# Switchtower (0.10.0), ssh and environment confusion **URL:** \ **Category:** Rails\ **Created:** [February 17, 2006, 9:27pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/switchtower-0-10-0-ssh-and-environment-confusion/53947 "2006-02-17T21:27:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Brian\_VSHughes](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Brian\_VSHughes](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Brian_VSHughes)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2006, 9:27pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/switchtower-0-10-0-ssh-and-environment-confusion/53947/1 "2006-02-17T21:27:16Z")
Seems like my day for Rails posts… 🙂 OK. I’ve started using Swtichtower to help with deploying changes to my production rails apps. Unfortunately I’ve come accros an inconsistency that I can’t quite figure out. It’s about the PATH env var under Bash. I’ve created a task that just does a: run “env”, to show what I’m seeing: loading configuration ./config/deploy.rb executing task show\_env executing “env” servers: [“foo.dartmouth.edu”] processing command [foo.dartmouth.edu] executing command [out :: foo.dartmouth.edu] TERM=xterm [out :: foo.dartmouth.edu] SHELL=/bin/bash [out :: foo.dartmouth.edu] SSH\_CLIENT=x.x.x.x 55394 22 [out :: foo.dartmouth.edu] SSH\_TTY=/dev/ttyp0 [out :: foo.dartmouth.edu] USER=brianvh [out :: foo.dartmouth.edu] MAIL=/var/mail/brianvh [out :: foo.dartmouth.edu] PATH=/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin [out :: foo.dartmouth.edu] PWD=/Users/brianvh [out :: foo.dartmouth.edu] SHLVL=1 [out :: foo.dartmouth.edu] HOME=/Users/brianvh [out :: foo.dartmouth.edu] LOGNAME=brianvh [out :: foo.dartmouth.edu] SSH\_CONNECTION=x.x.x.x 55394 y.y.y.y 22 [out :: foo.dartmouth.edu] \_=/usr/bin/env command finished However, if I run what I assumed was the same command, from my OS X terminal: ssh removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid env The output is different: SHELL=/bin/bash SSH\_CLIENT=x.x.x.x 55395 22 NAME=Brian V. Hughes USER=brianvh MAIL=/var/mail/brianvh PATH=/usr/local/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/mysql/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin PWD=/Users/brianvh EDITOR=emacs SHLVL=1 HOME=/Users/brianvh LOGNAME=brianvh SSH\_CONNECTION=x.x.x.x 55395 y.y.y.y 22 \_=/usr/bin/env So, clearly, Switchtower is executing the env command in a different context than my ssh command line client. Unfortunately, I’m not savvy enough with Ruby to fully dissect the Swtichtower module, or the Net::SSH module. Can someone tell me what I’m missing? Or, better still, tell me how I can get Switchtower SSH commands to load a different PATH env variable? The reason this is a problem is because the call to reaper, at the end of a rake deploy, is failing because PATH doesn’t contain “/usr/local/bin”. -Brian ---
**Author:** ![Brian\_VSHughes](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Brian\_VSHughes](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Brian_VSHughes)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2006, 4:33am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/switchtower-0-10-0-ssh-and-environment-confusion/53947/2 "2006-02-18T04:33:01Z")
Brian, ST commands are not executed within a login shell, which means your .bashrc and such are not loaded. If your target sshd is configured to support it (PermitUserEnvironment is “yes”), you can specify things like PATH in ~/.ssh/environment, but that setting is typically “no” by default (for security reasons). I’m not sure why the reap command would be failing for you due to a path issue–the default restart task uses the full path to the reaper. Are you sure that is the problem? Can you paste the specific error you are getting? - Jamis ---
**Author:** ![Brian\_VSHughes](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Brian\_VSHughes](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Brian_VSHughes)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2006, 4:48am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/switchtower-0-10-0-ssh-and-environment-confusion/53947/3 "2006-02-18T04:48:26Z")
Jamis B. wrote: > Brian, > > ST commands are not executed within a login shell, which means your > .bashrc and such are not loaded. If your target sshd is configured to > support it (PermitUserEnvironment is “yes”), you can specify things like > PATH in ~/.ssh/environment, but that setting is typically “no” by > default (for security reasons). OK… I guess I understand that. I’ll look into the PermitUserEnvironment setting, if that’s what I need to change. > I’m not sure why the reap command would be failing for you due to a path > issue–the default restart task uses the full path to the reaper. Are > you sure that is the problem? Can you paste the specific error you are > getting? executing task restart executing “/Library/WebServer/Rails/myRailsApp/current/script/process/reaper” servers: [“foo.dartmouth.edu”] processing command [foo.dartmouth.edu] executing command [out :: foo.dartmouth.edu] /Library/WebServer/Rails/myRailsApp/current/script/process/…/…/config/boot.rb:15:in `require': No such file to load -- rubygems (LoadError) [out :: foo.dartmouth.edu] from /Library/WebServer/Rails/myRailsApp/current/script/process/../../config/boot.rb:15 [out :: foo.dartmouth.edu] from /Library/WebServer/Rails/myRailsApp/current/script/process/reaper:2:in`require’ [out :: foo.dartmouth.edu] from /Library/WebServer/Rails/myRailsApp/current/script/process/reaper:2 command finished rake aborted! command “/Library/WebServer/Rails/myRailsApp/current/script/process/reaper” failed on foo.dartmouth.edu I was getting this exact same error from the command line, when I switched to Bash as my shell, because it looks like ST requires it. But the error went away as soon as I pre-pended /usr/local/bin onto my PATH env. If there’s another way to get this to run, as my user, not under sudo, I’m all for it! 🙂 -Brian ---
**Author:** ![Brian\_VSHughes](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Brian\_VSHughes](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Brian_VSHughes)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2006, 7:10am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/switchtower-0-10-0-ssh-and-environment-confusion/53947/4 "2006-02-18T07:10:40Z")
On Feb 17, 2006, at 8:44 PM, Brian V. Hughes wrote: > [foo.dartmouth.edu] executing command > [out :: foo.dartmouth.edu] /Library/WebServer/Rails/myRailsApp/ > current/script/process/…/…/config/boot.rb:15:in `require’: No > such file to load – rubygems (LoadError) (Above) That’s the problem, there. There’s no rubygems installed for the ruby interpreter that is running the reaper. My guess is that you’ve installed ruby in /usr/local/bin, and left the stock OSX one in /usr/bin. My recommendation is to symlink the / usr/bin/ruby to /usr/local/bin/ruby. - Jamis