[tex-live] a question about PATH

[jfbu]

Hi,

there is something I don't understand. When I issue

$ tlmgr conf

I see in the output

=========================== version information ==========================
tlmgr revision 40203 (2016-04-01 01:25:42 +0200)
tlmgr using installation: /usr/local/texlive/2016
==================== executables found by searching PATH =================
PATH: /Library/TeX/texbin:/some:/colonseparated:/repertories:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/opt/X11/bin:/Library/TeX/texbin
kpsewhich: /Library/TeX/texbin/kpsewhich
updmap: /Library/TeX/texbin/updmap
fmtutil: /Library/TeX/texbin/fmtutil
tlmgr: /Library/TeX/texbin/tlmgr
tex: /Library/TeX/texbin/tex
pdftex: /Library/TeX/texbin/pdftex
mktexpk: /Library/TeX/texbin/mktexpk
dvips: /Library/TeX/texbin/dvips
dvipdfmx: /Library/TeX/texbin/dvipdfmx

[......]

But "echo $PATH" in Terminal does not have the first
/Library/TeX/texbin, only the last one (which originates from
/etc/paths.d/TeX, as I am on mac os X).

What does the reported PATH correspond too ?

I just tested adding a dummy pdftex executable file in one of the
intermediate repertory (hidden above) and, as expected, "which
pdftex" issued in a new Terminal instance then reports the full
path to the newly created file, not the one which
/Library/TeX/texbin has a (many stages) symlink for.

Thus the initial /Library/TeX/texbin reported above by tlmgr conf
looks like an artefact, or isn't it ?

$ which pdftex
/foo/bin/pdftex

$ sudo rm /foo/bin/pdftex

$ which pdftex
/Library/TeX/texbin/pdftex


By the way I am aware I should rather prepend /Libray/TeX/texbin
from my .bash_profile, rather than have it appended via the
/etc/paths.d/TeX mechanism.

So far, I have had no issue as I don't have other tex
installations, nevertheless perhaps I should do.

Jean-François