brew doctor says "Error: /usr/bin occurs before /usr/local/bin" how to fix?

Question

Adams-MacBook-Pro% brew doctor                                 

Error: /usr/bin occurs before /usr/local/bin
This means that system-provided programs will be used instead of those
provided by Homebrew. The following tools exist at both paths:

    clusterdb
    createdb
    createlang
    createuser
    dropdb
    droplang
    dropuser
    ecpg
    git
    git-cvsserver
    git-receive-pack
    git-shell
    git-upload-archive
    git-upload-pack
    gitk
    pg_config
    pg_dump
    pg_dumpall
    pg_restore
    pg_upgrade
    psql
    reindexdb
    vacuumdb

Consider amending your PATH so that /usr/local/bin
is ahead of /usr/bin in your PATH.

Here is my path:

Adams-MacBook-Pro% echo $PATH                                  
/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/X11/bin

I thought it was dangerous to move things to the front? How do I solve this problem? Also, I'm not even sure where to find where /user/bin is declared in the path.

Thanks

Solution 1

$PATH is just a variable containing a string. To put something in front:

% PATH=/usr/local/bin:$PATH
% echo $PATH
/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/X11/bin

This is not dangerous, since it only applies to the current shell you have open (it will not affect the path for your system or other shells).

To change the path automatically for all shells you open, put it in ~/.profile. You can create this file if it doesn't already exist.

In ~/.profile:

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

export makes the variable available to any child processes of the shell.

Solution 2

I found another way to solve this.

sudo vim /etc/paths

and add /usr/local/bin and /usr/local/sbin like this

/usr/local/bin
/usr/local/sbin
/usr/bin
/bin
/usr/sbin
/sbin

open a new terminal tab, and then you will see

~ $ env|grep PATH
PATH=/usr/local/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/opt/X11/bin

Solution 3

Just run the following line in your favorite terminal application:

echo export PATH="/usr/local/bin:$PATH" >> ~/.bash_profile

Restart your terminal and run

brew doctor

the issue should be resolved

Solution 4

I just created a .bashrc file and added

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

That seemed to have done the trick!

Solution 5

Maybe OP's using zsh.
The way to solve it is edit the ~/.zshrc everytime you open iterm will load this file.
Change the words about PATH.

View more solutions

Comments

[AdamT]

i did this, created ~/.profile and then echo $PATH but the path didn't change. I closed the terminal and reopened but it was still the same path. brew doctor still complaining.

[Dean]

To get any changes to ~/.profile to take effect, you either have to reopen your terminal, or type % source ~/.profile. As to why it's not working, first make sure that the file is being run as expected. Add another line to ~/.profile echo 'profile works!' then run % source ~/.profile. Let me know if you see that printed to the screen.

[Dean]

I should also note that whitespace matters here. There can't be spaces on either side of the equals sign.

[AdamT]

yes, printed to the screen "profile works!". also, user/local/bin is now in the front. brew doctor says: "Your system is raring to brew." However, I removed "echo 'profile works!' and now the path is broken again.

[Dean]

Does the same thing happen when you open a new terminal (both the message and your path being changed)?

[AdamT]

if run "source ~/.profile" then it says "profile works" and brew doctor is happy. if i close the terminal and echo $path and brew doctor everything is unchanged (remains broken).

[Dean]

But does the message still get printed? .profile is an init script, but there are a few others and your path may be getting set in one of them as well. Check to see if ~/.bashrc or ~/.alias exist. If the message is printed, but $PATH is unchanged, then $PATH may be getting set by a different script. If the message isn't being printed, then .profile isn't even being run.

[AdamT]

@Dean, .profile is being run. when i follow your directions it prints out the message. however, when i close the terminal and reopen and do "brew doctor" or just "echo $PATH" i can see the path hasn't been changed.

[AdamT]

@DennisWilliamson, adding "homebrew=/usr/local/bin:/usr/local/sbin" and "export PATH=$homebrew:$PATH" to .bashrc doesn't work. path remains unchanged and brew doctor remains angry.

[Dean]

Hmmm, the only thing I can think of is that some other file is being run after .profile/.bashrc which is resetting your path (perhaps .bash_profile or .bash_login. Run grep -l "PATH=" ~/.* to see if there are any other files in your home directory setting the path.

[AdamT]

here is what I got:/Users/adam/.bash_profile,/Users/adam/.bashrc, /Users/adam/.viminfo, /Users/adam/.zsh_history, /Users/adam/.zshrc, The problem is the zshrc file which has this: export PATH=/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/X11/b‌​in, when I moved /user/local/bin ahead of /user/bin then terminal didn't know what anything was (brew, mvim, etc.) What do I do now?

[AdamT]

i think i got it. need to test for a bit to make sure.

[Dean]

Good to hear. I assumed you were using a bash shell because it's the default, but it looks like you may be using a z shell instead (you can tell by running echo $SHELL).

[pbreitenbach]

should be /usr/local/bin (not sbin)?

[Harry Palmer]

This solved it for me - I was using the zsh so just editing .profile or .bash_profile would not work, but adding those lines to .zshrc did the trick.

[Walrus the Cat]

IMO this is the cleanest way to solve it. It actually fixes the underlying problem, and doesn't put entries into the PATH twice.

[R.D.]

This worked for me. I tried what brew suggested me, creating .profile, and even modifying the .bash manually. Of course, I did restart the computer to make sure it wasn't that the problem. Nothing worked except for this answer. Thanks!

[consideRatio]

This is exactly what i wanted to find, i was looking to find where those entries were in the PATH variable where coming from to add like you did.

[wizofwor]

If you are using zsh like me you should change ~/.zshrc instead of ~/.profile or ~/.bash_profile.

[DjebbZ]

Agree, this should be the accepted answer, since this worked perfectly for me.

[tscizzle]

See Lelouchcr's answer about editing /etc/paths. For me, /usr/local/bin was already in the PATH, just not before /usr/bin. /etc/paths is where you can edit that order. (Normally I do adding to PATH in my ~/.bash_profile, like how this answer uses ~/.profile, but /usr/local/bin and /usr/bin are special.)