Ubuntu 18.04/20.04安装python3-serial后miniterm.py未加入PATH的问题求助

Hey there, sorry you're stuck with this miniterm.py PATH issue—this is a pretty common quirk with how pyserial is packaged on Ubuntu, so let's work through it step by step:

• First, track down where miniterm.py is actually installed
  The apt package python3-serial doesn't put miniterm.py directly in /usr/bin or /usr/local/bin like you might expect. It's stored in Python's site-packages directory instead. Run this command to locate it quickly (it skips permission error messages to keep output clean):

  sudo find / -name miniterm.py 2>/dev/null
  

  For the apt-installed version, you'll probably find it at /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/serial/tools/miniterm.py. If you used pip in a virtual environment, it'll be inside that env's site-packages folder.

• Two simple ways to make it accessible without typing the full path

  1. Use Python's module execution (most reliable)
     You don't need the file in your PATH at all—just run it directly via the pyserial module. This works no matter where the package is installed (system-wide or in a virtual env):

     python3 -m serial.tools.miniterm
     

     This is actually the recommended way to run many Python command-line tools, since it bypasses PATH issues entirely.

  2. Create a symbolic link to a PATH directory
     If you prefer typing just miniterm.py, make a soft link to a folder that's already in your PATH (like ~/.local/bin, which doesn't require sudo privileges):

     ln -s /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/serial/tools/miniterm.py ~/.local/bin/miniterm.py
     

     Double-check ~/.local/bin is in your PATH with echo $PATH. If it's missing, add this line to your ~/.bashrc file:

     export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"
     

     Then reload your shell settings with source ~/.bashrc.

• If miniterm.py is nowhere to be found
  Your installation might be corrupted. Try re-installing the apt package from scratch:

  sudo apt purge python3-serial && sudo apt autoremove && sudo apt install -y python3-serial
  

  For virtual environments, make sure you activate the env first, then re-install pyserial:

  source your-env/bin/activate
  pip uninstall pyserial
  pip install pyserial
  

  Run the find command again after this to locate the file.

备注：内容来源于stack exchange，提问作者Bogdan Prădatu