Shell script noobie question?

[Mzzbizzsnatch]

Hello,

I'm running mdk 9.0, Bash version 2.05b.0.

I'm going through the "Linux Shell Scripting Tutorial v1.05r3 A Beginners Handbook"

I would like to be able to execute the scripts that I make from any directory that I happen to be in.

To have the ability to do this I have followed the directions in the tutorial yet I'm still unable to execute the script by script name from any directory.

I've create one script so far by following this tutorial.

Script name: "first"
vi first:
#
#My first Shell Script
#
clear
echo "Knowledge is Power"

I then save this and do "chmod +x first"
sh first...executes fine
bash first...executes fine
./first.....executes fine


Then I type:
cd (to make sure I'm in my home directory)
mkdir bin
cp first ~/bin

Then type.... first ..... and I get:
bash: first: command not found

If I do "echo $PATH" I get the following:
/usr/X11R6/bin:/usr/local/bin:/bin:/usr/bin

This is the default path that was installed by linux ManDrake.

The Tutorial just assumes that this should work, but it doesn't, and it doesn't offer any other tips as to why it doesn't or what I need to do to get this working.

Any helps is appreciated.

Thanks,

[Mzzbizzsnatch]

Ok...

What they forgot to mention was that I needed to log out of X and the back in for the changes to take effect. I fogot about this myself.

So executing "first" from the command line in any directory works now.

But now this brings on another very curious question.

And I hope that I can get an answer on this. I've asked before but never really got an explantion for it.

Question:
After creating the "bin" directory in my home directory and then logging out and back in my $PATH has changed a bit dramactically. Why is this specifically happening?

Path statement after making "bin" directory and before logging out =

/usr/X11R6/bin:/usr/local/bin:/bin:/usr/bin

Path statement after creating "bin" directory and logging out and the back in =

/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/bin/X11:/usr/X11R6/bin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/games:/home/jbanks/bin:/home/jbanks/bin


Why is /usr/bin and /home/jbanks/bin listed twice in my $PATH statement? My path statement was modified for me transparently. I thought the only way for me to alter my path statement was to edit some cofig files of which I didn't touch.

Whats causing this to happen?


Thanks bunches..

[Dolda2000]

It's probably some automagic detection function that Mdk has cooked up. It can be located in several places. I don't have Mdk, so I can't check, but check these files:
/etc/profile
/etc/profile.d
/etc/bashrc
/etc/X11/xdm/Xsession
~/.bash_profile
~/.bashrc

[vicious]

If ir remember correctly, the $PATH is set in /etc/profile for Mandrake (which I'm pretty sure Mdk stands for, correct me if I'm wrong).

[Mzzbizzsnatch]

Well,
Thanks for the responses. I've switched from Mandrake (and yes MDK is the short abbrevation for MandDrake...as is if you look at the kernel build with "uname -a" or any rpm's built specifically for Mandrake...)


I've since switched distro's though. I'm now using Gentoo as my new Linux Distro..love it..and blows Mandrake out of the water along with all the other RPM based distro's.