I've recently added a directory to the Windows PATH manually by going into Control Panel -> System -> Advanced system settings -> Environment Variables -> User variables -> PATH. (Windows 7, 64-bit.)
After rebooting and starting cmd.exe, echo %PATH%
indicates that this worked: I see the directory I recently added in the output.
However, after starting Git Bash, the output of echo $PATH
doesn't include this directory.
I could add export PATH=$PATH:/c/my/path
in my bashrc but I'd rather Git Bash just get PATH from Windows so I don't have to remember to add paths to two places. How can this be accomplished?
(A more general related question is, what sets up Git Bash's $PATH? I see a couple of entries repeated in different places, some things that are in Windows %PATH% are in Git Bash's $PATH but not others. What all happens before I get the Git Bash prompt that touches $PATH?)
Best Answer
An msysgit git bash session uses the script
share/WinGit/Git Bash.vbs
, which doesn't access or modify the environment variablePATH
(like it would in this unrelated vbs script, for instance)A git bash session will simply add in front of your current
PATH
:It is possible that the mingw session packaged with msysgit won't consider a
bin
from another mingw installation: you can check it by setting another (simpler) directory to yourPATH
and see if it is still visible in your git bash session. If not, then it is a more general issue which concerns all directories that you would add to the PATH.