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I just compiled Ruby from source and it is located into /usr/local/ruby

In order to access Ruby's executables I edited ~/.zshenv adding /usr/local/ruby/bin to the export PATH directive:

export PATH=/usr/local/ruby/bin:/usr/local/mysql/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:$PATH
            ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

However restarting the terminal and running which ruby still returns macOS's default /usr/bin/ruby

In fact inspecting PATH reveals:

% echo $PATH
/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/Library/Apple/usr/bin:/usr/local/ruby/bin:/usr/local/mysql/bin:/usr/local/sbin:

So after my ~/.zshenv is excecuted another configuration file prepends /usr/bin to PATH.

Where does this happen?

I would expect to find /usr/bin already in PATH when .zshenv is processed (resulting in having this path at the end of the environment variable).

What I am missing?

I checked and there are no other zsh configuration files in my home directory, just .zshenv;

I checked /etc too and found

zprofile
zshrc
zshrc_Apple_Terminal

but none of those do alter the PATH variable

on /etc/paths

I have

/usr/local/bin
/usr/bin
/bin
/usr/sbin
/sbin

but again, shouldn't be PATH already set with those paths when .zshenv is processed ?

Paolo
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  • In `~/.zshenv`, put `set -x` just after `export PATH`, you may be able to see where PATH is prepended. – Philippe Nov 27 '22 at 10:29
  • Did you only check for `PATH`, or also for `path`? Those two variables are synchronized. Did you check the startup files in `/etc`? Another possibility is that your startup files are **sourcing** other files, and the PATH is reset there. Try to create a subshell with `zsh -lx` and analyze the output. – user1934428 Nov 29 '22 at 10:33
  • @user1934428 well, a lot of stuff came out from `zsh -lz`. I ended removing both `~/.zprofile` and `~/.zshenv`. Then I edited `/etc/paths` and added there the search paths in the desired order – Paolo Nov 29 '22 at 13:15
  • Well, if you have a lot of setup to do, you get a lot of output. Assuming that you *need* all this for configuring your zsh properly, I suggest you redirect the output to a file and analyte it with i.e. a text editor. If you don't need it, of course it is better to remove those unneeded files. – user1934428 Nov 29 '22 at 13:21

2 Answers2

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The right place to alter PATH by appending user's search directories is ~/.zshrc that is sourced last.

This solution is based on the answers and comments to this question, other answers and comments to my question.

 

 

Following @Philippe advice I noticed actually .zshenv is sourced first, before any other configuration file/script.

After reading a post on the Zsh Mailing List Archive I put my PATH setting directives into ~/.zpath

Then ~/.zpath has to be sourced from ~/.zshenv when not in a login shell:

if [[ $SHLVL == 1 && ! -o LOGIN ]]; then

source ~/.zpath

fi

And from ~/.zprofile that is executed only when in a login shell.

source ~/.zpath

Alternatively o̲n̲ ̲m̲a̲c̲O̲S̲ it possible to just edit directly /etc/paths

/usr/local/mysql/bin

/usr/local/ruby/bin

/usr/local/bin /usr/local/sbin

/usr/bin

/bin

/usr/sbin

/sbin

Paolo
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  • What files are processed in which order depends on your configuration as well. The order of the configuration files sourced on startup is documented in _man zsh_, section _STARTUP/SHUTDOWN FILES_. Note that .zpath is **not** processed by default, so using this file is a dangerous adivce. – user1934428 Nov 29 '22 at 13:24
  • Also, be careful: Using `/etc/paths` works specifically on MacOS, but not in genreal for zsh. While you have properly tagged your question _macos_, it does not harm to explicitly point out in your answer that this is not a suggestions for zsh in the general case, but specific to the Mac. – user1934428 Nov 29 '22 at 13:28
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I would not trust apple to leave your /etc/paths directory alone, it's in their scope. Unless you have a need to manage this on a multiple person level, I would stick to changes in ~. For quick impact, I just add exports to .zshrc, and this is where I have my rvm bin directory added to my path.

Thomas Cherry
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