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Groups > linux.debian.user > #205576

Re: Why /usr/sbin is not in my root $PATH ?

From Greg Wooledge <wooledg@eeg.ccf.org>
Newsgroups linux.debian.user
Subject Re: Why /usr/sbin is not in my root $PATH ?
Date 2019-02-21 14:30 +0100
Message-ID <xtWAi-6FI-19@gated-at.bofh.it> (permalink)
References <xtRAB-3PJ-1@gated-at.bofh.it> <xtRKh-3SE-5@gated-at.bofh.it> <xtS3E-3Yz-9@gated-at.bofh.it>
Organization linux.* mail to news gateway

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On Thu, Feb 21, 2019 at 09:31:31AM +0100, Pierre Couderc wrote:
> On 2/21/19 9:15 AM, Reco wrote:
> > On Thu, Feb 21, 2019 at 09:07:09AM +0100, Pierre Couderc wrote:
> > > Why /usr/sbin is not in my root $PATH ?

Because you upgraded to buster (or unstable), and Debian in its infinite
wisdom has changed the behavior of su between stretch and buster.

> > Make a habit of using 'su -', as this behaviour is here to stay.

Or use one of several other workarounds, for example putting /usr/sbin
and /sbin into your regular user account's PATH.

> > It's a change in Debian, see #833256.
> > There are two su utilities, from 'shadow' and from 'util-linux'.
> > Preserving user's environment unless '-' is specified is a feature of
> > util-linux's su.
> > 
> Thnk you very much. This is the answer I needed. Sorry for the noise ;)

It's not noise.  This is going to be the number one support issue for
buster, I just know it.  This question is going to come up repeatedly.
The su change breaks *so* much.

Red Hatters have apparently been living with this behavior for years,
and they came up with the "su -" workaround.  And hey, if that works
for them, great.

The problem with "su -" is that it strips out *all* of your environment,
*and* it changes your working directory to /root.  So, some things which
work perfectly well in stretch (with "su") will no longer work in buster
(with "su -").

Example 1:

$ make
$ su -
# make install    # fails because you're no longer in the build dir

Example 2:

$ export LANG=something LESS=-X ...
$ su -
# man something   # your environment settings have been lost

I haven't upgraded to buster yet, so I haven't had to make any changes to
my own environment yet, but I suspect I'll be adding /usr/sbin and /sbin
to my regular account's PATH.  That will break the smallest amount of
stuff for my usage patterns, as I will be able to continue using a normal
"su" which will retain my environment and my working directory.

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Thread

Why /usr/sbin is not in my root $PATH ? Pierre Couderc <pierre@couderc.eu> - 2019-02-21 09:10 +0100
  Re: Why /usr/sbin is not in my root $PATH ? Reco <recoverym4n@enotuniq.net> - 2019-02-21 09:20 +0100
    Re: Why /usr/sbin is not in my root $PATH ? Pierre Couderc <pierre@couderc.eu> - 2019-02-21 09:40 +0100
      Re: Why /usr/sbin is not in my root $PATH ? Greg Wooledge <wooledg@eeg.ccf.org> - 2019-02-21 14:30 +0100
        Re: Why /usr/sbin is not in my root $PATH ? Reco <recoverym4n@enotuniq.net> - 2019-02-21 14:40 +0100
          Re: Why /usr/sbin is not in my root $PATH ? Reco <recoverym4n@enotuniq.net> - 2019-02-21 19:20 +0100
            Re: Why /usr/sbin is not in my root $PATH ? ghe <ghe@slsware.net> - 2019-02-21 19:40 +0100
              Re: Why /usr/sbin is not in my root $PATH ? Greg Wooledge <wooledg@eeg.ccf.org> - 2019-02-21 20:00 +0100
                Re: Why /usr/sbin is not in my root $PATH ? ghe <ghe@slsware.net> - 2019-02-21 21:10 +0100
              Re: Why /usr/sbin is not in my root $PATH ? Ric Moore <wayward4now@gmail.com> - 2019-02-21 21:40 +0100
        Re: Why /usr/sbin is not in my root $PATH ? Brad Rogers <brad@fineby.me.uk> - 2019-02-21 14:40 +0100
          Re: Why /usr/sbin is not in my root $PATH ? Greg Wooledge <wooledg@eeg.ccf.org> - 2019-02-21 14:40 +0100
            Re: Why /usr/sbin is not in my root $PATH ? Brad Rogers <brad@fineby.me.uk> - 2019-02-21 14:50 +0100
            Re: Why /usr/sbin is not in my root $PATH ? Greg Wooledge <wooledg@eeg.ccf.org> - 2019-02-21 17:30 +0100
              Re: Why /usr/sbin is not in my root $PATH ? Reco <recoverym4n@enotuniq.net> - 2019-02-21 18:20 +0100
                Re: Why /usr/sbin is not in my root $PATH ? Greg Wooledge <wooledg@eeg.ccf.org> - 2019-02-21 18:50 +0100
                Re: Why /usr/sbin is not in my root $PATH ? Andrei POPESCU <andreimpopescu@gmail.com> - 2019-05-26 10:50 +0200
                Re: Why /usr/sbin is not in my root $PATH ? ghe <ghe@slsware.net> - 2019-02-21 19:20 +0100
                Re: Why /usr/sbin is not in my root $PATH ? Reco <recoverym4n@enotuniq.net> - 2019-02-21 19:30 +0100
                Re: Why /usr/sbin is not in my root $PATH ? ghe <ghe@slsware.net> - 2019-05-26 15:50 +0200
                Re: Why /usr/sbin is not in my root $PATH ? Andy Smith <andy@strugglers.net> - 2019-05-27 04:20 +0200
                Re: Why /usr/sbin is not in my root $PATH ? Andrei POPESCU <andreimpopescu@gmail.com> - 2019-05-27 07:20 +0200
                Re: Why /usr/sbin is not in my root $PATH ? Andy Smith <andy@strugglers.net> - 2019-05-27 07:30 +0200
                Re: Ping as normal user (Was: Why /usr/sbin is not in my root $PATH  ?) Jason <electron@emypeople.net> - 2019-05-30 00:00 +0200
                Re: Ping as normal user (Was: Why /usr/sbin is not in my root $PATH  ?) Andy Smith <andy@strugglers.net> - 2019-05-30 01:50 +0200
                Re: Ping as normal user (Was: Why /usr/sbin is not in my root $PATH ?) Cindy Sue Causey <butterflybytes@gmail.com> - 2019-05-30 03:50 +0200
                Re: Ping as normal user (Was: Why /usr/sbin is not in my root $PATH  ?) Andy Smith <andy@strugglers.net> - 2019-05-30 04:50 +0200
                Re: Ping as normal user (Was: Why /usr/sbin is not in my root $PATH  ?) Reco <recoverym4n@enotuniq.net> - 2019-05-30 08:10 +0200
                Re: Ping as normal user (Was: Why /usr/sbin is not in my root $PATH  ?) Andy Smith <andy@strugglers.net> - 2019-05-30 23:30 +0200
                Re: Ping as normal user Stefan Monnier <monnier@iro.umontreal.ca> - 2019-05-31 05:00 +0200
                Re: Ping as normal user rhkramer@gmail.com - 2019-05-31 13:20 +0200
                Re: Ping as normal user Pascal Hambourg <pascal@plouf.fr.eu.org> - 2019-05-31 13:30 +0200
                Gmail problems (was Re: Ping as normal user) rhkramer@gmail.com - 2019-05-31 15:10 +0200
                Re: Gmail problems (was Re: Ping as normal user) mick crane <mick.crane@gmail.com> - 2019-05-31 15:40 +0200
                Re: Gmail problems (was Re: Ping as normal user) Brian <ad44@cityscape.co.uk> - 2019-05-31 21:50 +0200
                Re: Ping as normal user (Was: Why /usr/sbin is not in my root $PATH ?) Gene Heskett <gheskett@shentel.net> - 2019-05-30 05:30 +0200
                Re: Ping as normal user (Was: Why /usr/sbin is not in my root $PATH  ?) Andrei POPESCU <andreimpopescu@gmail.com> - 2019-05-31 08:40 +0200
                Re: Ping as normal user (Was: Why /usr/sbin is not in my root $PATH  ?) Pascal Hambourg <pascal@plouf.fr.eu.org> - 2019-05-31 11:50 +0200
                Re: Ping as normal user (Was: Why /usr/sbin is not in my root $PATH  ?) Greg Wooledge <wooledg@eeg.ccf.org> - 2019-05-31 15:00 +0200
                Re: Ping as normal user (Was: Why /usr/sbin is not in my root $PATH  ?) Andrei POPESCU <andreimpopescu@gmail.com> - 2019-06-01 07:50 +0200
                Re: Ping as normal user (Was: Why /usr/sbin is not in my root $PATH  ?) Curt <curty@free.fr> - 2019-05-30 11:20 +0200
                Re: Ping as normal user (Was: Why /usr/sbin is not in my root $PATH  ?) Greg Wooledge <wooledg@eeg.ccf.org> - 2019-05-30 14:40 +0200
                Re: Ping as normal user (Was: Why /usr/sbin is not in my root $PATH  ?) Curt <curty@free.fr> - 2019-05-30 15:10 +0200
                Re: Ping as normal user (Was: Why /usr/sbin is not in my root $PATH  ?) Greg Wooledge <wooledg@eeg.ccf.org> - 2019-05-30 15:20 +0200
                Re: Ping as normal user (Was: Why /usr/sbin is not in my root $PATH  ?) Curt <curty@free.fr> - 2019-05-30 15:30 +0200
                Re: Ping as normal user (Was: Why /usr/sbin is not in my root $PATH  ?) Greg Wooledge <wooledg@eeg.ccf.org> - 2019-05-30 16:30 +0200
                Re: Ping as normal user (Was: Why /usr/sbin is not in my root $PATH  ?) Reco <recoverym4n@enotuniq.net> - 2019-05-30 16:40 +0200
                Re: Ping as normal user (Was: Why /usr/sbin is not in my root $PATH  ?) Greg Wooledge <wooledg@eeg.ccf.org> - 2019-05-30 17:10 +0200
                Re: Ping as normal user (Was: Why /usr/sbin is not in my root $PATH  ?) Reco <recoverym4n@enotuniq.net> - 2019-05-30 17:50 +0200
                Re: Ping as normal user (Was: Why /usr/sbin is not in my root $PATH  ?) Andrei POPESCU <andreimpopescu@gmail.com> - 2019-05-31 09:00 +0200
                Re: Ping as normal user (Was: Why /usr/sbin is not in my root $PATH ?) "Thomas Schmitt" <scdbackup@gmx.net> - 2019-05-31 09:20 +0200
                Re: Ping as normal user (Was: Why /usr/sbin is not in my root $PATH  ?) Reco <recoverym4n@enotuniq.net> - 2019-05-31 10:30 +0200
                Re: Ping as normal user (Was: Why /usr/sbin is not in my root $PATH ?) "Thomas Schmitt" <scdbackup@gmx.net> - 2019-05-31 12:20 +0200
                Re: Ping as normal user (Was: Why /usr/sbin is not in my root $PATH  ?) Reco <recoverym4n@enotuniq.net> - 2019-05-31 13:10 +0200
                Re: Ping as normal user (Was: Why /usr/sbin is not in my root $PATH ?) "Thomas Schmitt" <scdbackup@gmx.net> - 2019-05-31 14:30 +0200
                Re: Ping as normal user Sven Hartge <sven@svenhartge.de> - 2019-05-30 17:50 +0200
                Re: Ping as normal user (Was: Why /usr/sbin is not in my root $PATH  ?) Reco <recoverym4n@enotuniq.net> - 2019-05-30 16:30 +0200
                Re: Ping as normal user (Was: Why /usr/sbin is not in my root $PATH ?) "Thomas Schmitt" <scdbackup@gmx.net> - 2019-05-30 17:10 +0200
                Re: Ping as normal user (Was: Why /usr/sbin is not in my root $PATH  ?) Curt <curty@free.fr> - 2019-05-30 18:10 +0200
                Re: Ping as normal user (Was: Why /usr/sbin is not in my root $PATH ?) "Thomas Schmitt" <scdbackup@gmx.net> - 2019-05-30 18:40 +0200
                Re: Ping as normal user (Was: Why /usr/sbin is not in my root $PATH  ?) Jason <electron@emypeople.net> - 2019-05-31 16:10 +0200
                Re: Ping as normal user (Was: Why /usr/sbin is not in my root $PATH  ?) Andy Smith <andy@strugglers.net> - 2019-05-31 16:40 +0200
              Re: Why /usr/sbin is not in my root $PATH ? Andrei POPESCU <andreimpopescu@gmail.com> - 2019-05-26 10:50 +0200
            Re: Why /usr/sbin is not in my root $PATH ? Jonathan de Boyne Pollard <J.deBoynePollard-newsgroups@NTLWorld.COM> - 2019-02-21 17:40 +0100
        Re: Why /usr/sbin is not in my root $PATH ? Mart van de Wege <mvdwege@gmail.com> - 2019-02-23 15:50 +0100
          Re: Why /usr/sbin is not in my root $PATH ? Tixy <tixy@yxit.co.uk> - 2019-02-23 17:40 +0100
            Re: Why /usr/sbin is not in my root $PATH ? John Hasler <jhasler@newsguy.com> - 2019-02-23 18:30 +0100
              Re: Why /usr/sbin is not in my root $PATH ? Mart van de Wege <mvdwege@gmail.com> - 2019-02-24 09:50 +0100
                Re: Why /usr/sbin is not in my root $PATH ? Curt <curty@free.fr> - 2019-02-24 10:00 +0100
                [OT] Re: Why /usr/sbin is not in my root $PATH ? David Wright <deblis@lionunicorn.co.uk> - 2019-02-24 16:40 +0100
                Re: [OT] Re: Why /usr/sbin is not in my root $PATH ? Martin Smith <tech@smithproductions.co.uk> - 2019-02-24 19:10 +0100
                Re: [OT] Re: Why /usr/sbin is not in my root $PATH ? David Wright <deblis@lionunicorn.co.uk> - 2019-02-24 20:20 +0100

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