Hi Thomas, Maybe this issue will have to remain a mystery to me for now.
One thing I am going to suggest is you *try* the following:
su -c'bash -norc'
That would effectively stop bash from reading ~/.bashrc et al on "su".
sunil@linux:~ > echo $PATH /usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/X11R6/bin:/bin:/usr/lib/java/bin:/var/lib /dosemu:/usr/games/bin:/usr/games:/opt/gnome/bin:/opt/kde2/bin:/opt/kd e/bin:/usr/openwin/bin:.:/opt/gnome/bin:/opt/pilotsdk/bin:/home/sunil/ myprogs sunil@linux:~ > su -c'bash -norc' Password: bash-2.05# echo $PATH /usr/sbin:/bin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/usr/X11R6/bin bash-2.05# As you see, $PATH is still changing. I discovered /etc/login.defs earlier. According to man login.defs, the entries there set a default path, but the the values in my /etc/login.defs still don't explain the $PATH I'm getting after su. Thanks for your help, regards Richard -- richard@tortoise.demon.co.uk