Re: login, bash, su

[Bob Proulx]

Tomas Rett wrote:
> I use Mandrake Linux 9.1.
> 
> If I "su -" to my login name, the PATH is /bin:/usr/bin:/usr/local/bin 
> following by the items added in the /etc/profile . This is correct behavior.

That sounds good.  'su' is supplied with coreutils.  So it is good to
hear it is working right.  When supplying the - or -l option the shell
will read /etc/profile followed by your personal login environment
files.  (e.g. .bash_profile)

> If I login to my account another way, the PATH is /usr//bin:/bin:/usr/bin:: 
> and this is bad.

Uh, what way is another way?  kdm?  gdm?  xdm?  login?  None of those
are part of coreutils.  So we are probably not going to be able to
help.

On Mandrake /bin/login is part of the util-linux package and login
defaults to a PATH of "/usr/local/bin:/bin:/usr/bin:.".

Check /etc/profile, check ~/.bash_profile, check ~/.profile, check
~/.bashrc.  But since 'su - user' works those are probably fine.

> I need to fix this error.

More information would be needed.  Here is a document which describes
in general the process needed to debug problems such as yours.

  http://catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

Bob