Re: Effect of `export PATH' not pemanent?

[Digby Tarvin <digbyt@acm.org>]

On Fri, May 12, 2006 at 11:13:15AM +0200, Rodolfo Medina wrote:
> Hi.
> 
> I do:
> 
> $ echo $PATH
> /usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/bin/X11:/usr/games
> 
> , then
> 
> $ export PATH="$PATH:/sbin"
> $ echo $PATH
> /usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/bin/X11:/usr/games:/sbin
> 
> and everything all right; but the effect of `export PATH'
> is not permanent: after a while, or in another terminal, again:
> 
> $ echo $PATH
> /usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/bin/X11:/usr/games
> 
> . How to make the effect of `export PATH' permanent,
> and why is it not?

You are making a change to the shell's environment which will
effect all of its subsequent descendants, but not processes
started either before the change or by ancestors (such as your
window manager..) - and certainly not for a different login
session.

To make it permanent and apply to all of your shells, you need
to modify the command files that are executed when you login or
when each new shell starts. Check the man page appropriate for
your chosen shell for details.

Regards,
DigbyT
-- 
Digby R. S. Tarvin                                          digbyt(at)digbyt.com
http://www.digbyt.com