Messed up bash.bashrc file, commands not working anymore

Question

Trying installing Java, I tried to add it to the executable path with the line:

    export PATH=/usr/lib/jvm/jdk1.7.0_60/bin:$PATH

in the system-wide /etc/bash.bashrc file.

For some reason this wasn't working, so I used:

JAVA_HOME=/usr/lib/jvm/jdk1.7.0_60
PATH=$PATH:$HOME/bin:$JAVA_HOME/bin
export JAVA_HOME
export JRE_HOME
export PATH

Initially this seemed to work fine, except that now sudo, ls, find and everything else aren't working anymore.

I then tried to erase those lines and restart the system but the command weren't available; the errors are:

Command 'sudo' is available in '/usr/bin/sudo'
The command could not be located because '/usr/bin' is not included in the PATH  environment variable.
sudo: command not found

To fix this I copied the content of /etc/environment in /etc/bash.bashrc, added the line export PATH=$PATH:/usr/lib/jvm/jdk1.7.0_60/bin and then typed source /etc/bash.bashrc.

Again, everything was working, but only on a single terminal window and not after a restart.

I tried other things and currently at the end of /etc/bash.bashrc there are the lines:

export PATH=$PATH:/usr/lib/jvm/jdk1.7.0_60/bin/
export JAVA_HOME=$JAVA_HOME:/usr/lib/jvm/jdk1.7.0_60/bin/java/

But I have to type source /etc/environment and source /etc/bash.bashrc in all terminal windows to get both java and the commands. It's like my changes aren't permanent.

Currently the result of echo $PATH in a clear terminal window is:

/usr/lib/jvm/jdk1.7.0_60/bin/

after source /etc/environment it becomes:

/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/games

and eventually, after source /etc/bash.bashrc it is:

/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/games:/usr/lib/jvm/jdk1.7.0_60/bin/

Full bash.bashrc file:

# System-wide .bashrc file for interactive bash(1) shells.

# To enable the settings / commands in this file for login shells as well,
# this file has to be sourced in /etc/profile.

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

# check the window size after each command and, if necessary,
# update the values of LINES and COLUMNS.
shopt -s checkwinsize

# set variable identifying the chroot you work in (used in the prompt below)
if [ -z "$debian_chroot" ] && [ -r /etc/debian_chroot ]; then
    debian_chroot=$(cat /etc/debian_chroot)
fi

# set a fancy prompt (non-color, overwrite the one in /etc/profile)
PS1='${debian_chroot:+($debian_chroot)}\u@\h:\w\$ '

# Commented out, don't overwrite xterm -T "title" -n "icontitle" by default.
# If this is an xterm set the title to user@host:dir
#case "$TERM" in
#xterm*|rxvt*)
#    PROMPT_COMMAND='echo -ne "\033]0;${USER}@${HOSTNAME}: ${PWD}\007"'
#    ;;
#*)
#    ;;
#esac

# enable bash completion in interactive shells
#if [ -f /etc/bash_completion ] && ! shopt -oq posix; then
#    . /etc/bash_completion
#fi

# sudo hint
if [ ! -e "$HOME/.sudo_as_admin_successful" ] && [ ! -e "$HOME/.hushlogin" ] ; then
    case " $(groups) " in *\ admin\ *)
    if [ -x /usr/bin/sudo ]; then
        cat <<-EOF
        To run a command as administrator (user "root"), use "sudo <command>".
        See "man sudo_root" for details.

        EOF
   fi
   esac
fi

# if the command-not-found package is installed, use it
if [ -x /usr/lib/command-not-found -o -x /usr/share/command-not-found/command-not-found ]; then
    function command_not_found_handle {
            # check because c-n-f could've been removed in the meantime
            if [ -x /usr/lib/command-not-found ]; then
                /usr/bin/python /usr/lib/command-not-found -- "$1"
                return $?
            elif [ -x /usr/share/command-not-found/command-not-found ]; then
                /usr/bin/python /usr/share/command-not-found/command-not-found -- "$1"
               return $?
        else
           printf "%s: command not found\n" "$1" >&2
           return 127
        fi
    }
fi

export PATH=$PATH:/usr/lib/jvm/jdk1.7.0_60/bin/
export JAVA_HOME=$JAVA_HOME:/usr/lib/jvm/jdk1.7.0_60/bin/java/

Anyone can help me? I'm under Ubuntu 12.04 LTS

Solution 1

Try restoring bash.bashrc to its default setting, and edit your local copy of PATH in your ~/.bashrc file instead. In other words, put those last two lines:

export PATH=$PATH:/usr/lib/jvm/jdk1.7.0_60/bin/
export JAVA_HOME=$JAVA_HOME:/usr/lib/jvm/jdk1.7.0_60/bin/java/

in your ~/.bashrc file instead of /etc/bash.bashrc. You might have to restart for changes to take place.

If that works, and you still want the changes to be system-wide, then append the PATH variable in /etc/environment to have the Java path.

Solution 2

To restore your /etc/bash.bashrc to its original state (if you can't remember what that is), you can do:

sudo rm /etc/bash.bashrc
sudo apt-get -o Dpkg::Options::="--force-confmiss" install --reinstall bash

Otherwise @aprad046's answer seems like the best solution.

Comments

[FN11]

i followed your suggestion. is there a way to have a clean bash.bashrc file? maybe that would work

[Gilles 'SO- stop being evil']

Set PATH in /etc/profile or /etc/environment or a bunch of other places… but not bashrc.

[SuperSandro2000]

Thank you so much for the confmiss option!