I am trying to get Oracle Java 7 update 3 working correctly on Debian 6. I have downloaded and set up the files in /usr/java/jre1.7.0_03. I have also set the following two lines at the end of /etc/bash.bashrc: export JAVA_HOME=/usr/java/jre1.7.0_03 export PATH=$PATH:$JAVA_HOME/bin Logging in as other users and root is fine, Java can be found: chris@mc:~$ java -version java version "1.7.0_03" Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.7.0_03-b04) Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build 22.1-b02, mixed mode) However there are two cases where Java cannot be found as detailed below. Note that both of these worked fine when I have previously installed OpenJDK Java 6 via aptitude, but I need Oracle Java 7 for various reasons. Most importantly, I cannot run commands as another user via su, despite the PATH showing that Java should be present. The user was created with adduser chris root@mc:~# su chris -c "echo $PATH" /usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/java/jre1.7.0_03/bin:/bin root@mc:~# su chris -c "java -version" bash: java: command not found root@mc:~# su chris -c "/usr/java/jre1.7.0_03/bin/java -version" java version "1.7.0_03" ... How can it be in the PATH but not be found? Update 05/04/2012: explained by Daniel, to do with it being a non-interactive shell so files such as /etc/profile and /etc/bash.bashrc are not executed. Doing a full swap to that user and running Java works: root@mc:~# su chris chris@mc:/root$ java -version java version "1.7.0_03" ... I run a script on start up which exhibits similar but slightly different problems. The script is located in /etc/init.d/start-mystuff.sh and calls a jar: #!/bin/bash # /etc/init.d/start-mystuff.sh java -jar /opt/Mars.jar I can confirm that the script runs on start up and the exit code is 127, which indicates command not found. Inserting a line to print/save the PATH shows that it is: /sbin:/usr/sbin:/bin:/usr/bin This second problem isn't as important because I can just point directly to the Java executable in the script, but I am still curious! I have tried setting the full PATH and JAVA_HOME explicitly in /etc/environment which didn't help. I have also tried setting them in /etc/profile which doesn't seem to help either. I have tried logging in and out again after setting PATH in the various locations (duh!). Anyway, long post for what will probably have a simple one line solution :( Any help with this would be greatly appreciated, I have spent far too long trying to fix it by myself. Motivation The first problem may seem obscure but in my system I have users that are not allowed SSH access yet I still want to run processes as them. I have a ton of scripts operating in this way and don't want to have to change them all.