You can add items to your $PATH by creating files in /etc/paths.d/.

The files should have one path per line. Paths from all files in the directory will be added to your path on shell startup.

When the install steps for a tool tell me to add export PATH="$PATH:/some/bs/bin" to my .bashrc, I get irrationally angry.

Or maybe it’s perfectly rational:

  • export is mutating global state
  • echo $PATH is unreadable
  • too lazy to find and edit my dotfiles, much less maintain them
  • never remember to source the first time after making changes

As long as you’re okay with changing PATH system-wide, this is a game-changer. I can’t see a reason not to do this /etc/paths.d/ thing on my work Macbook.

I’m so pumped for the next stupid thing I install.

SOURCE:

man path_helper

I don’t remember what tipped me off to it today ¯\_(ツ)_/¯