~/.bash_profile not being loaded?

[lancejpollard]

Hey there, not sure if this is the best place to ask but I thought I'd try.

I just setup a basic micro instance on EC2 on ubuntu 12.04, and then installed node like this (modified from here):

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install build-essential -y
sudo apt-get install g++ make libssl-dev git-core pkg-config
mkdir ~/local
echo 'export PATH=$HOME/local/bin:$PATH' >> ~/.bash_profile
. ~/.bash_profile

# Download Source for Node
mkdir ~/src
cd ~/src
git clone git://github.com/joyent/node.git

# Install Node:
cd ~/src/node
git checkout v0.10.17
./configure --prefix=~/local
make install

When I ssh into the instance and run node -v, it prints v0.10.17 as expected. I ssh like this:

ssh -i path/to/key.pem [email protected]

But when I try to do the same thing using this ssh2 module, it prints:

bash: node: command not found

The main difference between the two is this: when I ssh -i ..., it takes me to an interactive shell, whereas with node's ssh2 module I am executing the command (rather than running an interactive shell, I think, (exec vs. shell methods)). The strange thing is, using either method, if I cat ~/.bashrc, they both are exactly the same. The last thing is, I can successfully execute the node -v command on ssh2 if I add source ~/.bash_profile before, so:

source ~/.bash_profile ; node -v

The original install script echoed the PATH to ~/.bashrc, but I modified it to ~/.bash_profile because that was the only thing that seemed to work (along with adding the source ~/.bash_profile to the command).

Any ideas why this is happening? Is this something to do with ssh2 and ubuntu, or is this an issue with the node module?

[lancejpollard]

It's also the same problem when executing a straight command from ssh (without interactive console):

$ ssh -i path/to/key.pem [email protected] "node -v"
bash: node: command not found

So I guess it's not. If anyone knows why this that would be super helpful. Anyways, closing the issue since it's probably unrelated.

[lancejpollard]

This is it http://stackoverflow.com/questions/216202/why-does-an-ssh-remote-command-get-fewer-environment-variables-then-when-run-man

[pkyeck]

did you find a way around this? sourceing the profile/bashrc isn't working for me.

[mscdex]

@pkyeck You may have to check your .bashrc. At least on Ubuntu, .bashrc will exit early if it detects that it's not being run in interactive mode:

# If not running interactively, don't do anything
[ -z "$PS1" ] && return

You could try just setting PS1 before sourceing .bashrc:

conn.exec("PS1='\u@\h:\w\$ ' source ~/.bashrc; echo Hooray", function(err, stream) {
  // ...
});

[pkyeck]

thanks for getting back.
I adjusted the .bashrc to include setup instructions when not run interactively.

[alansikora]

@pkyeck what you had to do to make that work?

[pkyeck]

@alansikora easiest way for me right now is to use the connection.shell() function instead of connection.exec(). maybe give this a try (w/o adjusting the .bashrc)

[alansikora]

@pkyeck it works, but some of my method calls I need the result printed out so I can get it, and seems like the "shell" result is cluttered with some info I do not need. Any other ideias? Thank you, by the way! :D

[gdraganic]

@alansikora A little trick I use:

Set the interactive flag before source-ing .bashrc:

conn.exec("set -i && source ~/.bashrc && " + command, function(err, stream) {
  //...
});

[mscdex]

@gdraganic The set -i part shouldn't be necessary if you explicitly enable a pty (e.g. { pty: true }) in the exec() options.

[gdraganic]

@mscdex Didn't work for me even with pty enabled, this was my case:

conn.exec("set -i && source ~/.bashrc && " + command, {
  pty: true 
}, function(err, stream) {
  //...
});

This is the begging of my .bashrc file:

# If not running interactively, don't do anything                                                                                                                    
case $- in                                                                                                                                                           
    *i*) ;;                                                                                                                                                          
      *) return;;                                                                                                                                                    
esac 

Setting the interactive flag before source-ing the .bashrc file was the only way to do it.