-bash: append_path: command not found

General system Applications
#1

I switched since years to root using

su -

Since a few days I got the error

-bash: append_path: command not found

Is there something missing / deleted? Or is the “-” obsolete?

#2

Here it is working as usual.
Is it possible that you made some alias or function related to su?

You could check what the following command shows:

  type su
#3

type su: “su is /usr/bin/su”
util-linux 2.36-4
The issue is only present of some of my machines - not of all. But all are running Arch testing.

#4

This is probably caused by an old dotfile, e.g. /root/.bashrc or similar. Check the contents and check whether there’s an append_path command - if so, switch it to something which works. :wink:

1 Like
#5

Look at this too. https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=77607

1 Like
#6

I have no old dotfile in /root/ except .bash_history The password is working, and I am in the directory of root if I execute su - . The error message is repeated three times so I think it is related to someting in directory /root/. But it seems to be in a subfolder so I think I will live with it :wink:

1 Like
#7

Hi, Arch user here. This happened to me after last system update. After inspecting /var/log/pacman.log to see what changed, I found this line:

warning: /etc/profile installed as /etc/profile.pacnew

Updated packages were filesystem, perl, srt and sudo.

/etc/profile is used to set system wide environmental variables on users shells.

/etc/profile contained appendpath function declaration, /etc/profile.pacnew contained append_path

If that is also your case, try renaming
/etc/profile => /etc/profile.old
/etc/profile.pacnew => /etc/profile

Hope it helps.

3 Likes
#8

Thanks - that was the cause!