symbolic link to /usr/local/bin not running the program unless logged in as su

linux ubuntu path

5,184

What makes you think it is in your $PATH? Try running echo $PATH, do you see /usr/local/bin?

If you are running this through an ssh session my guess is that you have added /usr/local/bin to your $PATH in your ~/.bahsrc and that is not read when you ssh into a machine. Try adding this to your ~/.profile instead:

PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/bin

5,184

wbg

Updated on September 18, 2022

Comments

wbg over 1 year
I'm trying to get eclipse 3.8 installed on Ubuntu 10.04. I've put the extracted files on:
```
/opt
```
I put a symbolic link in:
```
/usr/local/bin 
```
ls -s /usr/local/bin:
```
eclipse -> /opt/eclipse/eclipse
```
My path has /usr/local/bin in it...the permissions for the sym link are 777.

I also did as su:
```
chmod 755 /opt/eclipse/eclipse
```
When I try to run eclipse as root, it works ( at least it tries, getting java error ). Trying as regular user just gives me the prompt that I need to install eclipse-platform from the repo.
- wbg almost 11 years
  
  I changed the permission on the /opt/eclipse dir from 754 to 755 which now gives a different error when trying to start eclipse as regular user: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory Eclipse:eclipse The Eclipse executable launcher was unable to locate its companion shared library. The Eclipse executable launcher was unable to locate its companion shared library.
- wbg almost 11 years
  
  It appears there's an environment variable and I'm working on this via ssh without X11 working.
- wbg almost 11 years
  
  I think I solved my issue by setting the permissions on the eclipse parent and the env variable which tells eclipse where the it's root dir is. I can't confirm until I try locally. Thank JMG for the edits.
- terdon almost 11 years
  
  Remember to post your solution as an answer and accepted if you've solved it.
wbg almost 11 years

It seems I might have solved my problem as noted in my comments to my question. I'll check it out in person first. I did echo $PATH originally. Thanks for your thoughts.
terdon almost 10 years

@wbg great! Do remember to post it as an answer if you've found it. Also, I just realized I'd made a mistake in my answer. It is ~/.bashrc that is not read when you ssh and ~/.profile that is. My guess is that you were setting your PATH in ~/.bashrc and that's why it wasn't working. This won't be the case if you're opening a terminal locally though.