Hello,

On my system, echo $PATH reveals this for a normal user:

/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/X11R6/bin:/usr/games:/opt/www/htdig/bin:/opt/kde/bin:/usr/lib/qt-3.1.2/bin:.

But for root, it's this:

/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/sbin:/usr/sbin:/bin:/usr/bin

And since root's path lacks the X11R6 path, I can't execute xterm and
some other stuff as root. How can I adjust root's path permanently?

/etc/profile sets this, right near the top:

PATH="/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/X11R6/bin:/usr/games"

....so root's path must be getting changed somewhere, or else is not
based on /etc/profile.

Thanks,
Anthony
http://nodivisions.com/

Anthony <orders@nodivisions.com> wrote:

> And since root's path lacks the X11R6 path, I can't execute xterm and
> some other stuff as root. How can I adjust root's path permanently?

You should never ever run X as root, there is not a single reason,
login in as user, open some xterm and type 'su -' or use 'sudo'.

Good luck

--
Michael Heiming

Remove +SIGNS and www. if you expect an answer, sorry for
inconvenience, but I get tons of SPAM

Anthony <orders@nodivisions.com> wrote:
> On my system, echo $PATH reveals this for a normal user:
> /usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/X11R6/bin:/usr/games:/opt/www/htdig/bin:/opt/kde/bin:/usr/lib/qt-3.1.2/bin:.
>
> But for root, it's this:
> /usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/sbin:/usr/sbin:/bin:/usr/bin
>
> And since root's path lacks the X11R6 path, I can't execute xterm and

this is correct and the way it should be.

> some other stuff as root. How can I adjust root's path permanently?

don't use X as root. period.
use su, sudo, kdesu, gnomesu or whatever if you really need to run
something that requires X as root.


rgds, armin

--

my life, my universe, my everything
http://www.dtch.org

On 18 Oct 2003 23:41:16 -0700, Anthony <orders@nodivisions.com> wrote:
>
>
> Hello,
>
> On my system, echo $PATH reveals this for a normal user:
>
> /usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/X11R6/bin:/usr/games:/opt/www/htdig/bin:/opt/kde/bin:/usr/lib/qt-3.1.2/bin:.
>
> But for root, it's this:
>
> /usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/sbin:/usr/sbin:/bin:/usr/bin
>
> And since root's path lacks the X11R6 path, I can't execute xterm and
> some other stuff as root. How can I adjust root's path permanently?
>

X is a networking application, and you shouldn't run it as root!


> /etc/profile sets this, right near the top:
>
> PATH="/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/X11R6/bin:/usr/games"
>
> ...so root's path must be getting changed somewhere, or else is not
> based on /etc/profile.
>
> Thanks,
> Anthony
> http://nodivisions.com/

Try ls -al /root

--
Alan C
Posts with sigs of > 4 lines, or not in plain text, are dumped by my filters.

Alan Connor wrote:
> On 18 Oct 2003 23:41:16 -0700, Anthony <orders@nodivisions.com> wrote:
>
>>
>>Hello,
>>
>>On my system, echo $PATH reveals this for a normal user:
>>
>>/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/X11R6/bin:/usr/games:/opt/www/htdig/bin:/opt/kde/bin:/usr/lib/qt-3.1.2/bin:.
>>
>>But for root, it's this:
>>
>>/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/sbin:/usr/sbin:/bin:/usr/bin
>>
>>And since root's path lacks the X11R6 path, I can't execute xterm and
>>some other stuff as root. How can I adjust root's path permanently?
>>
>
>
> X is a networking application, and you shouldn't run it as root!

Does this mean that when RedHat lets you log in as root from gdm, that
this is supremely dangerous and should be turned off?

>
>
>
>>/etc/profile sets this, right near the top:
>>
>>PATH="/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/X11R6/bin:/usr/games"
>>
>>...so root's path must be getting changed somewhere, or else is not
>>based on /etc/profile.
>>
>>Thanks,
>>Anthony
>>http://nodivisions.com/
>
>
> Try ls -al /root
>

ftoomch <ftoomch@hotmail.com> wrote:


> Alan Connor wrote:
[..]
> > X is a networking application, and you shouldn't run it as root!

> Does this mean that when RedHat lets you log in as root from gdm, that
> this is supremely dangerous and should be turned off?

Yep, however it's a common newbie mistake and we get polluted with
questions like this.

Once again:

There is not a single reason for running X as root, beside silliness.

One can use, su, sudo, kdesu/etc.

--
Michael Heiming

Remove +SIGNS and www. if you expect an answer, sorry for
inconvenience, but I get tons of SPAM

There are times when I want to invoke an instance of xterm as root,
and without its location in my path, that's a big pain. I'm not
"running X as root."

Does anyone here actually know the answer to my question?

>Does anyone here actually know the answer to my question?

~root/.bash_profile

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19 Oct 2003 06:41 UTC, Anthony typed:
[snip]
> /etc/profile sets this, right near the top:
>
> PATH="/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/X11R6/bin:/usr/games"
>
> ...so root's path must be getting changed somewhere, or else is not
> based on /etc/profile.

It's common for the root path to differ. There may be some sort of
modification in /etc/profile, or ~/.profile. And in spite of comments
already made, both Debian and Slackware, although modifying roots path
do have X11 included.

Something along the following lines, placed after existing PATH
definition, in /etc/profile would allow you to add to the root path.

if [ "`id -u`" = "0" ]; then
PATH=/new/path/1:/new/path/2:$PATH
fi

Michael Heiming wrote:
> ftoomch <ftoomch@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>
>
>>Alan Connor wrote:
>
> [..]
>
>>>X is a networking application, and you shouldn't run it as root!
>
>
>>Does this mean that when RedHat lets you log in as root from gdm, that
>>this is supremely dangerous and should be turned off?
>
>
> Yep, however it's a common newbie mistake and we get polluted with
> questions like this.

Feel free not to answer then.

>
> Once again:
>
> There is not a single reason for running X as root, beside silliness.
>
> One can use, su, sudo, kdesu/etc.
>