Editing $PATH

[stanl]

Another question which reveals the depth of my ignorance:

rcvstore is an executable file located in /usr/local/libexec/nmh. Why then if I edit my $PATH in ~/.kshrc and add /usr/local/lib/exec/nmh do I not see it? I am editing my ~/.fdm.conf file and I'd like to be able to just write rcvstore +folder instead of /usr/local/libexec/rcstore +folder 25 times.

Thank you

[jggimi]

1. Unless you have a typo in your post, "lib/exec" and "libexec" are not equivalent.
2. Take a look at the FILES section of the ksh(1) man page. Note that there is no file named ~/.kshrc.

[stanl]

1. Yes, that was a typo.

2. Sorry, jggimi. I have no idea what you are trying to tell me. The ksh(1) man page mentions the ~/.kshrc file multiple times. I realize I'm being dense but it sounds to me like you're saying ~/.kshrc shouldn't exist which can't be what you're telling me.

[Head_on_a_Stick]

https://man.openbsd.org/ksh#ENV

^ Is that parameter set?

EDIT: anyway the interactive shell configuration file is not the best place to set PATH because it will be read every time a shell is opened and if you're adding directories PATH will become more and more bloated each time.

Use ~/.profile (for console logins) or ~/.xsession (for xenodm) instead.

[stanl]

To say I am confused would be an under statement.
Yes, in my ~/.kshrc the first line is . /etc/ksh.kshrc

If I understand you correctly, you're saying that lines such as export PATH, export editor, etc should go in ~/.profile and not ~/.kshrc?

1) I still don't understand jggimi telling me ~/.kshrc shouldn't exist (which can't be what he's telling me).

This is my PATH entry:
export PATH=$PATH:$HOME/bin:$HOME/.local/bin

2) I don't understand if my PATH is:
export PATH=$PATH:$Home/bin:$HOME/.local/bin

why if I do echo $PATH, the $HOME entries show up twice:
PATH=$PATH:$HOME/bin:$HOME/.local/bin:$HOME/bin:$HOME/.local/bin

And I still have my original question: how can I make it so I don't have to type out the entire /usr/local/libexec/nmh/rcvstore?

Sorry to be so dense. I do appreciate the help.
Thanks

[Head_on_a_Stick]

Originally Posted by stanl

If I understand you correctly, you're saying that lines such as export PATH, export editor, etc should go in ~/.profile and not ~/.kshrc?

Yes, that's right.

~/.kshrc (or more accurately "$ENV") is the interactive (non-login) shell configuration file so it is only read when an interactive shell is started. Some parameters may need to be set for the whole login session rather then just for the shell and adding them to "$ENV" would not achieve that.

~/.profile (or ~/.xsession for xenodm sessions) is the appropriate login (non-interactive) shell configuration file for those parameters.

See also https://unix.stackexchange.com/quest...on-login-shell

Originally Posted by stanl

I still don't understand jggimi telling me ~/.kshrc shouldn't exist (which can't be what he's telling me).

The interactive (non-login) shell configuration file is set by the "$ENV" parameter. It does not have to be ~/.kshrc and can be called whatever you want as long as the value of "$ENV" is set appropriately.

Originally Posted by stanl

why if I do echo $PATH, the $HOME entries show up twice:
PATH=$PATH:$HOME/bin:$HOME/.local/bin:$HOME/bin:$HOME/.local/bin

Because you've opened more than one interactive shell. The PATH will keep growing every time you open another interactive shell (eg, a terminal emulator), as I mentioned in my first post.

That can be prevented by exporting PATH from the login (non-interactive) shell configuration file. Such a file is only read once per session so PATH won't grow.

If you insist on exporting PATH from the interactive (non-login) configuration file you can use something like this to only add the directories to PATH if they are not already present:

function prepend_path {
   case ":$PATH:" in
      *:"$1":*) ;;
      *) PATH="$1":"${PATH:+$PATH}"
   esac
}

prepend_path "$HOME"/bin
prepend_path "$HOME"/.local/bin

unset -f prepend_path

But I think it would be simpler to use ~/.profile or ~/.xsession

Originally Posted by stanl

And I still have my original question: how can I make it so I don't have to type out the entire /usr/local/libexec/nmh/rcvstore?

Remove any PATH settings from "$ENV" and instead add these lines to ~/.profile or ~/.xsession:

PATH="$HOME"/bin:"$HOME"/.local/bin:/usr/local/libexec/nmh/rcvstore:"$PATH"
export PATH

Note that ~/bin & ~/.local/bin should appear first in PATH so that you can shadow system scripts with your own versions in "$HOME".

[jggimi]

Thank you Head....

My reply this morning was before coffee and my apologies to Stanl for being unclear

[stanl]

My ~/.kshrc after editing:

. /etc/ksh.kshrc
. /home/slaurel/.aliases

PS1='${PWD}$ '

and ~/.profile:

# $OpenBSD: dot.profile,v 1.5 2018/02/02 02:29:54 yasuoka Exp $
#
# sh/ksh initialization

ENV=$HOME/.kshrc


. /etc/ksh.kshrc
. /home/slaurel/.aliases

export EXA_COLORS="di=34:ex=31:uu=34:gu=36:sn=31:sb=36:*.pdf=30;43:*.html=30;43:*.webm=34;43:*.mkv=34;43"

PATH=$HOME/bin:$HOME/.local/bin:/usr/local/libexec/nmh/rcvstore:"$PATH"

export COLORTERM=truecolor
export LC_CTYPE=en_US.UTF-8
export BROWSER=firefox
export MPD_HOST="localhost"
export MPD_PORT="6600"
export EDITOR=vi
export FCEDIT=$EDITOR
export PAGER=less
export MANPAGER=less
export HISTFILE=$HOME/.ksh_history
export LEDGER_FILE=$HOME/Accounts.dat
export LEDGER_FILE=$HOME/ledger.dat
#export CLICOLOR=1
#export LSCOLORS="exfxbxdxcxegedabagacad"

But still:

/home/slaurel$ echo $PATH
/home/slaurel/bin:/home/slaurel/.local/bin:/usr/local/libexec/nmh/rcvstore:/home/slaurel/bin:/home/slaurel/.local/bin:/usr/local/libexec/nmh/rcvstore:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/usr/X11R6/bin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/local/sbin
/home/slaurel$

Also ESC -k no longer cycles thru old commands.

I am really sorry to be such a pain but what am I doing wrong?

[Head_on_a_Stick]

Did you log out & back in again before checking PATH?

Are you using xenodm? If so then please share the content of ~/.xsession

Note that you haven't exported PATH in ~/.profile. I prefer to set the values first then export them separately (as per POSIX) but ksh supports doing both in the same line.

Originally Posted by stanl

ESC -k no longer cycles thru old commands

Sounds like EDITOR has not been set. Again, be sure to log out & back in again after adding that parameter to ~/.profile (or ~/.xsession). Use env(1) to list the current environmental parameters.

This will restore vi-like command history browsing in the current session:

set -o vi

EDIT: off-topic for this thread but ksh allows for GNU-style backslash-escaped special characters so you can use this in ~/.kshrc:

PS1='\w\$ '

^ That has the advantage of replacing "/home/slaurel" with "~", unlike your current PS1 setting.

[stanl]

Before anything, I would like to thank you again for all the time you are taking trying to get me to understand this.

I have always preferred to start X from an ~/.xinitrc file:

#!/bin/sh
# $OpenBSD: xinitrc.cpp,v 1.13 2015/10/17 08:25:11 matthieu Exp $
#
#
#xsetroot -fg \#6f6f6f -bg \#bfbfbf -bitmap /usr/X11R6/include/X11/bitmaps/root_weave &

xset b off

# To disable screen blanking: xset s off
xset s on +dpms

xrandr --dpi 96

sndioctl output.level=+0.1 &

unclutter -root -idle 2 -noevents &

# xautolock -time 10 -locker slock -detectsleep &

xset fp default
for font in /usr/local/share/fonts/* ; do
           xset fp+ $font
done

xset fp rehash

xinput set-prop "/dev/wsmouse" "WS Pointer Wheel Emulation" 1
xinput set-prop "/dev/wsmouse" "WS Pointer Wheel Emulation Button" 2
xinput set-prop "/dev/wsmouse" "WS Pointer Wheel Emulation Axes" 6 7 4 5
# xinput set-button-map 4 1 1 3

setxkbmap -option ctrl:nocaps # Make caps local a control key

userresources=$HOME/.Xresources
usermodmap=$HOME/.Xmodmap
sysresources=/etc/X11/xinit/.Xresources
sysmodmap=/etc/X11/xinit/.Xmodmap
# merge in defaults and keymaps
if [ -f $sysresources ]; then
    xrdb -merge $sysresources
fi
if [ -f $sysmodmap ]; then
    xmodmap $sysmodmap
fi
if [ -f "$userresources" ]; then
    xrdb -merge "$userresources"
fi
if [ -f "$usermodmap" ]; then
    xmodmap "$usermodmap"
fi
# if we have private ssh key(s), start ssh-agent and add the key(s)
id1=$HOME/.ssh/identity
id2=$HOME/.ssh/id_dsa
id3=$HOME/.ssh/id_rsa
id4=$HOME/.ssh/id_ecdsa
id5=$HOME/.ssh/id_ed25519
if [ -z "$SSH_AGENT_PID" ];
then
	if [ -x /usr/bin/ssh-agent ] && [ -f $id1 -o -f $id2 -o -f $id3 -o -f $id4 -o -f $id5 ];
	then
		eval `ssh-agent -s`
		ssh-add < /dev/null
	fi
fi

# If using xintrc to login:
if [ -x ${PREFIX}/bin/dbus-launch -a -z "${DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS}" ]; then
  eval `dbus-launch --sh-syntax --exit-with-session`
fi

# If using xenodm to login use:
#if [ -x ${PREFIX}/bin/dbus-launch -a -z "${DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS}" ]; then
# eval `dbus-launch --sh-syntax --exit-with-x11`
#fi


# start some nice programs
#mpd ~/.mpd/mpd.conf
# tint2 &
#emacs --bg-daemon
#xclock -d -bg navy -fg orange -geometry -1-1 &
cwm

if [ "$SSH_AGENT_PID" ]; then
	ssh-add -D < /dev/null
	eval `ssh-agent -s -k`
fi

The latest ~/.kshrc and ~/.profile files:

:
. /etc/ksh.kshrc

set -o vi

alias less='less -IgMw -x2'
alias ls='exa --group-directories-first'
alias la='ls -aF'
alias ll='ls -lhF'
alias df='df -h'
#alias du='du -s * | sort -rnk 1'
alias cp='cp -i'
alias su='su -l'

alias reboot='doas shutdown -r now'
alias shutdown='doas shutdown -p now'

PS1='\w\$ '

:
# $OpenBSD: dot.profile,v 1.5 2018/02/02 02:29:54 yasuoka Exp $
#
# sh/ksh initialization

ENV=$HOME/.kshrc

export EXA_COLORS="di=34:ex=31:uu=34:gu=36:sn=31:sb=36:*.pdf=30;43:*.html=30;43:*.webm=34;43:*.mkv=34;43"

export PATH=$PATH:$HOME/bin:$HOME/.local/bin:/usr/local/libexec/nmh

export COLORTERM=truecolor
export LC_CTYPE=en_US.UTF-8
export BROWSER=firefox
export MPD_HOST="localhost"
export MPD_PORT="6600"
export EDITOR=vi
export FCEDIT=$EDITOR
export PAGER=less
export MANPAGER=less
export HISTFILE=$HOME/.ksh_history
export LEDGER_FILE=$HOME/Accounts.dat
export LEDGER_FILE=$HOME/ledger.dat
#export CLICOLOR=1
#export LSCOLORS="exfxbxdxcxegedabagacad"

And after echo $PATH:

~$ echo $PATH
/home/slaurel/bin:/home/slaurel/.local/bin:/usr/local/libexec/nmh:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/usr/X11R6/bin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/home/slaurel/bin:/home/slaurel/.local/bin:/usr/local/libexec/nmh
~$

And I still cannot grasp why /home/slaurel/bin, /home/slaurel/.local/bin and /usr/local/libexec/nmh show up twice.

Thanks

[Head_on_a_Stick]

I think this is because of the way you're setting PATH in ~/.profile. The parameter appears to be applied twice but I don't know why.

Try the method used in /etc/skel/.profile (ie, the original version of that file):

PATH=$HOME/bin:$HOME/.local/bin:/usr/local/libexec/nmh:/bin:/sbin:/usr/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/X11R6/bin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/games
export PATH

Or use my prepend_path function to add your desired directories.

[stanl]

As you suggested, following the example in /etc/skel/.profile works:

~$ echo $PATH
/home/slaurel/bin:/home/slaurel/.local/bin:/usr/local/libexec/nmh:/bin:/sbin:/usr/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/X11R6/bin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/games
~$

You will note I also took your advice regarding the PS1 prompt.

Thank you very much for your time and effort.