Global tools path not discoverable on macOS via `which`

Steps to reproduce

• Install .NET Core SDK 2.1+
• Install any global tool
• Run which in a Terminal session on macOS to discover the tool’s path

Expected behavior

which should print the absolute path of where the global tool is installed and finish with an exit code of zero.

Actual behavior

which fails with a non-zero exit code.

Environment data

My PATH contains the path to the tools directory:

$ tr ':' '\n' <<< "$PATH" | grep dotnet
/usr/local/share/dotnet
~/.dotnet/tools

Running dotnet --info prints:

.NET Core SDK (reflecting any global.json):
 Version:   2.1.500
 Commit:    b68b931422

Runtime Environment:
 OS Name:     Mac OS X
 OS Version:  10.12
 OS Platform: Darwin
 RID:         osx.10.12-x64
 Base Path:   /usr/local/share/dotnet/sdk/2.1.500/

Host (useful for support):
  Version: 2.2.1
  Commit:  878dd11e62

.NET Core SDKs installed:
  1.0.1 [/usr/local/share/dotnet/sdk]
  2.0.0 [/usr/local/share/dotnet/sdk]
  2.1.4 [/usr/local/share/dotnet/sdk]
  2.1.200 [/usr/local/share/dotnet/sdk]
  2.1.300 [/usr/local/share/dotnet/sdk]
  2.1.401 [/usr/local/share/dotnet/sdk]
  2.1.500 [/usr/local/share/dotnet/sdk]
  2.2.103 [/usr/local/share/dotnet/sdk]

.NET Core runtimes installed:
  Microsoft.AspNetCore.All 2.1.0 [/usr/local/share/dotnet/shared/Microsoft.AspNetCore.All]
  Microsoft.AspNetCore.All 2.1.3 [/usr/local/share/dotnet/shared/Microsoft.AspNetCore.All]
  Microsoft.AspNetCore.All 2.1.6 [/usr/local/share/dotnet/shared/Microsoft.AspNetCore.All]
  Microsoft.AspNetCore.All 2.2.1 [/usr/local/share/dotnet/shared/Microsoft.AspNetCore.All]
  Microsoft.AspNetCore.App 2.1.0 [/usr/local/share/dotnet/shared/Microsoft.AspNetCore.App]
  Microsoft.AspNetCore.App 2.1.3 [/usr/local/share/dotnet/shared/Microsoft.AspNetCore.App]
  Microsoft.AspNetCore.App 2.1.6 [/usr/local/share/dotnet/shared/Microsoft.AspNetCore.App]
  Microsoft.AspNetCore.App 2.2.1 [/usr/local/share/dotnet/shared/Microsoft.AspNetCore.App]
  Microsoft.NETCore.App 1.0.3 [/usr/local/share/dotnet/shared/Microsoft.NETCore.App]
  Microsoft.NETCore.App 1.0.4 [/usr/local/share/dotnet/shared/Microsoft.NETCore.App]
  Microsoft.NETCore.App 1.1.0 [/usr/local/share/dotnet/shared/Microsoft.NETCore.App]
  Microsoft.NETCore.App 1.1.1 [/usr/local/share/dotnet/shared/Microsoft.NETCore.App]
  Microsoft.NETCore.App 2.0.0 [/usr/local/share/dotnet/shared/Microsoft.NETCore.App]
  Microsoft.NETCore.App 2.0.5 [/usr/local/share/dotnet/shared/Microsoft.NETCore.App]
  Microsoft.NETCore.App 2.0.7 [/usr/local/share/dotnet/shared/Microsoft.NETCore.App]
  Microsoft.NETCore.App 2.1.0 [/usr/local/share/dotnet/shared/Microsoft.NETCore.App]
  Microsoft.NETCore.App 2.1.3 [/usr/local/share/dotnet/shared/Microsoft.NETCore.App]
  Microsoft.NETCore.App 2.1.6 [/usr/local/share/dotnet/shared/Microsoft.NETCore.App]
  Microsoft.NETCore.App 2.2.1 [/usr/local/share/dotnet/shared/Microsoft.NETCore.App]

To install additional .NET Core runtimes or SDKs:
  https://aka.ms/dotnet-download

[patridge]

It’s likely covered in some of the related issues, but here’s what worked for me, if anyone else needs a workaround for this issue in zsh.

After you install the SDK, add the global install tools folder to $PATH manually.

export PATH="$PATH:$HOME/.dotnet/tools"

[atifaziz]

If you just type the command name, it is resolved by the shell.

Yes but is that the only experience we are optimising for? It seems odd that while shell can launch, other programs like which cannot find global tools and a .NET application cannot launch them. It makes it difficult to write a portable application since “it just works” on Windows.

For example, create a new console application with dotnet new console and replace content of Program.cs with the following:

using System;
using System.Collections;
using System.Diagnostics;
using System.Linq;

static class Program
{
    static int Main(string[] args)
    {
        var psi = new ProcessStartInfo(args[0])
        {
            UseShellExecute        = false,
            CreateNoWindow         = true,
            RedirectStandardOutput = true,
            RedirectStandardError  = true,
        };

        foreach (var arg in args.Skip(1))
            psi.ArgumentList.Add(arg);

        using (var process = Process.Start(psi))
        {
            process.OutputDataReceived += (_, ea) =>
            {
                if (ea.Data != null)
                    Console.WriteLine(ea.Data);
            };

            process.ErrorDataReceived += (_, ea) =>
            {
                if (ea.Data != null)
                    Console.Error.WriteLine(ea.Data);
            };

            process.BeginOutputReadLine();
            process.BeginErrorReadLine();

            process.WaitForExit();

            return process.ExitCode;
        }
    }
}

Next use the program to launch any globally installed tool on macOS, e.g.:

$ dotnet tool install -g dotnet-script
You can invoke the tool using the following command: dotnet-script
Tool 'dotnet-script' (version '0.28.0') was successfully installed.
$ which dotnet-script || echo not found
not found
$ dotnet run -- dotnet-script -h
Unhandled Exception: System.ComponentModel.Win32Exception: No such file or directory
   at System.Diagnostics.Process.StartCore(ProcessStartInfo startInfo)
   at System.Diagnostics.Process.Start()
   at System.Diagnostics.Process.Start(ProcessStartInfo startInfo)
   at Program.Main(String[] args) in /Users/atif/dev/pub/CSharpMinifier/tmp/Program.cs:line 21