Bug 504753

Summary:	PATH is not set correctly when Kate is launched graphically
Product:	[Applications] kate	Reporter:	hatzka <kdebug>
Component:	general	Assignee:	KWrite Developers <kwrite-bugs-null>
Status:	RESOLVED DUPLICATE
Severity:	normal	CC:	waqar.17a
Priority:	NOR
Version First Reported In:	25.04.1
Target Milestone:	---
Platform:	Homebrew (macOS)
OS:	macOS
Latest Commit:		Version Fixed In:
Sentry Crash Report:

Description hatzka 2025-05-25 01:38:11 UTC

SUMMARY
I have added some paths (to Homebrew binaries specifically) to /etc/paths.d . It seems like every macOS application inherits them automatically once they are there, except for Kate.

STEPS TO REPRODUCE
1. Add a path to /etc/paths.d .
2. Launch Kate.
3. Observe the PATH in the Output tab. 

OBSERVED RESULT
When Kate is launched graphically (from the dock, Spotlight, etc), its PATH is /usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin , but when launching it from the command line it inherits the PATH from the terminal.

EXPECTED RESULT
When Kate is launched graphically, its PATH should be the same as the PATH other applications get when launched graphically.

SOFTWARE/OS VERSIONS
macOS: 15.5
KDE Frameworks Version: 6.14.0
Qt Version: 6.8.3

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
This might not be the usual way of adding PATH entries globally on macOS. I had some trouble finding docs.

Comment 1 Waqar Ahmed 2025-05-26 04:24:19 UTC

We added "PATH" setting for exactly this reason. Please use the settings under "Settings -> Configure Kate .. -> Behavior -> PATH" to modify the path variable to your needs.

Comment 2 hatzka 2025-05-26 04:48:35 UTC

Thank you for the easier workaround. That said, I'm reopening this because it is, in the end, only a workaround. On any other platform that had a system-wide PATH setting, it would be a bug if Kate simply ignored it. The description of the setting even says "This list will be prepended to your PATH environment variable", which simply isn't true right now.

Comment 3 Waqar Ahmed 2025-05-26 05:10:07 UTC

> Thank you for the easier workaround. That said, I'm reopening this because it is, in the end, only a workaround.

Well, this is the solution we have for now. We tried many other things but there are issues such as path precedence among other things that I dont recall. There were almost 0 documentation that I found on how to do this properly.

If you have a better solution or a way to fix the problem, then we accept patches here: https://invent.kde.org/utilities/kate/-/merge_requests.

> "This list will be prepended to your PATH environment variable", which simply isn't true right now.

It kind of is in a way as the PATH isn't what you would find in your shell. The PATH env var here refers to the data returned by:

        int mib[2] = {CTL_USER, USER_CS_PATH};
        size_t len = 0;
        sysctl(mib, 2, nullptr, &len, nullptr, 0);
        QByteArray path(len, '\0');
        sysctl(mib, 2, &path[0], &len, nullptr, 0);

Sorry, this is it for now unless someone comes with a better solution.

*** This bug has been marked as a duplicate of bug 490926 ***