$PATH is different when I run bash from java processbuilder

Question

When I run a bach script containing "echo $Path" command what it outputs when run by java is different from what it outputs when run from command line. It also affects other commands of my script. Why is this happening and how do I avoid?

Following is my function to run a bashscript

public static String executeCommands(File tempScript, Boolean deleteFile)
        throws IOException, InterruptedException {

    StringBuffer output = new StringBuffer();

    try {
        ProcessBuilder pb = new ProcessBuilder("bash", tempScript.toString());
        pb.inheritIO();
        Process process = pb.start();
        process.waitFor();


        BufferedReader reader =
                new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(process.getInputStream()));

        String line = "";
        while ((line = reader.readLine()) != null) {
            output.append(line + "\n");
        }
        return line;

    } finally {
        if (deleteFile == true)
            tempScript.delete();
    }
}

when the script contains "echo $PATH" in bashscript

output is

/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin

But when I run from commandline output is

/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/usr/local/scala/scala-2.11.8/bin:/Users/<user>/Installations/activator-dist-1.3.10

That is they way they are supposed to work. It is to be expected. Also stop running as root, it is a bad habit to fall into. — user8017719
– user8017719, Commented Oct 21, 2016 at 4:07
I was running this test from a unit test and I ran the unit test from eclipse. Why do you think it was running under root? — raju
– raju, Commented Oct 21, 2016 at 4:56
The paths of /usr/sbin and /sbin mean secure binaries. Those should be limited to elevated users, by default only root. You have those in your path. — user8017719
– user8017719, Commented Oct 21, 2016 at 15:11

Saravana · Accepted Answer · 2016-10-21 05:20:44Z

2

When we run the command from terminal it reads the environment variables from .bashrc file, but it seems eclipse does not read environment variables from .bashrc.

launch eclipse with ./eclipse -DPATH=$PATH to read from bashrc

PATH variable from

1.terminal

user@ubuntu:~$ javac SS47.java 
user@ubuntu:~$ java SS47 
/home/user/perl5/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/games:/usr/local/games:/home/user/apache-maven-3.3.3/bin:/home/user/apache-maven-3.3.3/bin:/opt/jdk/jdk1.8.0_60/bin:/opt/jdk/jdk1.8.0_60/jre/bin:/home/user/dsc-cassandra-2.1.6/bin:/home/user/hadoop-2.6.0/bin:/home/user/hadoop-2.6.0/sbin:/home/user/android/android-studio/bin:/home/user/android/android-sdk-linux/platform-tools:/home/user/elasticsearch-2.3.5/bin:/home/user/scala-2.11.8/bin::/home/user/apache-maven-3.3.3/bin

2.eclipse with out $PATH

/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/games:/usr/local/games

3.eclipse with PATH ./eclipse -DPATH=$PATH

/home/user/perl5/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/games:/usr/local/games:/home/user/apache-maven-3.3.3/bin:/home/user/apache-maven-3.3.3/bin:/opt/jdk/jdk1.8.0_60/bin:/opt/jdk/jdk1.8.0_60/jre/bin:/home/user/dsc-cassandra-2.1.6/bin:/home/user/hadoop-2.6.0/bin:/home/user/hadoop-2.6.0/sbin:/home/user/android/android-studio/bin:/home/user/android/android-sdk-linux/platform-tools:/home/user/elasticsearch-2.3.5/bin:/home/user/scala-2.11.8/bin::/home/user/apache-maven-3.3.3/bin

edited Oct 21, 2016 at 5:20

answered Oct 21, 2016 at 5:13

Saravana

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4 Comments

raju Over a year ago

I normally run eclipse from applications folder in mac. Is there any config I can change inside eclipse for it to read from bashrc also?

Saravana Over a year ago

try launching from terminal ./eclipse -DPATH=$PATH am using Ubuntu

Saravana Over a year ago

or check if you have /etc/environment file, eclipse reads envs form this file during initialization, append $PATH in environment file, restart eclipse

Saravana Over a year ago

or you can add VM arguments in eclipse.ini file

Ichixgo · Accepted Answer · 2018-07-25 16:04:14Z

-1

As Elliott-Frisch pointed out in his comment, just call bash with the option -l which

Make[s] bash act as if it had been invoked as a login shell (see INVOCATION below). Source

This way you don't have to call Eclipse with different launch options etc. and it makes your solution independent, being able to be run without the non customized Eclipse or just bare-bone JRE.

So just edit your call ProcessBuilder like this:

ProcessBuilder pb = new ProcessBuilder("bash", "-l", tempScript.toString());

answered Jul 25, 2018 at 16:04

Ichixgo

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