bash_profile question

[ZIYAD A. M. AL-BATLY]

On Mon, 2005-04-04 at 16:40 -0400, Paul Pianta wrote:
> Hi
> 
> My default ~/.bash_profile has the following in it ...
> 
> # set PATH so it includes user's private bin if it exists
> if [ -d ~/bin ] ; then
>     PATH=~/bin:"${PATH}"
> fi
> 
> and I have created a 'bin' directory in my home ...
> 
> pantz at faramir:~$ ll ~/
> total 12
> drwxr-xr-x  2 pantz pantz 4096 2005-04-04 15:02 bin
> drwxr-xr-x  2 pantz pantz 4096 2005-04-03 22:13 Desktop
> drwxr-xr-x  2 pantz pantz 4096 2005-03-11 17:56 Templates
> 
> 
> Can someone tell me why when I echo $PATH my home 'bin' dir doesn't show
> up (p.s. - ignore the /home/pantz/.local/bin - it is there because of an
> 'autopackage' test)
> 
> pantz at faramir:~$ echo $PATH
> /home/pantz/.local/bin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/sbin:/usr/sbin:/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/bin/X11:/usr/games
> 
> but then I do this ...
> 
> pantz at faramir:~$ PATH=~/bin:"${PATH}"
> pantz at faramir:~$ echo $PATH
> /home/pantz/bin:/home/pantz/.local/bin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/sbin:/usr/sbin:/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/bin/X11:/usr/games
> 
> or this ...
> 
> pantz at faramir:~$ . .bash_profile
> pantz at faramir:~$ echo $PATH
> /home/pantz/bin:/home/pantz/.local/bin:/home/pantz/.local/bin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/sbin:/usr/sbin:/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/bin/X11:/usr/games
> 
> and it is all ok with /home/pantz/bin showing up first.
> 
> My question is - why is my bash_profile not being automatically sourced
> each time I open a new terminal?
> 
> thanks
> 
> pantz
> 

~/.bash_profile is read and executed for *login* shells only!.

If you want to change $PATH, either pass the --login option to the shell
(or configure your preferred terminal-emulation application  to do that
for you each time (in gnome-terminal: start a terminal and right-click
anywhere in it and choose "Edit Current Profile..." then go to "Title
and Command" tab and check "Run command as a login shell")) or put your
change(s) in ~/.bashrc instead (it will be read and executed for
interactive non-login shell).

Quote from the bash manual:
      * When bash is invoked as an interactive login shell, or as a
        non-interactive shell with the --login option, it first reads
        and executes commands from the  file  /etc/profile,  if that
        file exists.  After reading that file, it looks for
        ~/.bash_profile, ~/.bash_login, and ~/.profile, in that order,
        and reads and executes commands from the first one that exists
        and is readable.  The --noprofile option may be used when the
        shell  is  started  to inhibit this behavior.

      * When a login shell exits, bash reads and executes commands from
        the file ~/.bash_logout, if it exists.

      * When an interactive shell that is not a login shell is started,
        bash reads and executes commands from /etc/bash.bashrc and
        ~/.bashrc, if these files exist.  This may be inhibited by using
        the --norc option.  The --rcfile file option will force bash to
        read and execute commands from  file  instead
        of /etc/bash.bashrc and ~/.bashrc.

      * When bash is started non-interactively, to run a shell script,
        for example, it looks for the variable BASH_ENV in the
        environment, expands its value if it appears there, and uses the
        expanded value as the name of a file to read and execute.  Bash
        behaves as if the following command were executed:
                if [ -n "$BASH_ENV" ]; then . "$BASH_ENV"; fi
        but the value of the PATH variable is not used to search for the
        file name.

      * If bash is invoked with the name sh, it tries to mimic the
        startup behavior of historical versions of sh as closely as
        possible, while conforming to the POSIX standard as well.  When
        invoked as an interactive login shell, or a non-interactive
        shell with the --login option, it  first  attempts  to read  and
        execute  commands from  /etc/profile  and ~/.profile, in that
        order.  The --noprofile option may be used to inhibit this
        behavior.  When invoked as an interactive shell with the name
        sh, bash looks for the variable ENV, expands its value if it is
        defined, and uses the  expanded  value as  the name of a file to
        read and execute.  Since a shell invoked as sh does not attempt
        to read and execute commands from any other startup files, the
        --rcfile option has no effect.  A non-interactive shell invoked
        with the name sh does not attempt to read any other startup
        files.  When invoked as sh, bash enters posix mode after the
        startup files are read.
 
      * When  bash is started in posix mode, as with the --posix command
        line option, it follows the POSIX standard for startup files.
        In this mode, inter‐active shells expand the ENV variable and
        commands are read and executed from the file whose name is the
        expanded value.  No other startup files are read.

Ziyad.