Very Computer

In /etc/login.defs, the default PATH is set up:

#
# *REQUIRED*  The default PATH settings, for superuser and normal
users.
#
# (they are minimal, add the rest in the shell startup files)
ENV_SUPATH     PATH=/foo
ENV_PATH        PATH=/foo

So, in /etc/profile I have:
PATH="$PATH:/bar"
export PATH

This is all well and good.  echo $PATH correctly shows /foo:/bar

However, if I invoke an xterm with -ls as an argment, echo $PATH
yeilds /foo:/bar:/bar.  My guess is that PATH is already set before
xterm runs through /etc/profile (which has PATH=$PATH:/bar).

Why does this happen?  What's the workaround?

I have "XTerm*loginShell: true" in my ~/.Xdefaults file, so this
behavior is an annoyance in all of my xterms by default.  I like the
login shell invoked b/c I have aliases, PS1 prompts, etc getting set
in .profile and .kshrc

On Wed, 18 Aug 1999 18:49:14 GMT,

Where are you invoking this xterm from?  I would guess from some
shell that already has $PATH set up with /foo:/bar.  "xterm -ls"
does not invoke login, so the /etc/login.defs file is not
getting run, so the PATH is not being reset to just /foo, and
the login-startup of the shell is unconditinally appending :/bar
to whatever PATH it is inheriting.

One solution is to modify your /etc/profile to only append /bar
if it isn't already in your $PATH:
  case :$PATH: in
    *:/bar:*) ;;
    *) PATH=$PATH:/bar ;;
  esac
  export PATH

                --Ken Pizzini