calling source command within python

[Jie]

Hi all,

i'm having trouble executing os.system('source .bashrc') command
within python, it always says that source not found and stuff. Any
clue?

Thanks,
Jie

[Fredrik Lundh]

Jie wrote:

i'm having trouble executing os.system('source .bashrc') command
within python, it always says that source not found and stuff. Any
clue?

like in

$ python

>>import os
os.system("source .bashrc")

sh: source not found and stuff
256

? I get

$ python

>>import os
os.system("source .bashrc")

/... stuff printed by my .bashrc file .../
0

What happens if you do

>>import os
os.system("bash .bashrc")

instead?

</F>

[mk]

Jie wrote:

Hi all,

i'm having trouble executing os.system('source .bashrc') command
within python, it always says that source not found and stuff. Any
clue?

It _might_ be that the shell it fires up is /bin/sh and this in turn is
not bash.

Anyway, it's better to use subprocess / Popen for this sort of operation.

[Glenn Hutchings]

Jie <Ji*****@gmail.comwrites:

i'm having trouble executing os.system('source .bashrc') command
within python, it always says that source not found and stuff. Any
clue?

There's no 'source' program; it's a shell builtin. Even if there was, it
almost certainly wouldn't do what you want. The .bashrc file is supposed
to contain settings applying to the current shell, and os.system() runs in
a subshell, so the settings will only affect that shell.

If you're doing this to set environment variables, try modifying os.environ
instead.

Glenn