MacOS – OS X 10.10.4 Yosemite, has the default PATH changed

bashhomebrewmacospath

Today I had to configure a new macbook, running 10.10.3 out of the box and immediately upgraded to 10.10.4.

After installing homebrew I went to configure the default PATH, and opened /etc/paths.

I found that it contained:

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

that is, /usr/local/bin is at the top. This is not what I was expecting, and what I know should be the default.

Has the default changed? I reviewed the Homebrew installation script, and it doesn't seem to change /etc/paths. I also stat'ed the file, and it doesn't seem to have been changed.

So, is this the new default PATH order in OS X?

Best Answer

My /etc/paths has the same content on 10.10.4 and has a timestamp of "Sep 9 2014" so it has been like that for quite some time now.

Basically it makes sense to place /usr/local/bin on top because that way binaries installed locally take precedence over the standard versions.

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Many programs notify me that “grep/sed/uname/… not found”; some run, some don’t. My system(?) path is damaged, how to go about a diagnosing it

Your question is unclear as it seems to ask several things. However the issue re launching from the Dock can be answered.

The Dock does not call a shell. .profile and other startup scripts are only run when Terminal.app or similar starts a shell or you run a shell script via launchd etc.

To change the path used for Apps launched from the Dock, Finder or other GUI then you need to change the path your Workspace uses this is in ~/.MacOSX/environment.plist e.g. mine is

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple Computer//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
  <key>WAFDIR</key>
  <string>/Users/mark/src/third_party/git-svn/waf</string>

  <key>PATH</key>
  <string>/Users/mark/bin:/Users/mark/env/bin:/Users/mark/usr/local/bin:/usr/local/bin:/opt/local/bin:/usr/local/git/bin:/bin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/usr/sbin:/usr/X11R6/bin:/usr/libexec/binutils:</string>
</dict>
</plist>

Also have a look at this question.

MacOS – Failed to open Onyx

Add /usr/bin /bin /usr/sbin /sbin /usr/local/bin to the PATH variable in

/private/etc/launchd.conf solved the issue.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Many programs notify me that “grep/sed/uname/… not found”; some run, some don’t. My system(?) path is damaged, how to go about a diagnosing it

MacOS – Failed to open Onyx

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