$PATH with su and su -

exvor · 12-27-2009, 06:20 PM

I seam to be getting different things in path when I run a su or a su - the su - give me the correct pathing that is setup for root while su just gives me the same as a normal user plus /sbin and /usr/sbin? I am wondering why when you invoke the su that it does not re read the /etc/profile for path information. Is there a way I can add this somewhere to make it work? I was thinking of putting it in the /etc/bashrc with a line like source /etc/profile but I dunno if that would be right or not. Any thoughts everyone?

syg00 · 12-27-2009, 06:27 PM

WAD - the manpage didn't explain this ?.

exvor · 12-27-2009, 07:46 PM

Lol funny you should mention that cause right after posting this I did read it and found this

Code:

 The current environment is passed to the new shell. The value of $PATH
       is reset to /bin:/usr/bin for normal users, or
       /sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin for the super user. This may be changed
       with the ENV_PATH and ENV_SUPATH definitions in /etc/login.defs.

this seams to explain some things but not everything. For instance /usr/X11R6/bin gets passed along as well. I don't think thats hard coded into the system and I am not setting ENV_SUPATH anywhere. I was wondering if just appends the path in some places.