Executable file named 'test' is in $PATH but won't run
I have a file in $HOME/bin (before you ask, yes, it is in my path) called test which I've confirmed can be executed fine when I run it with the full path to the file. However, I get a really weird issue when I don't run it this way. When I just run test in the terminal, it doesn't do anything and returns immediately. I know that this isn't an issue of finding the file for several reasons:
There is no error message. Normally if the file can't be found or can't be executed a message will be printed out saying so.
Running
which teststill returns the correct file path.Probably the weirdest of all - the script works fine when run through
strace. I tried usingstraceto see if I could figure out what was going on but when I ran it withstrace, it worked as expected with 0 issues.
bash shell-script path executable strace
edited Feb 6 at 1:35
ivan_pozdeev
365211
asked Feb 4 at 22:32
ContronThePandaContronThePanda
613
add a comment |
I have a file in $HOME/bin (before you ask, yes, it is in my path) called test which I've confirmed can be executed fine when I run it with the full path to the file. However, I get a really weird issue when I don't run it this way. When I just run test in the terminal, it doesn't do anything and returns immediately. I know that this isn't an issue of finding the file for several reasons:
There is no error message. Normally if the file can't be found or can't be executed a message will be printed out saying so.
Running
which teststill returns the correct file path.Probably the weirdest of all - the script works fine when run through
strace. I tried usingstraceto see if I could figure out what was going on but when I ran it withstrace, it worked as expected with 0 issues.
bash shell-script path executable strace
edited Feb 6 at 1:35
ivan_pozdeev
365211
asked Feb 4 at 22:32
ContronThePandaContronThePanda
613
7
Usetype, notwhich. See Why not use “which”? What to use then?
– wjandrea
Feb 5 at 1:18
First tip at wiki-dev.bash-hackers.org/scripting/debuggingtips
– Mark Wagner
Feb 5 at 23:09
add a comment |
I have a file in $HOME/bin (before you ask, yes, it is in my path) called test which I've confirmed can be executed fine when I run it with the full path to the file. However, I get a really weird issue when I don't run it this way. When I just run test in the terminal, it doesn't do anything and returns immediately. I know that this isn't an issue of finding the file for several reasons:
There is no error message. Normally if the file can't be found or can't be executed a message will be printed out saying so.
Running
which teststill returns the correct file path.Probably the weirdest of all - the script works fine when run through
strace. I tried usingstraceto see if I could figure out what was going on but when I ran it withstrace, it worked as expected with 0 issues.
bash shell-script path executable strace
edited Feb 6 at 1:35
ivan_pozdeev
365211
asked Feb 4 at 22:32
ContronThePandaContronThePanda
613
I have a file in $HOME/bin (before you ask, yes, it is in my path) called test which I've confirmed can be executed fine when I run it with the full path to the file. However, I get a really weird issue when I don't run it this way. When I just run test in the terminal, it doesn't do anything and returns immediately. I know that this isn't an issue of finding the file for several reasons:
There is no error message. Normally if the file can't be found or can't be executed a message will be printed out saying so.
Running
which teststill returns the correct file path.Probably the weirdest of all - the script works fine when run through
strace. I tried usingstraceto see if I could figure out what was going on but when I ran it withstrace, it worked as expected with 0 issues.
bash shell-script path executable strace
bash shell-script path executable strace
edited Feb 6 at 1:35
ivan_pozdeev
365211
asked Feb 4 at 22:32
ContronThePandaContronThePanda
613
edited Feb 6 at 1:35
ivan_pozdeev
365211
asked Feb 4 at 22:32
ContronThePandaContronThePanda
613
edited Feb 6 at 1:35
ivan_pozdeev
365211
edited Feb 6 at 1:35
ivan_pozdeev
365211
edited Feb 6 at 1:35
ivan_pozdeev
365211
365211
asked Feb 4 at 22:32
ContronThePandaContronThePanda
613
asked Feb 4 at 22:32
ContronThePandaContronThePanda
613
asked Feb 4 at 22:32
ContronThePandaContronThePanda
613
613
7
Usetype, notwhich. See Why not use “which”? What to use then?
– wjandrea
Feb 5 at 1:18
First tip at wiki-dev.bash-hackers.org/scripting/debuggingtips
– Mark Wagner
Feb 5 at 23:09
add a comment |
7
Usetype, notwhich. See Why not use “which”? What to use then?
– wjandrea
Feb 5 at 1:18
First tip at wiki-dev.bash-hackers.org/scripting/debuggingtips
– Mark Wagner
Feb 5 at 23:09
7
7
Use
type, not which. See Why not use “which”? What to use then?– wjandrea
Feb 5 at 1:18
Use
type, not which. See Why not use “which”? What to use then?– wjandrea
Feb 5 at 1:18
First tip at wiki-dev.bash-hackers.org/scripting/debuggingtips
– Mark Wagner
Feb 5 at 23:09
First tip at wiki-dev.bash-hackers.org/scripting/debuggingtips
– Mark Wagner
Feb 5 at 23:09
add a comment |
1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
test is an unfortunate name to use, it's the standard utility for conditional tests. (It's actually the same command as the [ in if [ ... ], it just looks like a syntactical thing, but is really just a normal command.)
test is also builtin in e.g. Bash, so running just test never looks up your binary from the path.
bash$ help test | head
test: test [expr]
Evaluate conditional expression.
Exits with a status of 0 (true) or 1 (false) depending on
the evaluation of EXPR. Expressions may be unary or binary.
[...]
test with no arguments just returns 1 (false).
Running strace test doesn't involve the shell builtin, since strace doesn't implement any utilities itself. It just uses what it finds in your PATH. Note that you probably have the standard test in /bin/test or /usr/bin/test, so if that would be first in PATH, strace would run run that.
On my Bash, which is also an external command, so it doesn't have an idea about builtins either. On the other hand, the type command is builtin to the shell, and type test would show that test is a shell builtin.
See also: Why not use "which"? What to use then?
answered Feb 4 at 22:34
ilkkachuilkkachu
62.5k10103179
12
Have an anecdote from 1985.
– JdeBP
Feb 4 at 23:09
add a comment |
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test is an unfortunate name to use, it's the standard utility for conditional tests. (It's actually the same command as the [ in if [ ... ], it just looks like a syntactical thing, but is really just a normal command.)
test is also builtin in e.g. Bash, so running just test never looks up your binary from the path.
bash$ help test | head
test: test [expr]
Evaluate conditional expression.
Exits with a status of 0 (true) or 1 (false) depending on
the evaluation of EXPR. Expressions may be unary or binary.
[...]
test with no arguments just returns 1 (false).
Running strace test doesn't involve the shell builtin, since strace doesn't implement any utilities itself. It just uses what it finds in your PATH. Note that you probably have the standard test in /bin/test or /usr/bin/test, so if that would be first in PATH, strace would run run that.
On my Bash, which is also an external command, so it doesn't have an idea about builtins either. On the other hand, the type command is builtin to the shell, and type test would show that test is a shell builtin.
See also: Why not use "which"? What to use then?
answered Feb 4 at 22:34
ilkkachuilkkachu
62.5k10103179
12
Have an anecdote from 1985.
– JdeBP
Feb 4 at 23:09
add a comment |
test is an unfortunate name to use, it's the standard utility for conditional tests. (It's actually the same command as the [ in if [ ... ], it just looks like a syntactical thing, but is really just a normal command.)
test is also builtin in e.g. Bash, so running just test never looks up your binary from the path.
bash$ help test | head
test: test [expr]
Evaluate conditional expression.
Exits with a status of 0 (true) or 1 (false) depending on
the evaluation of EXPR. Expressions may be unary or binary.
[...]
test with no arguments just returns 1 (false).
Running strace test doesn't involve the shell builtin, since strace doesn't implement any utilities itself. It just uses what it finds in your PATH. Note that you probably have the standard test in /bin/test or /usr/bin/test, so if that would be first in PATH, strace would run run that.
On my Bash, which is also an external command, so it doesn't have an idea about builtins either. On the other hand, the type command is builtin to the shell, and type test would show that test is a shell builtin.
See also: Why not use "which"? What to use then?
answered Feb 4 at 22:34
ilkkachuilkkachu
62.5k10103179
12
Have an anecdote from 1985.
– JdeBP
Feb 4 at 23:09
add a comment |
test is an unfortunate name to use, it's the standard utility for conditional tests. (It's actually the same command as the [ in if [ ... ], it just looks like a syntactical thing, but is really just a normal command.)
test is also builtin in e.g. Bash, so running just test never looks up your binary from the path.
bash$ help test | head
test: test [expr]
Evaluate conditional expression.
Exits with a status of 0 (true) or 1 (false) depending on
the evaluation of EXPR. Expressions may be unary or binary.
[...]
test with no arguments just returns 1 (false).
Running strace test doesn't involve the shell builtin, since strace doesn't implement any utilities itself. It just uses what it finds in your PATH. Note that you probably have the standard test in /bin/test or /usr/bin/test, so if that would be first in PATH, strace would run run that.
On my Bash, which is also an external command, so it doesn't have an idea about builtins either. On the other hand, the type command is builtin to the shell, and type test would show that test is a shell builtin.
See also: Why not use "which"? What to use then?
answered Feb 4 at 22:34
ilkkachuilkkachu
62.5k10103179
test is an unfortunate name to use, it's the standard utility for conditional tests. (It's actually the same command as the [ in if [ ... ], it just looks like a syntactical thing, but is really just a normal command.)
test is also builtin in e.g. Bash, so running just test never looks up your binary from the path.
bash$ help test | head
test: test [expr]
Evaluate conditional expression.
Exits with a status of 0 (true) or 1 (false) depending on
the evaluation of EXPR. Expressions may be unary or binary.
[...]
test with no arguments just returns 1 (false).
Running strace test doesn't involve the shell builtin, since strace doesn't implement any utilities itself. It just uses what it finds in your PATH. Note that you probably have the standard test in /bin/test or /usr/bin/test, so if that would be first in PATH, strace would run run that.
On my Bash, which is also an external command, so it doesn't have an idea about builtins either. On the other hand, the type command is builtin to the shell, and type test would show that test is a shell builtin.
See also: Why not use "which"? What to use then?
answered Feb 4 at 22:34
ilkkachuilkkachu
62.5k10103179
edited Feb 5 at 9:58
answered Feb 4 at 22:34
ilkkachuilkkachu
62.5k10103179
answered Feb 4 at 22:34
ilkkachuilkkachu
62.5k10103179
answered Feb 4 at 22:34
ilkkachuilkkachu
62.5k10103179
62.5k10103179
12
Have an anecdote from 1985.
– JdeBP
Feb 4 at 23:09
add a comment |
12
Have an anecdote from 1985.
– JdeBP
Feb 4 at 23:09
12
12
Have an anecdote from 1985.
– JdeBP
Feb 4 at 23:09
Have an anecdote from 1985.
– JdeBP
Feb 4 at 23:09
add a comment |
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7
Use
type, notwhich. See Why not use “which”? What to use then?– wjandrea
Feb 5 at 1:18
First tip at wiki-dev.bash-hackers.org/scripting/debuggingtips
– Mark Wagner
Feb 5 at 23:09