Use $HOME instead of ~ in PATH env variable

[blanquicet]

Hi folks,

I was running some experiments with the InnovationEngine project, which leverage the CloudShell to execute the documentation, and I faced a problem with the the PATH env variable. In particular, I noticed some paths within PATH are using ~ instead of $HOME and some tools don't parse ~ thus they aren't able to execute the binaries located on those paths. An example of the tools impacted is kubectl. Here the issue reported upstream. The solution is to use $HOME instead of ~, which shouldn't have any impact on tools already working with ~. I tried in other online shells and systems I could try, and none of them are using ~ within PATH.

Thanks

[darrentu]

Hi @blanquicet, thank you for making a PR. We will look into this and get back to you!

[blanquicet]

Hi @blanquicet, thank you for making a PR. We will look into this and get back to you!

Thanks @darrentu. I haven't marked it as ready because I'm still trying to understand how to fully test it and verify that after this PR I will be able to execute binaries within $HOME/.local/bin/. Any suggestion?

[darrentu]

The test cases are passing: https://github.com/Azure/CloudShell/actions/runs/7062144530/job/19225319429.

[blanquicet]

The test cases are passing: https://github.com/Azure/CloudShell/actions/runs/7062144530/job/19225319429.

Yep, but they are only testing that the PATH contains the correct paths, not that the binaries inside those paths can be executed. Let me investigate a little bit more this. I think I found an issue.

[blanquicet]

Hi @darrentu, I found the issue in my previous approach. I was adding the $HOME string literally in the PATH env variable and it was not being evaluated within the container. Now, I'm adding it with the .bashrc script which is executed every time a new shell is opened within the container so it will be able to resolve $HOME correctly for each user.

Now the PR is ready.

[blanquicet]

Hi @darrentu, friendly ping to have this PR merged 🙂. Thanks!