.bashrc vs. .bash_profile

[Vram]

On Wed, 2005-07-20 at 14:58 -0400, Matthew S-H wrote:
> 
> On Jul 15, 2005, at 5:30 AM, Ed Cogburn wrote:
> 
> > Russell Cook wrote:
> > > On Fri, 2005-07-15 at 07:22 +0200, Dennis Kaarsemaker wrote:
> > > > On vr, 2005-07-15 at 01:05 -0400, Matthew S-H wrote:
> > > > > What is the difference?  Under what situations does it read
> > > > > one over
> > > > > the other?
> > > > .bash_profile is sourced for login shells (where you need to
> > > > enter a
> > > > password) and .bashrc for the rest. So .bash_profile should
> > > > contain
> > > > thing only to be done once per session and .bashrc should
> > > > contain things
> > > > to be done for every terminal you open.
> > > Hi Dennis,
> > > that makes sense, but for noobies, how do we tell what needs to be
> > > run
> > > for ever terminal. For instance the path extension statement I was
> > > looking at. Is the path global for that login, or only that shell?
> > If you're lazy, and don't want to waste time trying to figure this
> > all out
> > (its because of maintaining backwards compatibility with 30+ years
> > of
> > Bourne shells that "this" has gotten so complicated - given the
> > speed of
> > machines today there is no reason to maintain this distinction we
> > still
> > have), and don't care if your machine wastes a few cycles and a
> > small
> > fraction of a second when starting up (how big a fraction depends on
> > what
> > stuff you're doing at startup of a shell), just run the same thing
> > for
> > both.  :)
> > 
> > 
> > Have ".bash_profile" (also known as ".bash_login") for login shells,
> > and
> > ".bashrc" for all other shells just source the same file, like say
> > ".bash_startup", and have the 2 previous files just have "source
> > ~/.bash_startup" as the only line in them.  Then put whatever
> > settings you
> > need in that one file, and "forget" about the other two.
> > 
> > 
> > There are variations on this, whatever suits your preferences.  I
> > have a
> > single file in /etc/ that is sourced by both of those files above.
> > Others
> > put most of their settings in .bashrc, and have the login shell
> > source that
> > as the last command in its .bash_login, etc. etc.
> > 
> > 
> > About the only thing that really makes sense being in one
> > of .bash_login
> > or .bash_profile, but not in .bashrc are commands that affect the
> > display
> > of the command line prompt.  However, if you're using midnight
> > commander,
> > it unfortunately uses a non-login shell for the shell line it shows
> > at the
> > bottom, even though its used just like a login shell, so for that
> > reason
> > and for laziness, I just have both "types" of shells set themselves
> > up
> > exactly the same way.  Seems to work fine, haven't seen any smoke
> > coming
> > from the case yet...  :)
> 
> 
> Just an alternative that I am doing now that simplifies things even
> more:
> 
> 
> sudo ln -s /etc/bash_profile /etc/bashrc
> ln -s ~/.bash_profile ~/.bashrc
> 
> 
> That simplifies things even more, I think.
> Now, you don't even have to remember which is the original.
> Also, if you wan't, you could make hard links instead of symbolic
> links by removing the "-s" option.
> 
> 
> If I am wrong about this working, I'd appreciate it if someone would
> tell me before I F--K my system up.
> 
> 



Don't do it...

There is a time and a place for everything.


It would be like looking the refrigerator and the freezer every time.
The milk is in the refrigerator.  Why look in the freezer?

The system is set up by folks who spent A LOT of time thinking about
this.

So <and this is not a personal comment.  All new users go through this>
MR/MISS I have been using the system for three days now I know a better
way..

Trust the system to know what is best for you..

Remove the link..

YMMV

Good Luck

and OF course You disregard my comments as an OLD SYSTEM ADMINISTRATOR
who has spent too much time at the keyboard.

Vram








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> ~Matt
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