PATH is not updated when I login

Question

I am one of the users of a lab computer. I want PATH to be:

PATH=/home/gsamaras/mpich-install/bin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/local/games:/usr/games

instead of this:

PATH=/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/local/games:/usr/games

For that reason, I modified .profile:

# set PATH so it includes user's private bin if it exists
#if [ -d "$HOME/bin" ] ; then
#    PATH="$HOME/bin:$PATH"
if [ -d "$HOME/mpich-install/bin" ] ; then
  PATH="$HOME/mpich-install/bin:$PATH"
fi

then I did a source .profile and it was OK. However, the next day (when I powered on the pc) and eventually logged into my account, PATH was reset. Then I found /etc/profile, which seems to be the key file for me, since it has this:

if [ "`id -u`" -eq 0 ]; then
  PATH="/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin"
else
  PATH="/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/local/games:/usr/games"
fi
export PATH

However, this I think that is going to be executed for every user in this machine, not just me, so how should I modify it so that I do not need to source my local .profile every time I log in?

PS - I know the password for sudo.

---

EDIT

I can not find any .bash_profile file:

gsamaras@pythagoras:~$ find .bash_profile
find: `.bash_profile': No such file or directory
gsamaras@pythagoras:~$ find /etc/bash_profile
find: `/etc/bash_profile': No such file or directory

Here is my .bashrc file:

# ~/.bashrc: executed by bash(1) for non-login shells.
# see /usr/share/doc/bash/examples/startup-files (in the package bash-doc)
# for examples

# If not running interactively, don't do anything
case $- in
    *i*) ;;
      *) return;;
esac

# don't put duplicate lines or lines starting with space in the history.
# See bash(1) for more options
HISTCONTROL=ignoreboth

# append to the history file, don't overwrite it
shopt -s histappend

# for setting history length see HISTSIZE and HISTFILESIZE in bash(1)
HISTSIZE=1000
HISTFILESIZE=2000

# check the window size after each command and, if necessary,
# update the values of LINES and COLUMNS.
shopt -s checkwinsize

# If set, the pattern "**" used in a pathname expansion context will
# match all files and zero or more directories and subdirectories.
#shopt -s globstar

# make less more friendly for non-text input files, see lesspipe(1)
#[ -x /usr/bin/lesspipe ] && eval "$(SHELL=/bin/sh lesspipe)"

# set variable identifying the chroot you work in (used in the prompt below)
if [ -z "${debian_chroot:-}" ] && [ -r /etc/debian_chroot ]; then
    debian_chroot=$(cat /etc/debian_chroot)
fi

# set a fancy prompt (non-color, unless we know we "want" color)
case "$TERM" in
    xterm-color) color_prompt=yes;;
esac

# uncomment for a colored prompt, if the terminal has the capability; turned
# off by default to not distract the user: the focus in a terminal window
# should be on the output of commands, not on the prompt
#force_color_prompt=yes

if [ -n "$force_color_prompt" ]; then
    if [ -x /usr/bin/tput ] && tput setaf 1 >&/dev/null; then
        # We have color support; assume it's compliant with Ecma-48
        # (ISO/IEC-6429). (Lack of such support is extremely rare, and such
        # a case would tend to support setf rather than setaf.)
        color_prompt=yes
    else
        color_prompt=
    fi
fi

if [ "$color_prompt" = yes ]; then
    PS1='${debian_chroot:+($debian_chroot)}\[\033[01;32m\]\u@\h\[\033[00m\]:\[\033[01;34m\]\w\[\033[00m\]\$ '
else
    PS1='${debian_chroot:+($debian_chroot)}\u@\h:\w\$ '
fi
unset color_prompt force_color_prompt

# If this is an xterm set the title to user@host:dir
case "$TERM" in
xterm*|rxvt*)
    PS1="\[\e]0;${debian_chroot:+($debian_chroot)}\u@\h: \w\a\]$PS1"
    ;;
*)
    ;;
esac

# enable color support of ls and also add handy aliases
if [ -x /usr/bin/dircolors ]; then
    test -r ~/.dircolors && eval "$(dircolors -b ~/.dircolors)" || eval "$(dircolors -b)"
    alias ls='ls --color=auto'
    #alias dir='dir --color=auto'
    #alias vdir='vdir --color=auto'

    #alias grep='grep --color=auto'
    #alias fgrep='fgrep --color=auto'
    #alias egrep='egrep --color=auto'
fi

# colored GCC warnings and errors
#export GCC_COLORS='error=01;31:warning=01;35:note=01;36:caret=01;32:locus=01:quote=01'

# some more ls aliases
#alias ll='ls -l'
#alias la='ls -A'
#alias l='ls -CF'

# Alias definitions.
# You may want to put all your additions into a separate file like
# ~/.bash_aliases, instead of adding them here directly.
# See /usr/share/doc/bash-doc/examples in the bash-doc package.

if [ -f ~/.bash_aliases ]; then
    . ~/.bash_aliases
fi

# enable programmable completion features (you don't need to enable
# this, if it's already enabled in /etc/bash.bashrc and /etc/profile
# sources /etc/bash.bashrc).
if ! shopt -oq posix; then
  if [ -f /usr/share/bash-completion/bash_completion ]; then
    . /usr/share/bash-completion/bash_completion
  elif [ -f /etc/bash_completion ]; then
    . /etc/bash_completion
  fi
fi

# MPI Samaras
if type keychain >/dev/null 2>/dev/null; then
  keychain --nogui -q id_rsa
  [ -f ~/.keychain/${HOSTNAME}-sh ] && . ~/.keychain/${HOSTNAME}-sh
  [ -f ~/.keychain/${HOSTNAME}-sh-gpg ] && . ~/.keychain/${HOSTNAME}-sh-gpg
fi

Answer 1

In your .bashrc file add the following command:

PATH="/home/gsamaras/mpich-install/bin:$PATH"

Then execute:

. .bashrc

from you home directory. Now, check you path (or) logout and login.

Answer 2

From the debian wiki:

• Put all global definitions, i.e. ones affecting all users into /etc/profile.

• Insert all personal definitions into ~/.profile

• Create or edit file ~/.bash_profile and include commands:

  if [ -f ~/.profile ]; then
       . ~/.profile
  fi