so it seems PATH gets set to what I told it to, PAT gets set based on that value (despite being earlier in ~/.pam_environment), then something else unsets it. And it's not just ssh-agent doing it, because it happens even if I remove the openssh-client package.
I seem to be having the same problem with _my_ lifestyle... :-(
I'd given up on per-user env vars for awhile, but I'm now installing a new computer so I'm having another go.
I tested ~/.pam_environment: /home/alan/ bin:${PATH}
PAT OVERRIDE=${PATH}
PATH OVERRIDE=
and this happens [on console login]:
alan@singularity:~$ set|grep ^PAT alan/bin: /usr/local/ sbin:/usr/ local/bin: /usr/sbin: /usr/bin: /sbin:/ bin:/usr/ bin/X11: /usr/games local/sbin: /usr/local/ bin:/usr/ sbin:/usr/ bin:/sbin: /bin:/usr/ bin/X11: /usr/games
PAT=/home/
PATH=/usr/
so it seems PATH gets set to what I told it to, PAT gets set based on that value (despite being earlier in ~/.pam_ environment) , then something else unsets it. And it's not just ssh-agent doing it, because it happens even if I remove the openssh-client package.