"Mister B" wrote in message
news:1138819255.566977.301080@f14g2000cwb.googlegr oups.com...
> If I do: rsh B ". .profile" - OK
> If I do: ssh B ". .profile" - doesn't find .profile unless i do
> "./.profile"
> If I do: ssh B "echo $PATH" it shows . in the path -
>
> why can't it find .profile?
>
> (.profile is just an example)

PATH has nothing to do with this action of "." "." means "source this file".

I wonder what happens of you do "rsh B /bin/pwd" or "ssh B /bin/pwd", and if
you have a broken .bashrc or .cshrc or other shell configuration files doing
oddness on the target server?

Nico Kadel-Garcia wrote:
> "Mister B" wrote in message
> > If I do: ssh B ". .profile" - doesn't find .profile unless i do
> > "./.profile"
> > If I do: ssh B "echo $PATH" it shows . in the path -

> PATH has nothing to do with this action of "." "." means "source this file".

Yes, but it has to know where to find "this file".
Try this:

PATH=/usr/bin
export PATH
cat > newfile
pwd
(or whatever your EOF character is)
chmod +x newfile
.. newfile (should get error message)
PATH=$PATH:.
.. newfile (should find newfile and print current
directory)

> I wonder what happens of you do "rsh B /bin/pwd" or "ssh B /bin/pwd"

Not sure why this is relevant, but both commands work & I get current
directory

Mark
mark . bergman @ thales - is . com

Mister B wrote:
> Nico Kadel-Garcia wrote:
>> "Mister B" wrote in message
>>> If I do: ssh B ". .profile" - doesn't find .profile unless i do
>>> "./.profile"
>>> If I do: ssh B "echo $PATH" it shows . in the path -
>
>> PATH has nothing to do with this action of "." "." means "source
>> this file".
>
> Yes, but it has to know where to find "this file".
> Try this:

Well, yes. But that's a function of the shell itself, not of the PATH. PATH
affects where the *first* argument in a command line can be found, namely
the "." function tself.

> PATH=/usr/bin
> export PATH
> cat > newfile
> pwd
> (or whatever your EOF character is)
> chmod +x newfile

chmod +x is irrelevant. newfile is not executed, it's sourced, which means
reading it and executing its current contents with the active shell. That's
why PATH is not relevant to this problem, I think.

> . newfile (should get error message)
> PATH=$PATH:.
> . newfile (should find newfile and print current
> directory)
>
>> I wonder what happens of you do "rsh B /bin/pwd" or "ssh B /bin/pwd"
>
> Not sure why this is relevant, but both commands work & I get current
> directory

I was guessing on this one. I'm wondering if you have some weirdness in your
..bashrc or .profile that is messing with your SSH based rsh commands. There
are subtle differences between rsh and ssh in their handling of .login and
..bashrc.