Bash Profile Question

[apink]

(newbie alert:)

I am trying to set my PATH variable in the bash shell.  I would like to put a .profile file in my home directory but this does not seem to be working.  Does pdaxrom only allow for /etc/profile or is there some other detail that I am missing?  I am under the impression that bash checks both ~/.profile and ~/.bash_profile for configuration.

I am using beta3 on akita.

[louigi600]

If bash is executed without the "--noprofile" option it looks by default for profiles in: /etc/profile ~/.profile ~/.bash_profile.
pdaXrom 1.1.beta4 has a real bash but some other systems may be using busybox which may react differently.

Generally on a PDA you do not need multy user login so adding stuff to the system wide profile in /etc/profile is ok.

[apink]

If bash is executed without the "--noprofile" option it looks by default for profiles in: /etc/profile ~/.profile ~/.bash_profile.

I have figured out that ~/.profile does get visited when my login bash starts up.  However I am having problems exporting a revised PATH from ~/.profile.  I can change PATH within .profile and document that change (by putting "echo $PATH > fileA" within .profile).  However this change is not persistent once I am in my login environment.  The PATH determined in /etc/profile is the one that shows up.

I understand that the fix is to do what I want in /etc/profile.  But I am using my Z to learn linux and would like to figure this one out.  (Perhaps this question belongs on a more generalized linux forum, not oesf.)  I appreciate any explanations anyone is willing to give.

Edit:  I'm figuring this out.  When I start my login shell both /etc/profile and ~/.profile are checked, in that order.  Then when I 'startx' and 'aterm', /etc/profile is run again, but not ~/.profile.

[karlto]

Often terminals like aterm etc don't actually provide a login/profile shell - they just do the bare minimum. Investigate to see if there is an option you can pass to aterm to use the profile. (e.g. on my laptop I use konsole with the -ls switch)

[apink]

Often terminals like aterm etc don't actually provide a login/profile shell - they just do the bare minimum. Investigate to see if there is an option you can pass to aterm to use the profile. (e.g. on my laptop I use konsole with the -ls switch)
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'aterm -ls' does the trick.  Thank you.  

I have put

Code: [Select]

Aterm*loginShell: true in ~/.Xdefaults to get the same result.

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