[SOLVED] How to permanently set $PATH on Raspbian GNU/Linux 10

Issue

I want to store my samba binary path to the global $PATH variable on my rpi4 but it did not work as expected. I've created a file samba-binary-path.sh in the folder /etc/profile.sh and made it with chmod +x executable.

The file samba-binary-path.sh contains the following:

export PATH=/usr/local/samba/bin/:/usr/local/samba/sbin/:$PATH

Furthermore I have export PATH=/usr/local/samba/bin/:/usr/local/samba/sbin/:$PATH also saved in the file /etc/environment.

Now comes the crazy part. When I execute my script on my cli it work as intended but when it get started from another process the path variable missing my samba binary path.

The affected code block:

#!/bin/bash
BINDIR=$(samba -b | grep 'BINDIR' | grep -v 'SBINDIR' | awk '{print $NF}')
[[ -z $BINDIR ]] && printf "Cannot find the 'samba' binary, is it installed?"

For debbuging purposes I piped the $PATH variable to /var/log/syslog.

Here is the result:

• Executed on cli: $PATH=/usr/local/samba/bin/:/usr/local/samba/sbin/:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin
• Executed from other process: $PATH=/sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin

Where do I specify the path so that the samba binary could be always found?

Regards,

Ronny

Solution

How to permanently set $PATH on Raspbian GNU/Linux 10

To explicitly permanently change PATH for all possible environments that do not have PATH is explicitly set, like a new non-interactive non-login shell that does not inherit PATH from the parent process, recompile bash with different value of DEFAULT_PATH_VALUE (there's a ./configure option for it if I remember correctly).

Where do I specify the path so that the samba binary could be always found?

You specify it in your script.

PATH=$PATH:/some/path
# or explicitly
bindir=$(/the/path/to/samba -b ....)

You could also explicitly invoke a login shell when running the script, ergo sourcing /etc/profile* stuff.

Answered By - KamilCuk