how do I set a global PATH?

> export PATH=/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin

System-wide files should already do it, maybe with more directories.

> Now an Emacs plugin doesn't work correctly and I have to set these
> paths globally. I think I have to configure /etc/environment. Is this
> correct? And how?

You probably don't have to do this, you might add a file to
/etc/profile.d/ setting this variable (there should be existing similar
files there).

I have ~/.bash_profile setting the variables I need and Emacs can use
them.

Thank you very much to both of you.

I'm a beginner. What I understand is:

PATH is defined on several levels. "Child" processes inherit PATH from their "parents".

I suppose:
~/.bash* belongs to a child process of the one defined in
/etc/profile.d.

the /etc/profile.d belongs to a child of /etc/environment .

Is this correct?

I like the solution with the extra fil in /etc/profile.d, but I have some questions first.
1. on what level is PATH defined here?
2. can the file have any name?
3. what should be in the file? Just the same as I have added to by ~/.bashrc? (See above)

Thank you for the detailed explanation.

I have done it with a .sh-file in /etc/profile.d/ and it works just fine!

Thanks again for the support.