Where is .bash_profile file or his equivalent?

[mono]

Hi, I want to ask you where is .bash_profile file or his equivalent? I want to change variable PATH. In Fedora distro was in home directoty file .bash_profile in which was variable PATH. I could change PATH in this file... But in Debian I cant find this file. Can you advise me where change PATH? Thanks

[Telemachus]

If you do ls -A, you should have both a .bashrc and a .profile. You probably want to edit .bashrc instead. Both .profile and .bash_profile are for login shells, and depending on what you do, many of your shells (in an X environment) will be non-login shells. The good news is that by default Debian's .profile automatically sources .bashrc, so anything you put in .bashrc gets sourced either way.

[smallchange]

To explain why you might like to know that bash will source .profile if .bash_profile does not exist, and other shells will source .profile, while only bash will us .bash_profile, so using .profile allows configuration for other shells to be set as well.

[mono]

I use Bash... I looked to .profile and I found there the following line PATH="$HOME/bin:$PATH". Do I understand correct that in variable PATH is saved path to the home directory and bin directory? I dont understand what does mean $PATH on the end of this line.

[didi]

I use Bash... I looked to .profile and I found there the following line PATH="$HOME/bin:$PATH". Do I understand correct that in variable PATH is saved path to the home directory and bin directory? I dont understand what does mean $PATH on the end of this line.

A colon (:) is the separator character in *nix, so what that statement does is add $HOME/bin to the existing value of $PATH.
In other words: the new PATH is $HOME/bin + the old PATH

[mono]

Ok but when I added new directory(sbin) into PATH: PATH="$HOME/bin:/sbin:$PATH" and then I figured variable PATH so I got the following statement bash: /usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/games:. sbin is not in PATH. How can I add new directoty into PATH?

[Telemachus]

Ok but when I added new directory(sbin) into PATH: PATH="$HOME/bin:/sbin:$PATH" and then I figured variable PATH so I got the following statement bash: /usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/games:. sbin is not in PATH. How can I add new directoty into PATH?

After you add the new directory, you have to either log out and log back in or re-source whatever file you edited. So, let's assume you are editing the $PATH in .profile. After you finish your editing, do this:

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. .profile

The command . sources the .profile file again. After that, you should see the updated $PATH variable.

[mono]

I did like you said, but my $PATH looks still same. I wrote to .profile PATH="$HOME/bin:/sbin:/bin:/home" but when I display variable PATH so I see the following: bash: /usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/games:

[smallchange]

I think you are missing the export statement.

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export PATH=$PATH:/sbin

should give you what you want. Your $HOME/bin will be added by .bashrc if you have not changed that file and if $HOME/bin exists. It will also be added at the end of your path which is almost always better.

[Telemachus]

I think you are missing the export statement.

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export PATH=$PATH:/sbin

should give you what you want. Your $HOME/bin will be added by .bashrc if you have not changed that file and if $HOME/bin exists. It will also be added at the end of your path which is almost always better.

I doubt that's the problem since export is not required in this case. All I have in my .profile is this, and it works like a charm:

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# set PATH so it includes user's private bin if it exists
if [ -d "$HOME/bin" ] ; then
    PATH="$HOME/bin:$PATH"
fi

@ Mono - Please post the output of this command:

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 cat .profile .bashrc

[smallchange]

You are right about the export. PATH is a reserved variable in bash that is automatically exported as part of the environment.

[mono]

Here are exports from profile and bashrc.
cat .profile .bashrc
# ~/.profile: executed by the command interpreter for login shells.
# This file is not read by bash(1), if ~/.bash_profile or ~/.bash_login
# exists.
# see /usr/share/doc/bash/examples/startup-files for examples.
# the files are located in the bash-doc package.

# the default umask is set in /etc/profile; for setting the umask
# for ssh logins, install and configure the libpam-umask package.
umask 022

# if running bash
if [ -n "$BASH_VERSION" ]; then
# include .bashrc if it exists
if [ -f "$HOME/.bashrc" ]; then
. "$HOME/.bashrc"
fi
fi

# set PATH so it includes user's private bin if it exists
if [ -d "$HOME/bin" ] ; then

#originally
# PATH="$HOME/bin:$PATH"

#newly added
PATH="$HOME/bin:/sbin:/bin:/home"



fi
# ~/.bashrc: executed by bash(1) for non-login shells.
# see /usr/share/doc/bash/examples/startup-files (in the package bash-doc)
# for examples

# If not running interactively, don't do anything
[ -z "$PS1" ] && return

# don't put duplicate lines in the history. See bash(1) for more options
# don't overwrite GNU Midnight Commander's setting of `ignorespace'.
export HISTCONTROL=$HISTCONTROL${HISTCONTROL+,}ignoredups
# ... or force ignoredups and ignorespace
export HISTCONTROL=ignoreboth

# append to the history file, don't overwrite it
shopt -s histappend

# for setting history length see HISTSIZE and HISTFILESIZE in bash(1)

# check the window size after each command and, if necessary,
# update the values of LINES and COLUMNS.
shopt -s checkwinsize

# make less more friendly for non-text input files, see lesspipe(1)
#[ -x /usr/bin/lesspipe ] && eval "$(SHELL=/bin/sh lesspipe)"

# set variable identifying the chroot you work in (used in the prompt below)
if [ -z "$debian_chroot" ] && [ -r /etc/debian_chroot ]; then
debian_chroot=$(cat /etc/debian_chroot)
fi

# set a fancy prompt (non-color, unless we know we "want" color)
case "$TERM" in
xterm-color) color_prompt=yes;;
esac

# uncomment for a colored prompt, if the terminal has the capability; turned
# off by default to not distract the user: the focus in a terminal window
# should be on the output of commands, not on the prompt
#force_color_prompt=yes

if [ -n "$force_color_prompt" ]; then
if [ -x /usr/bin/tput ] && tput setaf 1 >&/dev/null; then
# We have color support; assume it's compliant with Ecma-48
# (ISO/IEC-6429). (Lack of such support is extremely rare, and such
# a case would tend to support setf rather than setaf.)
color_prompt=yes
else
color_prompt=
fi
fi

if [ "$color_prompt" = yes ]; then
PS1='${debian_chroot:+($debian_chroot)}\[\033[01;32m\]\u@\h\[\033[00m\]:\[\033[01;34m\]\w\[\033[00m\]\$ '
else
PS1='${debian_chroot:+($debian_chroot)}\u@\h:\w\$ '
fi
unset color_prompt force_color_prompt

# If this is an xterm set the title to user@host:dir
case "$TERM" in
xterm*|rxvt*)
PS1="\[\e]0;${debian_chroot:+($debian_chroot)}\u@\h: \w\a\]$PS1"
;;
*)
;;
esac

# Alias definitions.
# You may want to put all your additions into a separate file like
# ~/.bash_aliases, instead of adding them here directly.
# See /usr/share/doc/bash-doc/examples in the bash-doc package.

#if [ -f ~/.bash_aliases ]; then
# . ~/.bash_aliases
#fi

# enable color support of ls and also add handy aliases
if [ -x /usr/bin/dircolors ]; then
eval "`dircolors -b`"
alias ls='ls --color=auto'
#alias dir='dir --color=auto'
#alias vdir='vdir --color=auto'

#alias grep='grep --color=auto'
#alias fgrep='fgrep --color=auto'
#alias egrep='egrep --color=auto'
fi

# some more ls aliases
#alias ll='ls -l'
#alias la='ls -A'
#alias l='ls -CF'

# enable programmable completion features (you don't need to enable
# this, if it's already enabled in /etc/bash.bashrc and /etc/profile
# sources /etc/bash.bashrc).
if [ -f /etc/bash_completion ]; then
. /etc/bash_completion
fi
polo@debian:~$ export PATH=$PATH:/sbinexport PATH=$PATH:/sbin

[Telemachus]

A few things:

1. Please wrap quotations like this in code tags. It makes it much easier to read since those tags preserve indentation.
2. You have your new $PATH setting inside an if test that may not be true. It says, "Make this my new path if I have a directory called 'bin' in my home directory." Do you have such a directory? (You can check with ls if you're not sure. An answer to this problem is to move your new $PATH setting below the if...fi structure:

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   # set PATH so it includes user's private bin if it exists
   if [ -d "$HOME/bin" ] ; then
       #originally
       # PATH="$HOME/bin:$PATH"
   
       #newly added
       ## REMOVE THIS -- PATH="$HOME/bin:/sbin:/bin:/home"
   fi
   # Put the $PATH below here
   PATH="$HOME/bin:/sbin:/bin:/home"
   

3. Finally, the path you are trying to set is very odd. You aren't giving yourself access to /usr/bin or /usr/local, both of which are pretty normal places to find software. (I have around 1800 executables in /usr/bin as an example.) On the other hand, do you really expect to install software in /home?

[mono]

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# set PATH so it includes user's private bin if it exists
if [ -d "$HOME/bin" ] ; then
#originally
# PATH="$HOME/bin:/sbin:$PATH"

fi
#newly write
PATH="$HOME/bin:/sbin:/bin:"

No, I dont expect that I will install SW from home. It was just test directory. Problem is still here. Look at my code and look what display env command:PATH=/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/games. The PATH is still the same:(

[Telemachus]

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# set PATH so it includes user's private bin if it exists
if [ -d "$HOME/bin" ] ; then
#originally
# PATH="$HOME/bin:/sbin:$PATH"

fi
#newly write
PATH="$HOME/bin:/sbin:/bin:"

No, I dont expect that I will install SW from home. It was just test directory. Problem is still here. Look at my code and look what display env command:PATH=/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/games. The PATH is still the same:(

First, you should remove the final ':' from the $PATH setting. Second, have you logged into a new shell or resourced your .profile? Try this:

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source ~/.profile
echo $PATH

[mono]

source ~/.profile
bash: /home/polo/.profile: line 26: syntax error near unexpected token `fi'
bash: /home/polo/.profile: line 26: `fi'


Correct PATH: PATH="$HOME/bin:/sbin:/bin"

[Telemachus]

source ~/.profile
bash: /home/polo/.profile: line 26: syntax error near unexpected token `fi'
bash: /home/polo/.profile: line 26: `fi'


Correct PATH: PATH="$HOME/bin:/sbin:/bin"

Ok, so back on page one of this thread, when I wrote this, you skipped the key step:

After you finish your editing, do this:

Code: Select all

. .profile

The command . sources the .profile file again. After that, you should see the updated $PATH variable.

You should also clean up your .profile so that you don't get that error message every time that you login.

[mono]

I didnt skip this step. When I do . .profile
then I get...
bash: .profile: line 26: syntax error near unexpected token `fi'
bash: .profile: line 26: `fi'

[Telemachus]

I didnt skip this step. When I do . .profile
then I get...
bash: .profile: line 26: syntax error near unexpected token `fi'
bash: .profile: line 26: `fi'

Put # marks in front of the whole if block, so that it looks like this:

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# set PATH so it includes user's private bin if it exists
#if [ -d "$HOME/bin" ] ; then
#originally
# PATH="$HOME/bin:/sbin:$PATH"
#fi

Then try resourcing the file again.

[mono]

It works Telemachus!:) Thank you very much and sorry for my stupidity.