How to fix a malformed PATH?

[RVDowning]

My path environment variable reads as follows:

 

PATH=/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/X11R6/bin/:/usr/games:/usr/lib/qt3//bin:/home/rvd/bin:/usr/lib/qt3//bin

 

How can I find where the malformed "qt3//bin" is being put in the path? Also, how can I find where the extra qt3 reference is being added to the path?

 

 

[moved from Software by spinynorman]

[Steve Scrimpshire]

Look in ~/.bash_profile

and/or

/etc/profile

and/or

/etc/bashrc

[ramfree17]

is the double slashes just a nuisance or a critical misconfiguration? i tried setting it in my cygwin path (sorry no linux systems here) and it seems to be valid.

 

ciao!

[scoonma]

Just look at the end of your PATH component. If it is the very same as you posted, you could search your system for the occurence of the string /usr/lib/qt3//bin if you've not been successful using the manual method Steve suggested. In a case like that I'd be using "mc" (being too lazy to memorize the find options :-). Using the search command from the command menu, you can look for every string you like inside all files (which you may need if only the /bin part is added wrongly). Also check "qtconfig" and qt related config files in addition:

 

/etc/profile.d/qtdir3.sh

/etc/qtrc

 

HTH,

 

scoonma

[RVDowning]

Steve Scrimpshire:

I looked in /etc/bashrc. Nothing there.

 

Don't think I checked ~/.bash_profile, /etc/profile. Will check when I get back home from work.

 

 

scoonma:

I had tried using find in konqueror. It got to a point where it hung and was frozen. Perhaps it hit a file that was in use and was waiting? I had to kill it.

 

 

ramfree17:

I can't imagine that qt3//bin is good syntax. To what directory would it be referring. Are you suggesting that the extra slash is just ignored? Plus, it annoys me when the same path is in there more than once.

[RVDowning]

Think I've found the problem in /etc/profile.d/qtdir3.sh The script follows: But which slash is wrong ?? - the one after "qt3" or the one before "bin" ??

 

# Set QTDIR for Bash shell

if [ -z "$QTDIR" ]; then

export QTDIR="/usr/lib/qt3/"

fi

 

PATH=$PATH:$QTDIR/bin

export PATH

 

 

I'm thinking that the slash after "qt3" should be removed.

Edited October 20, 2006 by RVDowning

[scoonma]

I'm thinking that the slash after "qt3" should be removed.

 

Yep, I agree. Hey, just found out I have the same error as you! (But it didn't bug me before). I'll adjust and report here again...

[scoonma]

Okay, after editing and rebooting, the PATH var looks better. However, for non-root users the entry /usr/lib/qt3/bin is a double, while for root it looks good. So I presume that path component is set twice: Once systemwide, and once when the user is logging in initially. However, I do not (yet) know which mechanism would cause that behaviour. After all it looks like a small system bug. (A double entry is not elegant, but will probably not hurt anything as long as it contains exactly the same string.)

[RVDowning]

Well, glad we figured it out. I'm doing a system backup now, and then restoring back to 2006. I've just had too many problems with 2007, and I'm tired of screwing with it.

[ramfree17]

ramfree17:

I can't imagine that qt3//bin is good syntax. To what directory would it be referring. Are you suggesting that the extra slash is just ignored? Plus, it annoys me when the same path is in there more than once.

 

it isnt, or it shouldnt be but i think most shells understand redundant file separators like that and interpret them as one. even the windows cmd shell can handle stuff like that. the only issue i was thinking is if you export the path and reused in an older shell not capable of reading duplicated file separators. but how often would that scenarion happen? :)

 

ciao!