On Sun, 2006-06-04 at 21:35 +0100, Timothy Murphy wrote: > On Sunday 04 June 2006 13:27, Fülöp Nándor wrote: > > > I've never really understood what should go in .bashrc > > > and what in .bash_profile ... ? > > > (1) When you log in, the bash first checks the presence of file > > ``/etc/profile''. If it exists, the ``bash'' executes the commands listed > > in ``/etc/profile'' - if this file does not exist, bash does not mind its > > absence. > > The ``/etc/profile'' is applied for all users of your system - usually you > > may modify it as ``root''. > > > > (2) Then, the bash reads and executes the commands listed in > > `.bash_profile' being in home directory. Unlike ``/etc/profile'', > > ``.bash_profile'' is user-specific! > > As usually all ordinary users have own home directories, there are as many > > ``.bash_profile'' files as many users are in your system. E.g. if you are > > logging in as user ``root'', file ``/root/.bash_profile'' will be executed > > - if you are logging in as ``joe'', file ``/home/joe/.bash_profile'' will > > be executed (supposing that home directory of user ``joe'' is > > ``/home/joe/''), etc. So, if the different users need different settings > > after their logging in, you may do that by customizing their > > ``.bash_profile''. > > > > (3) For all further shells (after logging in), bash reads and executes the > > commands in the `.bashrc' file in the home directory of actual user. > > Commands being in this file run whenever a new shell is started except for > > the login shell. (This file is also user-specific, like ``.bash_profile''!) > > > > So, as a consequence, when you modify the files above, ``bash'' will notice > > the modification in case of new run of ``bash'' - so, the simplest way to > > assure the correctness of the modifications, log out and log in again > > immediately. > > Thanks for the info. > It's not really clear to me what one would use . bashrc for; > it seems everything should go in .bash_profile . No. The key point is that *either* .bash_profile (for login shells) *or* .bashrc (other shells) is run, not both. See the INVOCATION section of "man bash". Typically you would set things that are inherited by subshells (e.g. environment variables) in .bash_profile, and things that need to be set up in each shell (e.g. aliases) in .bashrc. Paul.
