Hi,

I'd like to run commands via ssh, e.g.

ssh root@router "ifup wan"

This is what I get

[andrea@thinkpad ~]$ ssh root@router "ifup wan"
/sbin/ifup: 7: nvram: not found

This happens because the path is not set as when one logs in

[andrea@thinkpad ~]$ ssh root@router set
HOME='/tmp'
IFS='
'
LOGNAME='root'
OPTIND='1'
PATH='/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin'
PPID='1946'
PS1='\w \$ '
PS2='> '
PS4='+ '
PWD='/tmp'
SHELL='/bin/ash'
USER='root'

This is when I log in

root@OpenWrt:~# set
HOME='/tmp'
IFS='
'
LOGNAME='root'
OPTIND='1'
PATH='/bin:/sbin:/usr/bin:/usr/sbin'
PPID='1948'
PS1='\u@\h:\w\$ '
PS2='> '
PS4='+ '
PWD='/tmp'
SHELL='/bin/ash'
TERM='xterm'
USER='root'
_='ll'

Basically /usr/sbin is missing

Other than setting PATH='/bin:/sbin:/usr/bin:/usr/sbin' before each command, does anybody know if it is possible to change it globally?

Thanks

You could modify the PATH variable in the /etc/profile - then it should be loaded at startup.

I think the issue is that /etc/profile is not execute when one runs commands via ssh.
/etc/profile is execute only when I log in the router, and I get a shell prompt.

This is /etc/profile

#!/bin/sh
[ -f /etc/banner ] && cat /etc/banner

export PATH=/bin:/sbin:/usr/bin:/usr/sbin
export PS1='\u@\h:\w\$ '

alias less=more
alias vim=vi
alias ll='ls -la'

arp() { cat /proc/net/arp; }
ldd() { LD_TRACE_LOADED_OBJECTS=1 $*; }
reboot() { ifdown wan 2>&1 >/dev/null ; /sbin/reboot; }

This is *not* the content of PATH when I run a command via ssh

[andrea@thinkpad ~]$ ssh root@router "echo \$PATH"
/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin

The question is still: where are the DEFAULTS environment variables?

I guess I've overlooked that you're trying to run the command as a paramter of ssh.
And despite the fact I'm a Linux newbie, I'd say that the behaviour is stange.
I modified both the /etc/profile and the /etc/preinit and the made a script containing 'echo $PATH'... calling this script with ssh foo@router script.sh gave me /usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin (which is less than it should be)
Issuing the command ssh foo@router echo $PATH gave me the PATH variable of the system the ssh client ran on.

So, to be honest... I guess you have to ask somebody who actually has the knowledge for that... I'm running out of ideas

I've found what's happening.
It's a long story, and this document explains who sets the PATH to what.

http://www.faqs.org/docs/Linux-mini/Path.html

With this script (run locally on your PC) it's possible to run commands as if logged in.

========================================================================
#! /bin/bash

COMMAND=$1

ssh root@router "export PATH=/bin:/sbin:/usr/bin:/usr/sbin && ${COMMAND}"
========================================================================

then you can do

router "ifdown wan"

router "ifup wan"

enjoy!

andrea