[Pkg-shadow-devel] Bug#918754: bash: $PATH in bash does not include /sbin and /usr/sbin

[Stefan Tauner]

On Wed, 11 Sep 2019 14:18:32 +0000 "Jakubith, Boris"
<b.jakubith at metis-ag.com> wrote:

> I think this no _not_ a good idea. The semantics of 'su' is correct. The
> only error is that many users up to day count on the wrong behaviour. 
> […]
> 
> You can set 'ALWAYS_SET_PATH yes' for your installation, but generally - in
> a default install - this would be sooo wrong, especially because there many
> alternatives.

I can't argue with that, however I want to point out that the root
terminal (at least on Mate) as described in the Debian wiki[1] is
executed via "gksu /usr/bin/x-terminal-emulator"
that lacks the correct (PATH) environment too (I did an upgrade so maybe
this is a relic).
Changing the command to use gksudo instead sets up the right
directories AFAICT. This definitely looks like a bug to me. Can anybody
confirm the behavior (of launching a root terminal in a desktop
environment and not having the sbin directories in PATH) on a fresh
Gnome and/or Mate install? If this is deemed a bug shall we repurpose
this one or create a new one?

Sidenote: It is also no longer possible to launch X applications from
such a (root) terminal which used to work (can't remember if I had to
persuade it to do so with some configuration files though).

1: https://wiki.debian.org/Root
-- 
Kind regards/Mit freundlichen Grüßen, Stefan Tauner