
0

A login shell is needed and can be created using sudo:

sudo bash --login <command>

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