I`ve edited $PATH and $LD_LIBRARY_PATH but everytime I reebot, the paths I entered are gone. How to make so that it stays?

Thanks.

You can put them in /etc/profile so they are available to anyone who logs in that machine, or in your ~/.dtprofile to be available only for you.

the file "/etc/profile" seems a bit complicated to me. What would be the syntax for $PATH and $LD_LIBRARY_PATH ? And where should I write it in the file?

You can put the commands just before umask 022. If you use sh or bash:
the same for LD_LIBRARY_PATH
If you use ksh replace "export" with "setenv" in the above

Regards

Hi,
I managed to permanently change the PATH variable. However LD_LIBRARY_PATH resist any change. Can anybody explain to me why?
How can one define a env variable since it seems D_LIBRARY_PATH is not define by default?
Thanks in advance for your help,
Fabian.

How did you set it up? I would suggest adding the LD_LIBRARY_PATH line to the shell initialization file (eg., ~/.cshrc for csh).

At the process startup, run-time linker will check if LD_LIBRARY_PATH is set. If it is set, it will start searching the directories specified in LD_LIBRARY_PATH from left to right, until it either binds the symbol, or it runs out of directories to search for the symbol. If LD_LIBRARY_PATH has not been set, it will just search in the default paths ie., /usr/lib for 32-bit processes, and /usr/lib/64 for 64-bit applications.

So, you need not worry about LD_LIBRARY_PATH not being set, by default. Run-time linker (/usr/lib/ld.so.1) is aware of this env variable.

Thanks. It works for normal user but not for root. How may I mak it work for root?

what is the default shell for the root and user

More correct way is
PATH=$PATH:/new/directory:/another/directory:.

Note the "." at the end
. stands for the current directory
If u don't have the "." , to run an executable file (say a.out) in your current directory, u have to give ./a.out instead of a.out

I use bash.

Nobody's perfect ...

well actually the default shell ist ksh but as soon as I'm logged in, I changed manually to bash because I miss the tabb function.
What is it so bas about bash? What would you advice?

$PATH works with normal user under all shells, but with root it doesn't work nowhere.

I know, actually ksh93 has this feature, but is not yet integrated in Solaris (you can download it from its site though).
There is a work in progress to have it in Solaris: http://www.opensolaris.org/jive/cate...?categoryID=53
Nothing particular, I prefer ksh but this is a lot a metter of taste and features I'm missing in bash, or behaviour I'm not used to.
No problem for you staying with bash.
Can you elaborate on that, there is no reason for PATH to have a different behaviour with root.

Well, I logg in through SSH as normal user. This user as the full PATH (with all variables), when I changed the shell, the user still have the correct PATH. When I do "su" and work as root, it doesn't have the corrected PATH no matter under which shell I'm working on.
Hier is my /etc/profile if it can help:

Use a specific .profile file for root as root's PATH is overriden by what set is /etc/default/su and /etc/default/login (look for SUPATH variable).