[OS X TeX] System wide versus local path settings

[Claus Gerhardt]

I solved the "mystery": Had I used

PATH="$PATH/bin:/sbin:/usr/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/local/bin"
export PATH

as the first path, then I would have inherited the system wide settings.

But nevertheless, my strictly local solution, including all necessary  
paths except those set by any prior tex installation would allow to  
install and configure tex system wide. Any other users of course  
would need to adjust their local path provided they would want to use  
tex from the command line.

Claus



On Nov 20, 2006, at 22:27, Claus Gerhardt wrote:

> Today I created a .profile file in my home folder and added the lines
>
> #  .profile for sh(1)
>
> PATH="/bin:/sbin:/usr/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/local/bin"
> export PATH
>
> PATH="$PATH:/usr/local/texprograms"
>   export PATH
>
>   PATH="$PATH:/usr/local/texprogramsc"
>   export PATH
>
>
> The last path only for checking which path I would inherit as root.  
> In fact all paths were active when I was a normal user as well as  
> when I played root (via sudo).
>
> Strangely then, any changes in /private/etc/profile  had no effect  
> on my path either as normal user or as root. Thus, when installing  
> a new tex as a user with administrator privileges it would suffice  
> to only change the path in ~/.profile and run texconfig-sys etc. as  
> root.
>
> Claus
>
>

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