Trying to add adb to PATH variable OSX

android macos adb

157,190

Solution 1

Why are you trying to run "./adb"? That skips the path variable entirely and only looks for "adb" in the current directory. Try running "adb" instead.

Edit: your path looks wrong. You say you get

/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/X11/bin:/Libs/android-sdk-mac_x86/tools:/Libs/android-sdk-mac_x86/platform-tools

You're missing the /Users/simon part.

Also note that if you have both .profile and .bash_profile files, only the latter gets executed.

Solution 2

Add to PATH for every login

Total control version:

in your terminal, navigate to home directory

cd

create file .bash_profile

touch .bash_profile

open file with TextEdit

open -e .bash_profile

insert line into TextEdit

export PATH=$PATH:/Users/username/Library/Android/sdk/platform-tools/

save file and reload file

source ~/.bash_profile

check if adb was set into path

adb version

One liner version

Echo your export command and redirect the output to be appended to .bash_profile file and restart terminal. (have not verified this but should work)

echo "export PATH=$PATH:/Users/username/Library/Android/sdk/platform-tools/ sdk/platform-tools/" >> ~/.bash_profile

Solution 3

Alternative: Install adb the easy way

If you don't want to have to worry about your path or updating adb manually, you can use homebrew instead.

brew cask install android-platform-tools

Solution 4

On my Macbook Pro, I've added the export lines to ~/.bash_profile, not .profile.

e.g.

export PATH=/Users/me/android-sdk-mac_86/platform-tools:/Users/me/android-sdk-mac_86/tools:$PATH

Solution 5

Just encase anyone finds this SO post when using Android Studio which includes the SDK has part of the App package (on Mac OSX).

So as @davecaunt and @user1281750 noted but insert the following line to .bash_profile

export PATH=/Applications/Android\ Studio.app/sdk/tools:/Applications/Android\ Studio.app/sdk/platform-tools:$PATH

View more solutions

157,190

Author by

skoko

Updated on September 03, 2021

Comments

skoko over 2 years
I am trying to develop for android and I want to add the adb to my PATH so that I can launch it really easily. I have added directories before by for some reason adb does not want to be found. This is very frustrating. Has anyone else had this problem before?

I created a file .profile and added the following to it.
```
export PATH = ${PATH}:/Users/simon/Libs/android-sdk-mac_x86/platform-tools/
export PATH = ${PATH}:/Users/simon/Libs/android-sdk-mac_x86/tools
```
When I check my environment path I see the following:
```
/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/X11/bin:/Libs/android-sdk-mac_x86/tools:/Libs/android-sdk-mac_x86/platform-tools
```
So I know that it is added to my PATH variable. Now when I try to run adb I get that it is not found.
```
-bash: ./adb: No such file or directory
```
This is very very frustrating. Could it be a problem with permissions? Has anyone had this problem with OSX and Android?
skoko about 13 years

Tried that too. Nothing. This is seriously driving me nuts.
skoko about 13 years

Tried both ./adb and adb.. Nothing, I have no idea what is wrong with this.
skoko about 13 years

funny. I opened up that file...This exact line was already in there. I think eclipse added that while installing the plug-in?
LaC about 13 years

Where is adb supposed to be located? Check that it's there and that it has execute permissions (cd to the directory and do ls -l adb).
skoko about 13 years

If I go to the directory I can run it no problem. Here is the output. -rwxrwxrwx 1 simon staff 179312 28 Feb 02:48 adb
sarnold about 13 years

@user569594: did you re-start your shell after editing .profile? (i.e., if you echo $PATH before adb, do you see the new directories?)
skoko about 13 years

yes, I mentioned that in the question. It shows up in the echo, bash for some reason just CAN NOT SEE IT.
sarnold about 13 years

@user569594: sorry, had to ask, I've seen people edit their shell start-up scriptss, test their changes by starting a new shell, and forget to re-start their current shell and wonder where it fails... :)
David Snabel-Caunt about 13 years

It is possible, though I added mine myself.
sarnold about 13 years

@LaC, missing execute permissions on the file would be reported with bash: /bin/ls: Permission denied
skoko about 13 years

Thanks for this answer. It turns out both .profile and .bash_profile were both there. I had the values in .profile and yea. Now it works. Thanks a lot guys.
David Snabel-Caunt about 13 years

According to johnnywey.wordpress.com/2008/04/17/fixing-bash-profile-in-os‌-x you may have conflicting profiles
sarnold about 13 years

@user569594: I don't like that your adb executable is world-writable. I wonder if Apple has modified bash to not execute world-writable executables? Try chmod 755 adb and try again?
skoko about 13 years

I think that's exactly what the problem was. Another app (I think MacPorts) created .profile
skoko about 13 years

Yea, I made sure to restart. The problem lied in having two profiles in my home directory. A .bash_profile and a .profile
skoko about 13 years

Works now, I just had two profiles. One over wrote the other. If anyone is doing this use .bash_profile to edit the path variable. I followed a different tutorial that said to use .profile
sarnold about 13 years

@user569594, cool! If that's the case, @David Caunt's answer looks like the one to Accept. :)
Tobrun over 10 years

Instead of relauching your terminal you can use the following command to reload the file: ". .bash_profile"
Brijesh Thakur about 10 years

The penultimate step in the above step is "Restart Terminal" :)
Tobrun about 10 years

Restart terminal should not be necessary, reloading the file should be enough
Adam Johns almost 10 years

Don't forget to restart terminal after you add to PATH.
rilar over 9 years

Awesome! Thx scottyab!
Tobrun over 9 years

Update: Probably it doesn't work for you because you are using multiple tabs. Every tab on your terminal has his own session. So reload the .bash_profile in the tab of the "adb version" command.
Adam over 9 years

Alternatively, it's located in Users/[user]/Android/sdk/platform-tools.... I don't like linking to the Applications folder (maybe that's just me though).
Mohit over 8 years

can use export PATH=$PATH:$HOME/Library/Android/sdk/platform-tools/ , just by copy and paste and no need to change the username
smets.kevin over 8 years

Much, MUCH better then trying to fiddle with PATH, .bash_profile etc.. Thanks!
Ryan R over 8 years

I removed the sdk/platform-tools/ bit at the end, since this was giving me a bash warning in Android Studio.
sud007 about 8 years

I checked like 7 different versions of this tutorial. And I was only able to understand this one and what I am trying to do here! Great, It worked!
Adam Mendoza over 7 years

yup c[_] ~ ᒡ◯ᵔ◯ᒢ
The Hungry Androider about 7 years

FYI, this now gives the error: Error: No available formula with the name "android-platform-tools". Use: brew install Caskroom/cask/android-platform-tools instead
brismuth about 7 years

@The Hungry Androider - fixed it
Kinergy about 6 years

I haven't tried this but I'm wondering if one installs Android Studio as well as with Homebrew, wondering if this could create a version out of sync problem in the future... just a thought
brismuth about 6 years

If you have multiple installations, bash will just use one of them consistently (as long as your path is configured the same each time).
Justin Noel over 5 years

You can also do source ~/.bash_profile instead of restarting the terminal.
xtarsy almost 5 years

Best and easiest answer!
Rahul Rastogi over 4 years

My adb command works after using first method, but working till the terminal is opened in the same session. As I close terminal and open new window, then again adb commands doesn't respond.
Seyid-Kanan Bagirov almost 4 years

First method work for me, then you need restart your computer
Rahul Mishra over 3 years

This works now: brew install --cask android-platform-tools