PATH$ error

[RocketPenguin]

Welcome to all! I haven't been on ubuntuforums for a while, meaning i haven't had any problems, but alas! I have yet another problem and need your peaoples help. I was installing something using terminal, and the PATH$ said that i need to choose the location of the path. I did so, and the command worked fine. The problem is, every time i enter a command involving path, i get the error

The command could not be located because '/usr/bin (in this case, any location)' is not included in the PATH environment variable.

How do i fix this??? How do i get the PATH$ back to what it's suppose to be?Thanks for your time and help,
Linux Junkie

[Lars Noodén]

If you close the terminal and open it again, the $PATH should be reset to what is set in ~/.profile or /etc/environment. That is, if you did not change it in ~/.bashrc or ~/.profile. Where did you change it?

[sudodus]

What is your path now? Please post the output of the following command

echo $PATH

I'm running Ubuntu 12.04 and I have the following path

/home/sudodus/bin:/usr/lib/lightdm/lightdm:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/games:/usr/games

- There is a duplicate for games (that should be removed).
- The first item was automatically added, when I made a ~/bin directory for my own executables.
- The second item was automatically added because of the X display manager used in my system (lightdm).

- I think the rest of the items come from the file /etc/environment

which contains one line for PATH and one line for LANG

PATH="/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/games"
LANG="sv_SE.UTF-8"

So I suggest that you make a backup copy of that file

sudo cp /etc/environment /etc/environment.old

and then edit the file to include what should be there (for example copy the content of my PATH=... line, but keep your language entry)

sudo nano /etc/environment

Use nano or the editor you like the best, but remember to run it with superuser privileges.

Reboot and see if it helps. If no luck, there is something that overwrites your path, and you need to find it, or overwrite it again, which might be tricky.

[RocketPenguin]

What is your path now? Please post the output of the following command

echo $PATH

I'm running Ubuntu 12.04 and I have the following path

/home/sudodus/bin:/usr/lib/lightdm/lightdm:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/games:/usr/games

- There is a duplicate for games (that should be removed).
- The first item was automatically added, when I made a ~/bin directory for my own executables.
- The second item was automatically added because of the X display manager used in my system (lightdm).

- I think the rest of the items come from the file /etc/environment

which contains one line for PATH and one line for LANG

PATH="/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/games"
LANG="sv_SE.UTF-8"

So I suggest that you make a backup copy of that file

sudo cp /etc/environment /etc/environment.old

and then edit the file to include what should be there (for example copy the content of my PATH=... line, but keep your language entry)

sudo nano /etc/environment

Use nano or the editor you like the best, but remember to run it with superuser privileges.

Reboot and see if it helps. If no luck, there is something that overwrites your path, and you need to find it, or overwrite it again, which might be tricky.

Mk, so the output is:

$/Home/Dev/:/home/jeremiah/Dev/android-sdk-linux/tools:/home/jeremiah/Dev/android-sdk-linux/platform-tools

I think thats the problem... And about your other commands, every time i do a sudo command i get the same error: Command

'sudo' is available in '/usr/bin/sudo'

So i guess i permanently changed the PATH$, screwing it up...
EDIT: The reason it says android is because i was trying to install an android emulator, and one command told me to put in my path file, which may have screwed it up.

[RocketPenguin]

Not sure where, but i think i permanently changed the path.

[sudodus]

Try to repair it booted from a live system: Boot from your Ubuntu install CD/USB drive.

Run

sudo fdisk -lu

and

sudo blkid

to identify your partitions.

Mount the root partition of the installed ubuntu system, probably /dev/sda1, /dev/sda5 or /dev/sda6. Use the file browser to mount/umount. Let's say your system is mounted on /media/ubuntu (the name may vary depending of if you use labels).

sudo cp /media/ubuntu/etc/environment /media/ubuntu/etc/environment.old

and edit the file with

sudo nano /media/ubuntu/etc/environment

But if that file is good, and your path is still bad, it is changed somewhere. Check also the locations suggested by Lars Noodén, where ~ should translate to something like

/media/ubuntu/home/jeremiah

when running the live system.

You might also try to search for PATH= in the /etc directory

sudo grep -r "PATH=" /media/ubuntu/etc/*

and for android-sdk-linux

sudo grep -r "android-sdk-linux" /media/ubuntu/etc/*

which might help you find where your path is reset.

[RocketPenguin]

So, basically reset my PATH$? I have used commands before, but never got too far into it, and sadly your help doesn't make too much sense, lol... But i could look up like a tutorial and follow that, right? Or make your commands a wee bit easier to understand for me? The partition is /dev/sda2 i don't think it has a name other than that... And my username is jeremiah . So, could you make your commands fit these specifications? It would be great...

[sudodus]

So, basically reset my PATH$? I have used commands before, but never got too far into it, and sadly your help doesn't make too much sense, lol... But i could look up like a tutorial and follow that, right? Or make your commands a wee bit easier to understand for me? The partition is /dev/sda2 i don't think it has a name other than that... And my username is jeremiah . So, could you make your commands fit these specifications? It would be great...

0. Boot from the install CD/USB drive

1. Use the file browser to mount /dev/sda2 (click on its icon in the left panel)

2. Run the command

df

and post the output.

Then I will try to give detailed instructions

[Vaphell]

somehow you have overwritten the $PATH variable entirely instead of merely appending your own directories to the default value
it should be

PATH=$PATH:/some/dir1:/some/dir2

not

PATH=/some/dir1:/some/dir2

[rnerwein]

Welcome to all! I haven't been on ubuntuforums for a while, meaning i haven't had any problems, but alas! I have yet another problem and need your peaoples help. I was installing something using terminal, and the PATH$ said that i need to choose the location of the path. I did so, and the command worked fine. The problem is, every time i enter a command involving path, i get the error



How do i fix this??? How do i get the PATH$ back to what it's suppose to be?Thanks for your time and help,
Linux Junkie

hi
i must tell you: this error message i have never seen !!!! (sytem will tell you "command not found - or ???).

just a hint: it's not PATH$ it is $PATH and if you want to expand your orginal PATH (take the last line in your ~/.bashrc) you have to do it in the following way:
PATH=$PATH:/your_new_paths seperated by ":"
export PATH
by the side: i know you can write: export PATH=bla blabla
but the original "sh" will give you an error if you write it on the same line
cheers