$PATH in Vim doesn't match Terminal

Question

I'm using MacVim and when I don't launch it from the Terminal (mvim) its $PATH does not include what I have set in my .bash_profile. It only seems to have the default values, /usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin.

I'm running OS X 10.5.8. Even if I could set it manually in my .vimrc that would be okay, though I would prefer it to pull from the same place as Terminal. I've tried following what one site suggested, adding let $PATH += /blah/foo:/bar/etc to no avail.

Edit/Solution: See my answer below. MacVim has an option to fix this.

Answer 1

MacVim appears to be getting the $PATH in a way that ignores a regular user's custom dotfiles.

I can't say why they prefer to do it this way, but it appears to be true. In the preferences (under the Advanced tab), you can choose to "Launch Vim processes in a login shell", but it only improves the $PATH slightly for me.

The best I can tell, MacVim uses /usr/libexec/path_helper - which in turn uses the items found (1) in the /etc/paths file and (2) anything additional found in the /etc/paths.d/ directory. Any changes made in a user's home directory (via .profile or the like) is ignored.

In a nutshell, you get the OSX defaults, plus any applications that add themselves to /etc/paths.d. (For example, MacTex does so on my system.) So if you want to adjust your MacVim path, one way would be to add a file with items to /etc/paths.d. (I wouldn't directly edit /etc/paths since then you run the risk of the changes being undone by system updates.)

Thanks for letting me know this. I'm off to file a wishlist bug at MacVim.

Answer 2

BTW, the "Launch Vim processes in a login shell" preference is no longer available in MacVim (at least not v7.3). I see that launching MacVim from the Finder gets the wrong path, but launching it from a shell (as "mvim") gets the correct path.

Answer 3

It's not sourced from .bash_profile, but you can use this in your .vimrc:

let $PATH=$PATH . ':/blah/foo'

You have to have the : or it won't be a correct PATH variable.

Answer 4

I can't believe I didn't see this before. Okay, I can believe it. Anyways, MacVim comes with an option that solves this. Under Preferences just check "Launch Vim processes in a login shell". That's it, it works. Snazzy. Stupid me.

Oops

I accidentally wrote this answer not realizing that Telemachus had already given me the correct answer. Marked his as the answer.

Answer 5

I had no problem adding a file to the paths.d directory. I added a file called mysql, whose contents were:

/usr/local/mysql/bin[Return]

Then I placed this file under the paths.d directory, and changed its ownership to root:wheel. Now the mysql directory is automatically added to my $PATH variable.

I didn't investigate fully, but possibly (a) including the [RETURN] at the end of the line, and/or (b) setting the file ownership to root, might be necessary.

Answer 6

I ran into this today. MacVim no longer has the "login shell" option, and editing system-wide files for a user-specific setting is sketchy.

Here's a solution using only vim options (see :help :! and :help shell).

In your ~/.vimrc add the lines

set shell=/bin/bash
set shellcmdflag=-l\ -c

This makes bash your default shell from (Mac)Vim, and adds the -l flag (login shell) to commands invoked with :!{cmd}. When executing :shell, bash is started as an "interactive shell that is not a login shell".

To make the $PATH work, you need to have it set in ~/.bash_profile for :!, and ~/.bashrc for :shell. (See INVOCATION in man bash)

UPDATE: This wasn't necessary on my other computer, so there is likely something else that is the root cause.

Answer 7

This Mac Dev Center article may be of some use.

Answer 8

MacVim will source ~/.zprofile and /etc/profile, so you can put your PATH settings in there.

See https://github.com/b4winckler/macvim/wiki/Troubleshooting#for-zsh-users and this question on Stack Overflow.

(Tested with MacVim version 7.3 (65)).

Answer 9

I asked a very similar question On the Vim StackExchange Site and posted an answer there that works for me!

Answer 10

I know more about unix than about macs, so the following advice may or may not work. Try putting this your .vimrc file:

! source ~/.bash_profile

That might do the trick, but there's a slight caveat: the .bash_profile is only meant to be sourced once. It may contain some non-idempotent commands (things which should only execute once). Case in point:

$PATH += /blah/foo:/bar/etc

The more that gets called, the bigger and more redundant $PATH gets. However, if that's not such a big deal, the recommendation on unix would be to put the one-time command in ~/.bashrc and run source ~/.bashrc from your .vimrc file.