How do I set $PATH such that `ssh user@host command` works?

135
votes

I can't seem to set a new $PATH such that it is used when executing commands via ssh user@host command. I have tried adding export PATH=$PATH:$HOME/new_path to ~/.bashrc and ~/.profile on the remote machine, but executing ssh user@host "echo \$PATH" shows that the change has not been picked up (it shows /usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/games). The remote machine is running Ubuntu 8.04.

I'm sure I could hack it into /etc/profile, but that's not a clean solution and it only works when one has root access.

6
unixshellpathssh
I have tried adding export PATH=$PATH:$HOME/new_path to both ~/.bash_login and ~/.bash_profile (in addition to the previously-tried ~/.bashrc and ~/.profile). Neither works. In both cases I had to create the file. – Denver Gingerich
In my particular use case, it is not easy to modify the command sent to ssh. I am using stfufs (guru-group.fi/too/sw/stfufs), which constructs the ssh command itself. I realize its method is not a great solution, but it would be nice to fix it without modifying stfufs. – Denver Gingerich
You could put an ssh wrapper in stfufs' way, call the real ssh with modified args, if that's easier – Hasturkun

6 Answers

187
votes

As grawity said, ~/.bashrc is what you want, since it is sourced by non-interactive non-login shells.

I expect the problem you're having has to do with the default Ubuntu ~/.bashrc file. It usually starts with something like this:

# If not running interactively, don't do anything
[ -z "$PS1" ] && return

You want to put anything for non-interactive shells before this line.

30
votes

Do you have an ~/.bash_login or ~/.bash_profile?

Bash in interactive mode checks for these files, and uses the first existing one, in this order:

  1. ~/.bash_profile
  2. ~/.bash_login
  3. ~/.profile

So if you have an ~/.bash_profile, then whatever changes you do to ~/.profile will be left unseen.

Bash in non-interactive mode sometimes reads the file ~/.bashrc (which is also often source'd from the interactive scripts.) By "sometimes" I mean that it is distribution-dependent: quite oddly, there is a compile-time option for enabling this. Debian enables the ~/.bashrc reading, while e.g. Arch does not.

ssh seems to be using the non-interactive mode, so ~/.bashrc should be enough. When having problems like this, I usually add a few echo's to see what files are being run.

20
votes

ssh documentation says:

If command is specified, it is executed on the remote host instead of a login shell.

which is why adding to the bashrc files doesn't work. you do however have the following options:

  1. If the PermitUserEnvironment option is set in the sshd config, you can add your PATH setting to ~/.ssh/environment

  2. ssh remotemachine 'bash -l -c "somecommand"'

8
votes

You can always say:

ssh remotemachine 'export PATH=wedontneedastinkingpath; echo $PATH'
2
votes

In addition to @signpolyma answer, you will have to add your export before these lines

# If not running interactively, don't do anything
case $- in
    *i*) ;;
      *) return;;
esac
2
votes

Just had the same problem myself, solved it with:

ssh user@remotehost PATH=\$HOME/bin:\$PATH\; remote-command