bashpermissionszshchownprezto

Move zsh + prezto configuration to dropbox

Many people like to move their bash profiles to a Dropbox folder so that they can have multiple machines with their same profile (usually, for those who have a custom and specific profile that they love). I would like to do the same thing with my zsh profile and Prezto framework.

I created a Dropbox folder in /Users/me/Dropbox/Computer Preferences/zsh/ (I will refer to this as DBFolder, hereon) which I would like to store my Prezto configuration in.

Here is the process that I've pursued:

  1. I downloaded Prezto and moved all the files in the download to DBFolder.
  2. I created a symlink for all z* files within {DBFolder}/.zprezto/runcoms/ The resultant symlinks live in ~/.

  3. I added these lines to my zshenv file:

    export ZDOTDIR="$HOME/Dropbox/Computer Preferences/zsh" if [[ "$SHLVL" -eq 1 && -s "${ZDOTDIR:-$HOME}/.zprofile" ]]; then source "${ZDOTDIR:-$HOME}/.zprofile" path = /Users/me/bin fi

I am now able to launch my zsh profile with Prezto configurations. However, my problem is now that my initial login fails to load the path:

/Users/me/.zshenv:22: permission denied: /Users/me/bin
$ whoami
#=> me

My questions is - Why am I unable to access /Users/me/bin when I am clearly logged in (via the $ whoami) where it is within my home directory?

Solution

  • The problematic line is

    path = /Users/me/bin

    There are three problems:

    1. $path is an array in Zsh; $PATH is the POSIX-compatible scalar.
    2. = surrounded by spaces is a syntax error; assignment in POSIX shells should not contain spaces.
    3. $PATH should be extended rather than overwritten.

    Correction:

    PATH=$HOME/bin:$PATH

    or

    path=($HOME/bin $path)

    The latter requires the ksharrays option to be off (off by default).