Incorrect path format is exported on Windows 10 with mintty / git bash, breaking the PATH and command resolution

[ChristopherSchubert]

Paths exported from direnv are being converted to a Windows format when running in a terminal emulator on Windows. This breaks the terminal if the PATH is modified - any subsequent command in the terminal can not be found.

This was touched on here: #253 but I am not having the same issues - this is just a formatting issue with the paths.

Environment

• OS: Windows 10
• Shell: git bash / mintty
• Direnv version 2.28

$ cd "${target_dir}"           # direnv not enabled yet.
direnv: error C:\Users\Chris\direnv-test\.envrc is blocked. Run `direnv allow` to approve its content

$ which direnv                 # No spaces in path to direnv executable
/c/Users/Chris/com.appalachia/appa/direnv

$ cat "${HOME}/.bashrc"        # .bashrc correctly hooking direnv into bash.
eval "$(direnv hook bash)"

$ echo "${PATH}"               # $PATH looks fine at this point.
/c/Users/Chris/bin:/mingw64/bin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/mingw64/bin:/usr/bin:/c/Users/Chris/bin:/c/Windows/system32:/c/Windows:/c/Windows/System32/Wbem:/c/Windows/System32/WindowsPowerShell/v1.0:/c/Windows/System32/OpenSSH:/c/Program Files/dotnet:/c/Program Files/Microsoft SQL Server/120/Tools/Binn:/c/Program Files/NVIDIA Corporation/NVIDIA NvDLISR:/c/WINDOWS/system32:/c/WINDOWS:/c/WINDOWS/System32/Wbem:/c/WINDOWS/System32/WindowsPowerShell/v1.0:/c/WINDOWS/System32/OpenSSH:/c/Program Files/Git LFS:/cmd:/c/Users/Chris/com.appalachia/appa:/c/Program Files/nodejs:/c/ProgramData/chocolatey/bin:/c/Program Files (x86)/Common Files/Oracle/Java/javapath:/c/Program Files/ImageMagick-7.0.11-Q16-HDRI:/c/Program Files (x86)/NVIDIA Corporation/PhysX/Common:/c/Program Files/Common Files/Autodesk Shared:/c/Program Files (x86)/GitExtensions:/c/Users/Chris/com.appalachia/appa:/c/Users/Chris/AppData/Local/Programs/Python/Python39:/c/Users/Chris/AppData/Local/Programs/Microsoft VS Code/bin:/c/Users/Chris/AppData/Local/GitHubDesktop/bin:/c/Program Files/JetBrains/PyCharm Community Edition 2020.2.2/bin:/c/Users/Chris/AppData/Roaming/npm:/c/Program Files (x86)/GitHub CLI:/c/Users/Chris/AppData/Local/Microsoft/WindowsApps:/c/Users/Chris/AppData/Local/Programs/Python/Launcher:/c/Users/Chris/com.appalachia/node_modules/.bin:/c/Users/Chris/AppData/Local/Programs/Python/Python39/Scripts:/c/Users/Chris/.dotnet/tools:/usr/bin/vendor_perl:/usr/bin/core_perl

$ cat .envrc     # .envrc file contents.  $MODIFY_PATH flag will control if we either export a variable, or change the path.
if [ "${MODIFY_PATH}" == "1" ] ; then
    echo ORIGINAL PATH && echo "------------------"
    echo ${PATH} && echo "------------------"
    PATH_add "${HOME}/temp"
    echo MODIFIED PATH && echo "------------------"
    echo ${PATH} && echo "------------------"
else
    export TEMPVAR="${HOME}/temp"
    echo "${TEMPVAR}"
fi

$ echo "${TEMPVAR-none}" && export MODIFY_PATH="0" # $TEMPVAR not set, preparing to execute the simple .envrc branch.
none

$ direnv allow                 # First run.  Note the $TEMPVAR is in nix format when echoed.
direnv: loading ~/direnv-test/.envrc
/c/Users/Chris/temp
direnv: export +TEMPVAR

$ echo "${TEMPVAR-none}" && export MODIFY_PATH="1" # $TEMPVAR is now set, however path is in Windows format. Setting flag to execute the other .envrc branch.
C:/Users/Chris/temp

$ cd ..                        # Resetting for next direnv run.
direnv: unloading

$ cd "${target_dir}"           # This will execute the $PATH modification branch.
direnv: loading ~/direnv-test/.envrc
ORIGINAL PATH
------------------
/c/Users/Chris/bin:/mingw64/bin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/bin:/mingw64/bin:/usr/bin:/c/Users/Chris/bin:/c/Windows/system32:/c/Windows:/c/Windows/System32/Wbem:/c/Windows/System32/WindowsPowerShell/v1.0:/c/Windows/System32/OpenSSH:/c/Program Files/dotnet:/c/Program Files/Microsoft SQL Server/120/Tools/Binn:/c/Program Files/NVIDIA Corporation/NVIDIA NvDLISR:/c/WINDOWS/system32:/c/WINDOWS:/c/WINDOWS/System32/Wbem:/c/WINDOWS/System32/WindowsPowerShell/v1.0:/c/WINDOWS/System32/OpenSSH:/c/Program Files/Git LFS:/cmd:/c/Users/Chris/com.appalachia/appa:/c/Program Files/nodejs:/c/ProgramData/chocolatey/bin:/c/Program Files (x86)/Common Files/Oracle/Java/javapath:/c/Program Files/ImageMagick-7.0.11-Q16-HDRI:/c/Program Files (x86)/NVIDIA Corporation/PhysX/Common:/c/Program Files/Common Files/Autodesk Shared:/c/Program Files (x86)/GitExtensions:/c/Users/Chris/com.appalachia/appa:/c/Users/Chris/AppData/Local/Programs/Python/Python39:/c/Users/Chris/AppData/Local/Programs/Microsoft VS Code/bin:/c/Users/Chris/AppData/Local/GitHubDesktop/bin:/c/Program Files/JetBrains/PyCharm Community Edition 2020.2.2/bin:/c/Users/Chris/AppData/Roaming/npm:/c/Program Files (x86)/GitHub CLI:/c/Users/Chris/AppData/Local/Microsoft/WindowsApps:/c/Users/Chris/AppData/Local/Programs/Python/Launcher:/c/Users/Chris/com.appalachia/node_modules/.bin:/c/Users/Chris/AppData/Local/Programs/Python/Python39/Scripts:/c/Users/Chris/.dotnet/tools:/usr/bin/vendor_perl:/usr/bin/core_perl
------------------
MODIFIED PATH
------------------
/c/Users/Chris/temp:/c/Users/Chris/bin:/mingw64/bin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/bin:/mingw64/bin:/usr/bin:/c/Users/Chris/bin:/c/Windows/system32:/c/Windows:/c/Windows/System32/Wbem:/c/Windows/System32/WindowsPowerShell/v1.0:/c/Windows/System32/OpenSSH:/c/Program Files/dotnet:/c/Program Files/Microsoft SQL Server/120/Tools/Binn:/c/Program Files/NVIDIA Corporation/NVIDIA NvDLISR:/c/WINDOWS/system32:/c/WINDOWS:/c/WINDOWS/System32/Wbem:/c/WINDOWS/System32/WindowsPowerShell/v1.0:/c/WINDOWS/System32/OpenSSH:/c/Program Files/Git LFS:/cmd:/c/Users/Chris/com.appalachia/appa:/c/Program Files/nodejs:/c/ProgramData/chocolatey/bin:/c/Program Files (x86)/Common Files/Oracle/Java/javapath:/c/Program Files/ImageMagick-7.0.11-Q16-HDRI:/c/Program Files (x86)/NVIDIA Corporation/PhysX/Common:/c/Program Files/Common Files/Autodesk Shared:/c/Program Files (x86)/GitExtensions:/c/Users/Chris/com.appalachia/appa:/c/Users/Chris/AppData/Local/Programs/Python/Python39:/c/Users/Chris/AppData/Local/Programs/Microsoft VS Code/bin:/c/Users/Chris/AppData/Local/GitHubDesktop/bin:/c/Program Files/JetBrains/PyCharm Community Edition 2020.2.2/bin:/c/Users/Chris/AppData/Roaming/npm:/c/Program Files (x86)/GitHub CLI:/c/Users/Chris/AppData/Local/Microsoft/WindowsApps:/c/Users/Chris/AppData/Local/Programs/Python/Launcher:/c/Users/Chris/com.appalachia/node_modules/.bin:/c/Users/Chris/AppData/Local/Programs/Python/Python39/Scripts:/c/Users/Chris/.dotnet/tools:/usr/bin/vendor_perl:/usr/bin/core_perl
------------------
direnv: export ~PATH

$ ls                           # Commands can not be found.
bash: ls: command not found

$ echo "${PATH}"               # Path formats are no longer valid for this terminal.
C:\Users\Chris\temp;C:\Users\Chris\bin;C:\Program Files\Git\mingw64\bin;C:\Program Files\Git\usr\local\bin;C:\Program Files\Git\usr\bin;C:\Program Files\Git\usr\bin;C:\Program Files\Git\mingw64\bin;C:\Program Files\Git\usr\bin;C:\Users\Chris\bin;C:\Windows\system32;C:\Windows;C:\Windows\System32\Wbem;C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0;C:\Windows\System32\OpenSSH;C:\Program Files\dotnet;C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\120\Tools\Binn;C:\Program Files\NVIDIA Corporation\NVIDIA NvDLISR;C:\WINDOWS\system32;C:\WINDOWS;C:\WINDOWS\System32\Wbem;C:\WINDOWS\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0;C:\WINDOWS\System32\OpenSSH;C:\Program Files\Git LFS;C:\Program Files\Git\cmd;C:\Users\Chris\com.appalachia\appa;C:\Program Files\nodejs;C:\ProgramData\chocolatey\bin;C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Oracle\Java\javapath;C:\Program Files\ImageMagick-7.0.11-Q16-HDRI;C:\Program Files (x86)\NVIDIA Corporation\PhysX\Common;C:\Program Files\Common Files\Autodesk Shared;C:\Program Files (x86)\GitExtensions;C:\Users\Chris\com.appalachia\appa;C:\Users\Chris\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python39;C:\Users\Chris\AppData\Local\Programs\Microsoft VS Code\bin;C:\Users\Chris\AppData\Local\GitHubDesktop\bin;C:\Program Files\JetBrains\PyCharm Community Edition 2020.2.2\bin;C:\Users\Chris\AppData\Roaming\npm;C:\Program Files (x86)\GitHub CLI;C:\Users\Chris\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WindowsApps;C:\Users\Chris\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Launcher;C:\Users\Chris\com.appalachia\node_modules\.bin;C:\Users\Chris\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python39\Scripts;C:\Users\Chris\.dotnet\tools;C:\Program Files\Git\usr\bin\vendor_perl;C:\Program Files\Git\usr\bin\core_perl

[ChristopherSchubert]

If anyone else experiences this issue prior to a fix being implemented, I've published a workaround which takes advantage of bash-preexec to correct the $PATH formatting after direnv modifies it.

[peterlobster]

@ChristopherSchubert This is happening to me to. Every time I touch the PATH with direnv the whole thing seems to go bananas. I tried your fix, but it doesn't seem to work cause it shows that my git-bash on Windows 10 doesn't have sed? Did that happen to you too? If so, how did you fix it?

[ChristopherSchubert]

@peterlobster I've pushed some changes to the fix, including some changes in how its installed (to keep your .bashrc cleaner). Would you get the latest, follow the README.md installation instructions and try again?

If it doesn't work, open an issue on the repository and we'll get you sorted.

[ChristopherSchubert]

And just to be clear, even after applying this fix there will still be one pesky sed error message. I am 99% certain it is not happening within the code introduced by the fix. I think it might be a sed call within direnv itself which runs due to its normal bash hook. But again I couldn't isolate the code producing the error.

This is what it looks like when I change environments. I added some comments to help explain.

# Moving into a directory with a .envrc file

> user@machine MINGW64 ~
$ cd ~/direnv-test

  direnv: loading ~/direnv-test/.envrc
  --- Finished .envrc ---
  direnv: export ~PATH          # PATH is now messed up - the next sed call will fail
  bash: sed: command not found  # but not sure where it is being called.  Not in my fix, though.

# Now testing that the fix corrected our PATH before the prompt came back.

(.venv)
> user@machine MINGW64 ~/direnv-test (main)
$ echo "abcdefg" | sed 's/a/z/g'

  zbcdefg  

Feel free to open an issue on the fix repository if it doesn't go the same for you.

[asaaki]

One more confirmation of this issue.
I usually use a pattern like

PATH_add bin

in my project folders to automatically add repo local executables and scripts, but this now fails under windows with bash.
I'll look into the workaround, but ideally direnv would fix that in some way directly.

[baroca]

I only managed to get working in bash Windows with @ChristopherSchubert fix.
Any plans to implement it?

[majidaldo]

my hack is less invasive. hook into the direnv hook (hah) in your bashrc and set things straight from there.

...
#eval "$(direnv hook bash)"
_direnv_hook() {
  local previous_exit_status=$?;
  trap -- '' SIGINT;
  eval "$("C:/Users/me/AppData/Local/Microsoft/WinGet/Links/direnv.exe" export bash)";
  ##### HACK
  PATH=$("C:\Program Files\Git\usr\bin\cygpath.exe" -p $PATH)
  #mingw or bash? still wants /mingw/bin
  PATH=/mingw64/bin:/usr/bin:$PATH
  ##### END
  trap - SIGINT;
  return $previous_exit_status;
};
if ! [[ "${PROMPT_COMMAND:-}" =~ _direnv_hook ]]; then
  PROMPT_COMMAND="_direnv_hook${PROMPT_COMMAND:+;$PROMPT_COMMAND}"
fi

with msys i can just add in PATH=$(/usr/bin/echo $PATH | /usr/bin/tr ';' ':' )

[tonyg]

Here's a similar hack, replacing eval $(direnv hook bash) in .bashrc:

export _unmangle_direnv_names='PATH'
_unmangle_direnv_paths() {
    for k in $_unmangle_direnv_names; do
        eval "$k=\"\$(/usr/bin/cygpath -p \"\$$k\")\""
    done
}
eval "$(direnv hook bash | sed -e 's@export bash)@export bash)\
_unmangle_direnv_paths@')"

If path-unmangling is required for other variables, they can be added to _unmangle_direnv_names in each .envrc.

[CreateWorld-Animation]

_direnv_hook() {
local exit_status=$? # 保存退出状态
trap -- '' SIGINT # 忽略 Ctrl+C 信号

eval "$("E:/software/scoop/apps/direnv/current/direnv.exe" export bash)" # 运行 direnv

# 条件转换 Windows 路径 (仅在 Git Bash 中需要)
[[ -n "$MSYSTEM" ]] && PATH=$("D:/Git/usr/bin/cygpath.exe" -p "$PATH")

# 优雅地添加 MinGW 和 Git Bash 路径
local paths_to_add=("/mingw64/bin" "/usr/bin")
for p in "${paths_to_add[@]}"; do
[[ ! ":$PATH:" =~ ":$p:" ]] && PATH="$p:$PATH"
done

trap - SIGINT # 恢复 Ctrl+C 信号处理>
return $exit_status
}

# 优雅地添加 _direnv_hook 到 PROMPT_COMMAND
[[ "${PROMPT_COMMAND:-}" =~ _direnv_hook ]] || >PROMPT_COMMAND="_direnv_hook${PROMPT_COMMAND:+;$PROMPT_COMMAND}"

##fix PATH duplicate addition of bash environment variable