Raspbian: Reset Bash environment variables - bash

I was trying to get a crontab working on my Raspberry PI and I think I messed up my environment variables. I can execute a file from the GUI by right-clicking and choosing execute. However I cannot get the same file to run from command line. I can use ls to see the file (ChromeTab.sh), but when I type ChromeTab.sh, I get "bash: ChromeTab.sh: command not found".
I think I messed up my environment variables when I put this in the crontab.
SHELL=/bin/sh
PATH=/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin
I followed the examples in Script doesn't run via crontab but works fine standalone.
Any idea what I'm doing wrong?
UPDATE:
OK,
Let me clarify what efforts I took on my part BEFORE posting my question on stackoverflow before getting anymore downvotes.
First of all thanks S. Adam Nissley for your suggestions.
In answer to your steps listed above.
Running this from home path, or fully qualified path does Not work as stated.
Error: bash: ChromeTab.sh: command not found
./ChromeTab.sh
I have also ensured read/write and execute permissions on the file with
chmod +x ./ChromeTab.sh
Also, my bash script starts off with the following shebang
#!/bin/sh
So, what i'm trying to say is, regardless of using crontab or not the issue at hand is that I can not even execute the script from command line. This started happening after I was messing around with the environment variables in the crontab. I'm looking for a way to revert to the situation where I can at least run/execute bash commands from the terminal.
The only way I can effectively execute this script is (right-click execute) through the GUI.

Assuming you are in the same directory as your script, you should just be able to enter
./ChromeTab.sh
If it does not execute, make sure it is executable with the command
chmod +x ./ChromeTab.sh
Or
chmod 755 ./ChromeTab.sh
And if it still won't execute, make sure it has an appropriate hashbang on the very first line of the script like #!/bin/sh or #!/bin/bash
When you add it to your crontab, make sure it has the full path like
/home/pi/bin/ChromeTab.sh <br/>
EDIT: Default PATH and SHELL for Raspbian
You can check your PATH and SHELL environmental variables from the command line as follows:
echo $SHELL
echo $PATH
The default PATH for Rasbian is:
/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/local/games:/usr/games
And the default SHELL is:
/bin/bash
So if you need to set those it is as simple as:
PATH=/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/local/games:/usr/games
SHELL=/bin/bash
If you are having other issues with your environment, you may want to disable some of your local settings to see if the problem is in your profile. You can list all files with ls -a, which includes hidden files. Raspbian typically has a .bashrc and a .profile in each user's home directory. To disable them simple rename them:
mv .bashrc .bashrc_disabled
mv .profile .profile_disabled
If that solves the problem, you can inspect the files and make the necessary corrections before renaming them back to their original names.

Related

Run a Bash Script automatically upon login on Unix

I have a bash script that I've written that works if I execute from the terminal, but I want to be able to have this script ran when I login to my system. I have seen other questions similar to this, but the proposed solutions did not work for me. I tried adding the script path to my ~/.profile and the script still is not being ran. Anyone have an example or documentation on how to do this?
Side note I am using Unix
If you already had a ~/.profile file it should be fine to just add it there. Otherwise look for a ~/.bash_profile and add the line there.
Did you make sure that your file is executable? Otherwise it will not work.
Here is an example code (make sure to adapt to your needs):
echo "echo 'foo'" > /tmp/execute_me
chmod u+x /tmp/execute_me
echo "/tmp/execute_me" >> ~/.profile
login from another console (for safety), and you should see "foo" printed in your console somewhere.
If you want your script to be executed whenever a shell is used (even not interactive, you should add the code to the ~/.bashrc, read this for details: https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/129143/what-is-the-purpose-of-bashrc-and-how-does-it-work)
The script should be called .profile and in your scripts directory.
I don't if your system supports it, but calling scripts (as root or as a common user , via su - user -c "command") from /etc/rc.local works great on my "nix" system. You might want to add some delay and possibly pass the display variable as well. Example of rc.local entry:
sleep 20 && bash -c "env DISPLAY=:0.0 nohup /folder/script &"

How to run a shell script just by typing its name?

I am very stuck on a task for my controlled assessment. I have been asked to create a shell script in nano that echoes hello world and hello $user. I have set the script to be executable. (chmod 755 Script1 and chmod +x Script1). I have been tasked to be able to make the script run just by typing 'Script1' , I do not know how to set the path to do this. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Basically you need to have it in the PATH environment variable.
Suppose it's in a folder on /a/b/folder/script.sh, try:
PATH=$PATH:/a/b/folder/
This tells the shell to look for executables there when looking for commands to run.
To make sure it's always executable you have several options:
Set the path variable in your profile using ~/.bashrc (sets it for bash, commonly done in ubuntu, which is what I use) or ~/.profile.
Set it globally using /etc/environment or others...
Move the folder to a folder already on your path (echo $PATH to see what's there already).
Note that these files are source-ed on different stages and persist on different environments.
For even more information read this.
TIP: To test that you've set the file correctly, we'll take ~/.bashrc as an example, you can use source ~/.bashrc and everything in ~/.bashrc will be loaded. That way you can be sure it won't mess things up next time you log in.
Alias the script in .bash_profile
in home path open the .bash_profile file and add the following entry,
alias Script1='/path/to/Script1'
Then reload the bash by,
. .bash_profile
After that try to call the script by using just its name. i.e, Script1

Creating aliases in .bash_profile that run a shell script

So I have a script called spotlyrics.sh that I want to be able to run using the command "lyrics" in the terminal.
I have opened up my .bash_profile and am wondering how I can create the alis which 1) finds the script and then 2) executes it
The file is inside a folder called bash at the following path
/Users/username/Documents/bash
What I have so far (inside my bash profile), which doesn't work because I guess it's not "executing" the script.
alias spotlyrics=“/Users/username/Documents/bash/spotlyrics.sh“
I get the following error when running "spotlyrics" in the terminal:
-bash: “/Users/username/Documents/bash/spotlyrics.sh“: No such file or directory
Would love some help, thanks!
You've been editing your .bash_profile with something that is not a proper text editor. The quotation marks are not ASCII, and therefore not actually quotation marks as far as the shell is concerned.
Instead of beating around the bush with aliasing a script to a name it mostly already has, why not put the script in a directory in PATH and let it be its own command?
mkdir ~/bin
echo 'PATH+=:$HOME/bin' >> ~/.bashrc
mv "/path/to/spotlyrics.sh" ~/bin/spotlyrics && chmod +x ~/bin/spotlyrics
Then restart the shell (log out and back in) and you won't need the alias.
Well, the shell scripts are not executable by just calling it's name, they should be run using "source" command(in case of not c-shell, dot command(.) can also be used).So while adding an alias in .bashrc or .bash_profile for running a shell script append source command before the path to the shell script.
In your case probably this should work:`
alias spotlyrics='source /Users/username/Documents/bash/spotlyrics.sh'`
Please let me know if it doesn't work. Because it worked for me.

Activating a VirtualEnv using a shell script doesn't seem to work

I tried activating a VirtualEnv through a shell script like the one below but it doesn't seem to work,
#!/bin/sh
source ~/.virtualenvs/pinax-env/bin/activate
I get the following error
$ sh virtualenv_activate.sh
virtualenv_activate.sh: 2: source: not found
but if I enter the same command on terminal it seems to work
$ source ~/.virtualenvs/pinax-env/bin/activate
(pinax-env)gautam#Aspirebuntu:$
So I changed the shell script to
#!/bin/bash
source ~/.virtualenvs/pinax-env/bin/activate
as suggested and used
$ bash virtualenv_activate.sh
gautam#Aspirebuntu:$
to run the script .
That doesn't throw an error but neither does that activate the virtual env
So any suggestion on how to solve this problem ?
PS : I am using Ubuntu 11.04
TLDR
Must run the .sh script with source instead of the script solely
source your-script.sh
and not
your-script.sh
Details
sh is not the same as bash (although some systems simply link sh to bash, so running sh actually runs bash). You can think of sh as a watered down version of bash. One thing that bash has that sh does not is the "source" command. This is why you're getting that error... source runs fine in your bash shell. But when you start your script using sh, you run the script in an shell in a subprocess. Since that script is running in sh, "source" is not found.
The solution is to run the script in bash instead. Change the first line to...
#!/bin/bash
Then run with...
./virtualenv_activate.sh
...or...
/bin/bash virtualenv_activate.sh
Edit:
If you want the activation of the virtualenv to change the shell that you call the script from, you need to use the "source" or "dot operator". This ensures that the script is run in the current shell (and therefore changes the current environment)...
source virtualenv_activate.sh
...or...
. virtualenv_activate.sh
As a side note, this is why virtualenv always says you need to use "source" to run it's activate script.
source is an builtin shell command in bash, and is not available in sh. If i remember correctly then virtual env does a lot of path and environment variables manipulation. Even running it as bash virtualenv_blah.sh wont work since this will simply create the environment inside the sub-shell.
Try . virtualenv_activate.sh or source virtualenv_activate.sh this basically gets the script to run in your current environment and all the environment variables modified by virtualenv's activate will be available.
HTH.
Edit: Here is a link that might help - http://ss64.com/bash/period.html
On Mac OS X your proposals seems not working.
I have done it this way. I'am not very happy with solution, but share it anyway here and hope, that maybe somebody will suggest the better one:
In activate.sh I have
echo 'source /Users/andi/.virtualenvs/data_science/bin/activate'
I give execution permissions by: chmod +x activate.sh
And I execute this way:
`./activate.sh`
Notice that there are paranthesis in form of ASCII code 96 = ` ( Grave accent )
For me best way work as below.
Create start-my-py-software.sh and pest below code
#!/bin/bash
source "/home/snippetbucket.com/source/AIML-Server-CloudPlatform/bin/activate"
python --version
python /home/snippetbucket.com/source/AIML-Server-CloudPlatform/main.py
Give file permission to run like below.
chmod +x start-my-py-software.sh
Now run like below
.start-my-py-software.sh
and that's it, start my python based server or any other code.
ubuntu #18.0
In my case, Ubuntu 16.04, the methods above didn't worked well or it needs much works.
I just made a link of 'activate' script file and copy it to home folder(or $PATH accessible folder) and renamed it simple one like 'actai'.
Then in a terminal, just call 'source actai'. It worked!

How do I execute a bash script in Terminal?

I have a bash script like:
#!/bin/bash
echo Hello world!
How do I execute this in Terminal?
Yet another way to execute it (this time without setting execute permissions):
bash /path/to/scriptname
$prompt: /path/to/script and hit enter. Note you need to make sure the script has execute permissions.
cd to the directory that contains the script, or put it in a bin folder that is in your $PATH
then type
./scriptname.sh
if in the same directory or
scriptname.sh
if it's in the bin folder.
You could do:
sh scriptname.sh
This is an old thread, but I happened across it and I'm surprised nobody has put up a complete answer yet. So here goes...
The Executing a Command Line Script Tutorial!
Q: How do I execute this in Terminal?
The answer is below, but first ... if you are asking this question, here are a few other tidbits to help you on your way:
Confusions and Conflicts:
The Path
Understanding The Path (added by tripleee for completeness) is important. The "path" sounds like a Zen-like hacker koan or something, but it is simply a list of directories (folders) that are searched automatically when an unknown command is typed in at the command prompt. Some commands, like ls may be built-in's, but most commands are actually separate small programs. (This is where the "Zen of Unix" comes in ... "(i) Make each program do one thing well.")
Extensions
Unlike the old DOS command prompts that a lot of people remember, you do not need an 'extension' (like .sh or .py or anything else), but it helps to keep track of things. It is really only there for humans to use as a reference and most command lines and programs will not care in the least. It won't hurt. If the script name contains an extension, however, you must use it. It is part of the filename.
Changing directories
You do not need to be in any certain directory at all for any reason. But if the directory is not on the path (type echo $PATH to see), then you must include it. If you want to run a script from the current directory, use ./ before it. This ./ thing means 'here in the current directory.'
Typing the program name
You do not need to type out the name of the program that runs the file (BASH or Python or whatever) unless you want to. It won't hurt, but there are a few times when you may get slightly different results.
SUDO
You do not need sudo to do any of this. This command is reserved for running commands as another user or a 'root' (administrator) user. Running scripts with sudo allows much greater danger of screwing things up. So if you don't know the exact reason for using sudo, don't use it. Great post here.
Script location ...
A good place to put your scripts is in your ~/bin folder.
You can get there by typing
# A good place to put your scripts is in your ~/bin folder.
> cd ~/bin # or cd $HOME/bin
> ls -l
You will see a listing with owners and permissions. You will notice that you 'own' all of the files in this directory. You have full control over this directory and nobody else can easily modify it.
If it does not exist, you can create one:
> mkdir -p ~/bin && cd ~/bin
> pwd
/Users/Userxxxx/bin
A: To "execute this script" from the terminal on a Unix/Linux type system, you have to do three things:
1. Tell the system the location of the script. (pick one)
# type the name of the script with the full path
> /path/to/script.sh
# execute the script from the directory it is in
> ./script.sh
# place the script in a directory that is on the PATH
> script.sh
# ... to see the list of directories in the path, use:
> echo $PATH
/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin
# ... or for a list that is easier to read:
> echo -e ${PATH//:/\\n}
# or
> printf "%b" "${PATH//:/\\n}"
/usr/local/sbin
/usr/local/bin
/usr/sbin
/usr/bin
/sbin
/bin
2. Tell the system that the script has permission to execute. (pick one)
# set the 'execute' permissions on the script
> chmod +x /path/to/script.sh
# using specific permissions instead
# FYI, this makes these scripts inaccessible by ANYONE but an administrator
> chmod 700 /path/to/script.sh
# set all files in your script directory to execute permissions
> chmod +x ~/bin/*
There is a great discussion of permissions with a cool chart here.
3. Tell the system the type of script. (pick one)
Type the name of the program before the script. (Note: when using this method, the execute(chmod thing above) is not required
> bash /path/to/script.sh
...
> php /path/to/script.php
...
> python3 /path/to/script.py
...
Use a shebang, which I see you have (#!/bin/bash) in your example. If you have that as the first line of your script, the system will use that program to execute the script. No need for typing programs or using extensions.
Use a "portable" shebang. You can also have the system choose the version of the program that is first in the PATH by using #!/usr/bin/env followed by the program name (e.g. #!/usr/bin/env bash or #!/usr/bin/env python3). There are pros and cons as thoroughly discussed here.
Note: This "portable" shebang may not be as portable as it seems. As with anything over 50 years old and steeped in numerous options that never work out quite the way you expect them ... there is a heated debate. The most recent one I saw that is actually quite different from most ideas is the "portable" perl-bang:
#!/bin/sh
exec perl -x "$0" "$#"
#!perl
Firstly you have to make it executable using: chmod +x name_of_your_file_script.
After you made it executable, you can run it using ./same_name_of_your_file_script
Change your directory to where script is located by using cd command
Then type
bash program-name.sh
And yet one more way
. /path/to/script
What is the meaning of the dot?
If you are in a directory or folder where the script file is available then simply change the file permission in executable mode by doing
chmod +x your_filename.sh
After that you will run the script by using the following command.
$ sudo ./your_filename.sh
Above the "." represent the current directory.
Note!
If you are not in the directory where the bash script file is present then you change the directory where the file is located by using
cd Directory_name/write the complete path
command. Otherwise your script can not run.

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