Terminal Starts Up With Errors

Question

Terminal Starts Up With Errors

When I start Terminal I see:
Welcome to Darwin!
export': not a valid identifier
export': not a valid identifier
export': not a valid identifier
export': not a valid identifier
': not a valid identifier

When I look in .profile I see:
# Your previous .profile (if any) is saved as .profile.dpsaved
# Setting the path for DarwinPorts.
export PATH=/sw/bin/sw/sbin/bin/sbin/usr/bin/usr/sbin$PATH
export CFLAGS=-I/sw/include
export LDFLAGS=-L/sw/lib
export CXXFLAGS=$CFLAGS
export CPPFLAGS=$CXXFLAGS
export ACLOCAL_FLAGS="-I /sw/share/aclocal"
export PKG CONFIGPATH="/sw/lib/pkgconfig"
export MACOSX DEPLOYMENTTARGET=10.4
DISPLAY=:0.0; export DISPLAY
test -r /sw/bin/init.sh && . /sw/bin/init.sh

The error is from the Path addition ... don't know where that came from; I may have been reading something suggesting I add it, but frankly don't remember where or when.

However, that sentence is found in a "Fink" file I saw once.

Any ideas how to correct the problem?

17" Macbook Pro 2.16gB Intel Core-Duo, Mac OS X (10.4.8), Airport Extreme + Lacie Ethernet 300gB

Posted on Mar 14, 2007 9:49 AM

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Answer 1

Mar 14, 2007 10:00 AM in response to Running Shoes

I'm not sure if it's causing your error, but I think that PATH setting should use colons as delimiters, ie

<pre>export PATH=/sw/bin:/sw/sbin:/bin:/sbin:/usr/bin:/usr/sbin:$PATH</pre>

And I'd suspect that the default $PATH includes most of those locations anyway, so you may only need to add the two /sw locations in that statement.

Matt

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Answer 2

Mar 14, 2007 10:36 AM in response to Matt Clifton

yeah, me bad, I'd copied what I'd just changed from that path command ... to replicate it, this is what it is now

PATH=/sw/bin:/sw/sbin:/bin/sbin:/usr/bin:/usr/sbin:$PATH

and that's the way I'd originally pasted it in there. And this results in:
Welcome to Darwin!
export': not a valid identifier
export': not a valid identifier
export': not a valid identifier
export': not a valid identifier
': not a valid identifier

the four separators using colons ... I tried spaces and semi colons but you may be right in that the path's already are existent and needn't be added

what then is the command to see what the existing path is set to?

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Answer 3

Mar 14, 2007 10:39 AM in response to Running Shoes

You can use echo $PATH from the command line; or just set to see all currently set variables. It does look like your error might be related to quote marks - are you sure that the PATH command is the culprit? (Have you tried selectively commenting out each line to make sure?)

Matt

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Answer 4

Mar 14, 2007 10:51 AM in response to Matt Clifton

echo $path produced nothing. However, I see with a general 'SET' command, that the path is
PATH=/sw/bin:/sw/sbin:/bin/sbin:/usr/bin:/usr/sbin:/bin:/sbin:/usr/bin:/usr/loca l/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/X11R6/bin

I'll try commenting out that export path= line in the .profile file and re-start then check path variable via "Set" in terminal command line ...

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Answer 5

Mar 14, 2007 11:00 AM in response to Running Shoes

nope .. after a restart I see path is still
PATH=/sw/bin:/sw/sbin:/bin:/sbin:/usr/bin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/X11R6/bi n

and the same error messages, line by line, appear at start of 'Terminal'
so either placing a # before the .profile line of export path did nothing, or there is another place that starts up and sets that for Terminal other than .profile in my $Home

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Answer 6

Mar 14, 2007 11:14 AM in response to Running Shoes

You need to make sure to use caps for PATH ("echo $path" will not work; "echo $PATH" should).

And you don't need to restart after each profile change, just open a new Terminal window for the changes to take effect.

Just for kicks, comment out all of those lines in the profile (none of them is crucial) and see if you still get the error. If not, uncomment them one at a time, saving and opening a new Terminal window after each change. This should narrow down the problem.

Matt

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Answer 7

Mar 14, 2007 11:31 AM in response to Matt Clifton

with only the following lines active:

#
# Your previous .profile (if any) is saved as .profile.dpsaved <<<<<<<<not true, not there!!!
# Setting the path for DarwinPorts.
export PATH=/sw/bin:/sw/sbin:/bin/sbin:/usr/bin:/usr/sbin:$PATH

#export CFLAGS=-I/sw/include

YIELDS:
Welcome to Darwin!
Zork:~ rd$

With:
#
# Your previous .profile (if any) is saved as .profile.dpsaved
# Setting the path for DarwinPorts.
export PATH=/sw/bin:/sw/sbin:/bin/sbin:/usr/bin:/usr/sbin:$PATH

export CFLAGS=-I/sw/include
#export LDFLAGS=-L/sw/lib

Last login: Wed Mar 14 14:28:54 on ttyp1
Welcome to Darwin!
#export': not a valid identifier
#export': not a valid identifier
#export': not a valid identifier
#export': not a valid identifier
': not a valid identifier
Zork:~ rd$

well well well ... what did I learn?
(other than to comment that line out)

Yields:

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Answer 8

Mar 14, 2007 11:38 AM in response to Running Shoes

and actually, I uncommented all the remaining lines and still has good result.

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Answer 9

Mar 14, 2007 12:01 PM in response to Running Shoes

So you've narrowed down the problem to this line?

<pre>export CFLAGS=-I/sw/include</pre>

If that's exactly as it appears in your profile, then that should be correct, and I'm not sure what the issue could be. If it's for Fink installations, then I believe you don't need it if you stick with compiling packages within Fink (as opposed to manually building them). But I'm certainly no expert on Fink.

Matt

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Answer 10

Mar 14, 2007 12:13 PM in response to Matt Clifton

So you've narrowed down the problem to this line?

<pre>export CFLAGS=-I/sw/include</pre>

yep, that's the line. I uncommented the rest and it was fine ... dunno why all the .h files in the include area could interfere unless they are read in then bound then apply, negating the previous PATH ....

nah ....

thanks for the guidance in any event.

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