Invoking bash aliases in Fabric scripts

Question

I have aliases in a ~/.bash_aliases file on a remote ubuntu server. The file is loaded in the standard way from a ~/.bashrc file, like so:

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

That ~/.bashrc file in turn is loaded (also in a standard way) from a ~/.profile file which looks like this:

if [ "$BASH" ]; then
  if [ -f ~/.bashrc ]; then
    source ~/.bashrc
    echo ".profile loaded .bashrc"
  fi
fi
mesg n

I've found that my aliases were unavailable in my fabric commands, e.g. when I do this in a fabric script:

run("aliased_command")

I get this output:

run: aliased_command
out: .profile loaded .bashrc
out: /bin/bash: aliased_command: command not found
Fatal error: run() encountered an error (return code 127) while executing 'aliased_command'

Now I managed to reproduce this outside of fabric by logging into the server with ssh, and running :

~# /bin/bash -l -c aliased_command 

from the shell (n.b. /bin/bash -l -c is fabric's default, see here) I get the same output:

.profile loaded .bashrc:
/bin/bash: aliased_command: command not found

After a fair bit of searching on related topics, I read somewhere that aliases aren't exported for non-interactive shells, and I then managed to fix this using /bin/bash -l -c -i (-i sets bash to interactive mode).

I then added the following to my fabfile.py:

env.shell = "/bin/bash -l -c -i" 

Now I can use aliases in my fabric commands... just great!

---

So my questions are:

• Are there any problems with this solution? If so, what should I be doing?

• Does anyone else have a problem running aliases in their fabfiles?

• Is there any obvious reason why I might have this issue and others wouldn't?

• Can anyone point me to links etc. that describe this problem and a resolution? And also explain how they found them... : )

Answer 1

Here is the quick answer to the main issue, to save someone reading my long question, just add

env.shell = "/bin/bash -l -i -c" 

to your fabfile.py and you should be able use aliases in your fabric commands just great!