PYTHONPATH not working for sudo on GNU/Linux (works for root)

Question

EDIT: Works for root, sudo is the problem. Read below.

I have a directory with my own libraries, e.g. my Python libraries are located at /home/name/lib/py.
I've added this directory to Python's PATH for all users (including root) by adding the following line to /etc/bash.bashrc:

export PYTHONPATH=$PYTHONPATH:/home/name/lib/py

It works for all users (including root). But it doesn't work for sudo. Is there any way I can make sudo use /etc/bash.bashrc?

EDIT: More information:

I've added PYTHONPATH to sudoers file like so: Defaults env_keep += "HOME PYTHONPATH". It sitll doesn't work.

env | grep PYTHON:
    PYTHONDONTWRITEBYTECODE=1
    PYTHONPATH=/home/name/lib/py

sudo env | grep PYTHON:
    PYTHONDONTWRITEBYTECODE=1

sudo echo $PYTHONPATH:
    /home/name/lib/py

You might try over at Super User as well, thought I don't think this needs migrating. — brc
– brc, Commented Nov 1, 2011 at 18:08
Especially with your edit that the problem is with sudo and not anything Python specific, this would probably get more useful answers on SU as mentioned, or on unix.stackexchange.com. — agf
– agf, Commented Nov 1, 2011 at 18:19
@brc I realize that now. I've fixed it though -- see my answer bellow. — usr
– usr, Commented Nov 2, 2011 at 1:14

kvz · Accepted Answer · 2016-01-29 10:26:25Z

25

The same is true for the PATH variable, it's also not carried into the super user environment, even though you're passing the preserve environment flag -E.

I'm using this sudo command now without any other modifications:

sudo -HE env PATH=$PATH PYTHONPATH=$PYTHONPATH ./bin/myscript

Since it's an alternative approach that works (for me) I thought I'd share here.

answered Jan 29, 2016 at 10:26

kvz

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Niloct Over a year ago

The -H option is related to the home of target user. I didn't need it for your example to work here. Thanks for the lead!

usr · Accepted Answer · 2011-11-02 01:08:11Z

22

The fix in my case was to remove Defaults !env_reset from sudoers.

But, I had to keep Defaults env_keep += "PYTHONPATH" in sudoers.
I've actually added Defaults env_reset (which resets environment variables), but it still works because of env_keep.

It seems that env_keep and !env_reset conflict with eachother, but that's just a guess.

So, the whole process:

add export PYTHONPATH=/your/custom/path to ~/.bashrc or /etc/bash.bashrc
add PYTHONPATH to Defaults env_keep += "ENV1 ENV2 ..." in sudoers file
remove Defaults !env_reset from sudoers file if present

answered Nov 2, 2011 at 1:08

usr

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user805627 Over a year ago

This solution also works on OS X. Just add a line Defaults env_keep += "PYTHONPATH" in /etc/sudoers on OS X.

Brian Cain · Accepted Answer · 2011-11-02 03:28:10Z

2

Alternatives to manipulating PYTHONPATH:

answered Nov 2, 2011 at 3:28

Brian Cain

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Szczad · Accepted Answer · 2012-11-22 09:23:14Z

2

Another tip:

sudo echo $PYTHONPATH:
    /home/name/lib/py

It won't work. Shell will interpret it like this:

1) expand $PYTHONPATH from env variable for example: /usr/lib/python

2) execute "sudo echo /usr/lib/python"

answered Nov 22, 2012 at 9:23

Szczad

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Jeffery Smith · Accepted Answer · 2011-11-01 19:58:11Z

0

This should probably be posted somewhere else. But sudo will not process the environment file by default. If you want to invoke that the -i flag should help you out. It will simulate that users initial login.

You may have to play around with where you're putting your variables too. http://linux.die.net/man/8/sudo

answered Nov 1, 2011 at 19:58

Jeffery Smith

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usr Over a year ago

sudo -i also didn't work for me. I think something somehow conflicted with !env_reset option in sudoers file (which I think is actually identical to sudo -i). See my answer for full explanation.

Ilya Davydov · Accepted Answer · 2019-04-17 06:24:45Z

Follow configuration helps me to run multiple python services in dedicated VENVs on one Centos host

Export env variables to separate file, for example /etc/sysconfig/my-app
Set EnvironmentFile option in service config

see code below:

-bash-4.2$ sudo vi /etc/sysconfig/my-app

PATH=/usr/local/my-app/env/bin:$PATH
LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/local/my-app/env/lib:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH



-bash-4.2$ sudo vi /etc/systemd/system/my-app.service

[Unit]
Description=my-app daemon
After=network.target


[Service]
EnvironmentFile=/etc/sysconfig/my_app
User=app_user
Group=app_user
Type=simple
ExecStart=/usr/local/my-app/env/bin/python /usr/local/my-app/main.py
Restart=on-failure
RestartSec=5s
PrivateTmp=true

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

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