Issues with .bash_profile and terminal commands

Question

I added some data to my .bash_profile to run two aliases ruby version 19 and the proper gems. As soon as I added the data I could not longer run any commands such as the MacPorts command port nor the command mate to run TextMate. As soon as I deactivated .bash_profile and .bash_login and even .bash_history all was well again. .bash_history got regenerated and soon thereafter I got .bash_profile reinstated with my badly needed aliases, but then I lost the option to run these commands again. Here is some of the output of all these files:

jaspersmbp:~ jasper$ cat .bash_profile
    alias ruby='/opt/local/bin/ruby1.9'
    alias gem='/opt/local/bin/gem'
jaspersmbp:~ jasper$ cat .bash_login
jaspersmbp:~ jasper$ cat .bashrc
    HISTFILESIZE=1000000000
    HISTSIZE=1000000
jaspersmbp:~ jasper$ cat .profile
    #Django path
    export PATH=/opt/local/bin:opt/local/sbin:/opt/local/lib/python2.4/site-packages/django/bin:$PATH
    # Apache alias
    alias apacherestart='sudo /opt/local/apache2/bin/apachectl -k restart'
    #Subversion OSX for Eclips Joomla Development
    export PATH=/opt/subversion/bin:$PATH
    #Test
    #echo $PATH
    ##
    # Your previous /Users/jasper/.profile file was backed up as /Users/jasper/.profile.macports-saved_2012-05-18_at_09:47:58
    ##
    # MacPorts Installer addition on 2012-05-18_at_09:47:58: adding an appropriate PATH variable for use with MacPorts.
    export PATH=/opt/local/bin:/opt/local/sbin:$PATH
    # Finished adapting your PATH environment variable for use with MacPorts.

Does anyone know why making .bash_profile active anihilates the use of commands such as mate and port? I really need .bash_profile to work so I can use aliases and I need MacPorts port command for all kinds software.

Answer 1

Bash reads ~/.bash_profile if it exists, and ~/.profile if it doesn't. Hence when you created ~/.bash_profile, your ~/.profile was no longer used. Your aliases aren't specific to bash as opposed to other shells, so you might as well put them in ~/.profile.

Also, you start an interactive login bash, bash reads ~/.bash_profile or ~/.profile (the bash-specific session startup script, or the generic shell session startup script if it doesn't exist), but not ~/.bashrc (the interactive bash startup script). So put these two lines in your ~/.bash_profile to load everything as it should be:

. ~/.profile
case $- in *i*) . ~/.bashrc;; esac

Answer 2

It looks like MacPort is generating your configuration files, and messing up your PATH and such. The easiest way to fix this is by doing it yourself - disable MacPort generation/creation of the dotfiles concerning your path and aliases, remove the .bash_profile and .profile files and then append the following to the ~/.bashrc file:

# define aliases
alias ruby='ruby1.9'
alias apacherestart='sudo apachectl -k restart'

# define hist properties
HISTFILESIZE=1000000000
HISTSIZE=1000000

# define path to programs
PATH=/opt/local/bin:opt/local/sbin:/opt/subversion/bin:/opt/local/apache2/bin/:/opt/local/lib/python2.4/site-packages/django/bin:$PATH

# define manpath
MANPATH=/opt/local/share/man:$MANPATH

# export env vars
export HISTFILESIZE HISTSIZE PATH MANPATH

Start a new terminal and run echo $PATH to check that everything is in there and then test a couple of commands installed under /opt/local/bin. Since all the directories in the above PATH= statement are now in your PATH you don't need aliases that use absolute paths to the binary - for example you don't need the alias for gem anymore because you can just run gem.

Update: If your ~/.bashrc is not sourced put source ~/.bashrc in a clean ~/.bash_profile.

Answer 3

Well, maybe it's $PATH problem? Have you check it before & after?