How to permanently set $PATH on Linux/Unix? [closed]

Answer 1

After so much research, I found a simple solution for this ( I am using elementary OS), inspired by the following link.

Run the following command to open .bashrc file in edit mode. [You may also use vi or any other editor].

~$ sudo nano ~/.bashrc

Add the following line at the end of the file and save.

export PATH="[FLUTTER_SDK_PATH]/flutter/bin:$PATH"

For Example :

export PATH="/home/rageshl/dev/flutter/bin:$PATH"

I believe this is the permanent solution for setting path in flutter in Ubuntu distro

Hope this will helpful.

Answer 2

You need to add it to your ~/.profile or ~/.bashrc file. 

export PATH="$PATH:/path/to/dir"

Depending on what you're doing, you also may want to symlink to binaries:

cd /usr/bin
sudo ln -s /path/to/binary binary-name

Note that this will not automatically update your path for the remainder of the session. To do this, you should run:

source ~/.profile 
or
source ~/.bashrc

Answer 3

There are multiple ways to do it. The actual solution depends on the purpose.

The variable values are usually stored in either a list of assignments or a shell script that is run at the start of the system or user session. In case of the shell script you must use a specific shell syntax and export or set commands.

System wide

1. /etc/environment List of unique assignments, allows references. Perfect for adding system-wide directories like /usr/local/something/bin to PATH variable or defining JAVA_HOME. Used by PAM and SystemD.
2. /etc/environment.d/*.conf List of unique assignments, allows references. Perfect for adding system-wide directories like /usr/local/something/bin to PATH variable or defining JAVA_HOME. The configuration can be split into multiple files, usually one per each tool (Java, Go, NodeJS). Used by SystemD that by design do not pass those values to user login shells.
3. /etc/xprofile Shell script executed while starting X Window System session. This is run for every user that logs into X Window System. It is a good choice for PATH entries that are valid for every user like /usr/local/something/bin. The file is included by other script so use POSIX shell syntax not the syntax of your user shell.
4. /etc/profile and /etc/profile.d/* Shell script. This is a good choice for shell-only systems. Those files are read only by shells in login mode.
5. /etc/<shell>.<shell>rc. Shell script. This is a poor choice because it is single shell specific. Used in non-login mode.

User session

1. ~/.pam_environment. List of unique assignments, no references allowed. Loaded by PAM at the start of every user session irrelevant if it is an X Window System session or shell. You cannot reference other variables including HOME or PATH so it has limited use. Used by PAM.
2. ~/.xprofile Shell script. This is executed when the user logs into X Window System system. The variables defined here are visible to every X application. Perfect choice for extending PATH with values such as ~/bin or ~/go/bin or defining user specific GOPATH or NPM_HOME. The file is included by other script so use POSIX shell syntax not the syntax of your user shell. Your graphical text editor or IDE started by shortcut will see those values.
3. ~/.profile, ~/.<shell>_profile, ~/.<shell>_login Shell script. It will be visible only for programs started from terminal or terminal emulator. It is a good choice for shell-only systems. Used by shells in login mode.
4. ~/.<shell>rc. Shell script. This is a poor choice because it is single shell specific. Used by shells in non-login mode.

Notes

Gnome on Wayland starts user login shell to get the environment. It effectively uses login shell configurations ~/.profile, ~/.<shell>_profile, ~/.<shell>_login files.

Manuals

• environment
• environment.d
• bash
• dash

Distribution specific documentation

• Ubuntu
• archlinux

Related

Difference between Login Shell and Non-Login Shell?

Answer 4

I think the most elegant way is:

1.add this in ~./bashrc file

if [ -d "new-path" ]; then
  PATH=$PATH:new-path
fi

2.source ~/.bashrc

(Ubuntu)

Answer 5

You can also set permanently, editing one of these files:

/etc/profile (for all users)

~/.bash_profile (for current user)

~/.bash_login (for current user)

~/.profile (for current user)

You can also use /etc/environment to set a permanent PATH environment variable, but it does not support variable expansion.

Extracted from: http://www.sysadmit.com/2016/06/linux-anadir-ruta-al-path.html

Answer 6

I stumbled across this question yesterday when searching for a way to add a folder containing my own scripts to the PATH - and was surprised to find out that my own ~/.profile file (on Linux Mint 18.1) already contained this:

# set PATH so it includes user's private bin if it exists
if [ -d "$HOME/bin" ] ; then
    PATH="$HOME/bin:$PATH"
fi

Thus, all I had to do was create the folder ~/bin and put my scripts there.