Set PATH using a script

jagannatha · #1 (**permalink**) 02-27-2003

I am a corporate user of Solaris ?? I have to write a lot of scripts to do little repetitive actions. To make this easier I would like to set the PATH so that I do not have to type ./ first before the script name.

Is there an easy script that will allow me to set this path when I log in???

My current path is;
$echo $PATH
/opt/jre1.2.2_05a/bin:/usr/dt/bin:/usr/openwin/bin:/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/ucb:/usr/openwin/bin:/opt/oracle/7.3.4/bin:/app/icop/aircrews/CIP/bin:/app/icop/aircrews/COP/bin:/usr/local/bin

I approached our sys admin people and they advised that this was set up to stop people writing scripts with the same name as existing scripts, lame yeah.
I would ideally like to edit the .bash_profile with ./~ but they will not allow that either.

HELP Please!!!

RTM · #2 (**permalink**) 02-27-2003

Quote:

From www.math.psu.edu:
When you type a command to be executed, Unix looks in a predefined list of directories to find an executable file of the same name as the command and executes it. This predefined list is called your path. An all-too-common practice by many Unix users is to put the working directory ``.'' in their path so they can execute any executable file in their working directory, wherever they happen to be in the system, just by typing its name.

This is not a big savings: if ``.'' is not in your path you merely have to type ./mycommand instead of mycommand. Moreover, having ``.'' in your path, especially near the beginning of it, puts you at risk. A vandal might create an executable file called ls in some directory. If you are in that directory and type ls, thinking it will list the directory, you will execute the cracker's command; if he were nasty enough, the command could destroy your files or create security holes that the person can later exploit.

If you REALLY need it, create a script that changes your PATH to include your complete home path (ie. /home/username/bin) instead of . - this will at the least keep you from running the wrong scripts. You would then have to run . /home/username/myscript4path to source it to your process.

#!/bin/ksh
export PATH=$PATH:/home/username/bin
exit

(Sorry, haven't messed with bash - should be close though)

Perderabo · #3 (**permalink**) 02-27-2003

Well, if you've been told not to change your PATH, then you perhaps should not do that. If I have a script in my home directory, I use ./script too. But I do it for security. And I have to say that typing ./ does not bother me. But you can avoid that without changing your PATH.

If you use the command:
alias script=/full/path/to/script
then from now on, you can just use "script" to run the command.

alias commands can be put in your .bash_profile file. I wasn't clear if you are allowed to edit that file at all. You could just put your alias commands in a file called "setup" or something. And then use this command:
. ./setup
to cause your shell to process that file. Note that leading dot. This is a little different than running a script. A dot command causes the current shell to read commands from the named file.

So give aliases a try. You get the result you wanted: no leading ./ required. And the sysadmins are happy since you are using the prescribed PATH.

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