How set PATH for all users in Debian?

Solution 1:

The first place where PATH is set is /etc/login.defs. There's a setting for root and a setting for everyone else.

Another place where you can define environment variables is /etc/environment. These settings will apply to everyone (you can't write arbitrary shell code there).

A third place where you can define environment variables is /etc/profile. There you can write arbitrary shell code. If you want a user-specific setting, there is the corresponding per-user file ~www-data/.profile. But this will only apply to console interactive logins; in particular it won't apply to cron jobs unless they explicitly source /etc/profile.

If you only need that PATH setting in a user crontab, you can write it at the beginning of the crontab. Note that you need the full list (PATH=/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/local/zend/bin), you can't use a variable substitution (PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/zend/bin won't work there).

Solution 2:

To set a path for all users except root, edit /etc/profile or /etc/enviroment. For root or an individual user edit their .bashrc or .bash_profile in their home directories, respectively. Add the PATH=$PATH:/new/location/.