Why doesn't my ~/.bash_profile work?

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I'm using Linux Mint. My login shell (cat /etc/passwd | grep myUserName) is bash.



After I start my graphical desktop environment and run a terminal emulator from it, I can see that .bash_profile is not sourced (environment vars that are exported in it are unset). But if I log in from a text console (ctrl+alt+F1) or manually run bash -l from the terminal emulator, .bash_profile works fine.



Am I wrong when I think that .bash_profile should be sourced when X starts and all export'ed vars should be available in the terminal, running from X?



P.S. Placing everything in .bashrc and sourcing it from .bash_profile is not good idea (https://stackoverflow.com/questions/902946/): environment stuff should be sourced only once.







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    up vote
    26
    down vote

    favorite
    18












    I'm using Linux Mint. My login shell (cat /etc/passwd | grep myUserName) is bash.



    After I start my graphical desktop environment and run a terminal emulator from it, I can see that .bash_profile is not sourced (environment vars that are exported in it are unset). But if I log in from a text console (ctrl+alt+F1) or manually run bash -l from the terminal emulator, .bash_profile works fine.



    Am I wrong when I think that .bash_profile should be sourced when X starts and all export'ed vars should be available in the terminal, running from X?



    P.S. Placing everything in .bashrc and sourcing it from .bash_profile is not good idea (https://stackoverflow.com/questions/902946/): environment stuff should be sourced only once.







    share|improve this question
























      up vote
      26
      down vote

      favorite
      18









      up vote
      26
      down vote

      favorite
      18






      18





      I'm using Linux Mint. My login shell (cat /etc/passwd | grep myUserName) is bash.



      After I start my graphical desktop environment and run a terminal emulator from it, I can see that .bash_profile is not sourced (environment vars that are exported in it are unset). But if I log in from a text console (ctrl+alt+F1) or manually run bash -l from the terminal emulator, .bash_profile works fine.



      Am I wrong when I think that .bash_profile should be sourced when X starts and all export'ed vars should be available in the terminal, running from X?



      P.S. Placing everything in .bashrc and sourcing it from .bash_profile is not good idea (https://stackoverflow.com/questions/902946/): environment stuff should be sourced only once.







      share|improve this question














      I'm using Linux Mint. My login shell (cat /etc/passwd | grep myUserName) is bash.



      After I start my graphical desktop environment and run a terminal emulator from it, I can see that .bash_profile is not sourced (environment vars that are exported in it are unset). But if I log in from a text console (ctrl+alt+F1) or manually run bash -l from the terminal emulator, .bash_profile works fine.



      Am I wrong when I think that .bash_profile should be sourced when X starts and all export'ed vars should be available in the terminal, running from X?



      P.S. Placing everything in .bashrc and sourcing it from .bash_profile is not good idea (https://stackoverflow.com/questions/902946/): environment stuff should be sourced only once.









      share|improve this question













      share|improve this question




      share|improve this question








      edited Mar 20 at 14:29









      psmears

      43528




      43528










      asked Aug 25 '13 at 8:09









      AntonioK

      5422726




      5422726




















          5 Answers
          5






          active

          oldest

          votes

















          up vote
          30
          down vote



          accepted










          The file ~/.bash_profile is read by bash when it is a login shell. That's what you get when you log in in text mode.



          When you log in under X, the startup scripts are executed by /bin/sh. On Ubuntu and Mint, /bin/sh is dash, not bash. Dash and bash both have the same core features, but dash sticks to these core features in order to be fast and small whereas bash adds a lot of features at the cost of requiring more resources. It is common to use dash for scripts that don't need the extra features and bash for interactive use (though zsh has a lot of nicer features).



          Most combinations of display manager (the program where you type your user name and password) and desktop environment read ~/.profile from the login scripts in /etc/X11/Xsession, /usr/bin/lightdm-session, /etc/gdm/Xsession or whichever is applicable. So put your environment variable definitions in ~/.profile. Make sure to use only syntax that dash supports.



          So what should you put where?




          • A good .bash_profile loads .profile, and loads .bashrc if the shell is interactive.



            . ~/.profile
            if [[ $- == *i* ]]; then . ~/.bashrc; fi


          • In .profile, put environment variable definitions, and other session settings such as ulimit.


          • In .bashrc, put bash interactive settings such as aliases, functions, completion, key bindings (that aren't in .inputrc), …

          See also Difference between Login Shell and Non-Login Shell? and Alternative to .bashrc.






          share|improve this answer






















          • many things learnt from single answer :)
            – mtk
            Jul 24 '16 at 20:31

















          up vote
          14
          down vote













          .bash_profile is the startup configuration script of bash. There exists no standard mandating X to source .bash_profile.



          What you are thinking of is rather .profile. Originally it was the startup configuration file of the bourne shell (sh). Today many distributions have their desktop environment set up to source .profile. Note that this is also not a standard, but it seems to be a convention.



          Debian used to source .profile at graphical login (wiki page as of 2013) now it doesn't (wiki page as of 2016).



          Arch sources .xprofile at graphical login (wiki page as of 2013).



          Ubuntu used to discourage using .profile (wiki page as of 2013) now it doesn't discourage anymore (wiki page as of 2016).




          Regarding your other question: Why doesn't my ~/.bash_profile work? That is the expected behaviour.



          The behaviour, in short, is as follows:



          • bash started as an interactive login shell: reads ~/.profile

          • bash started as an interactive non-login shell: reads ~/.bashrc

          For more details see my answer to a similar question in askubuntu: https://askubuntu.com/questions/132276/configure-gnome-terminal-to-start-bash-as-a-login-shell-doesnt-read-bashrc/132319#132319






          share|improve this answer


















          • 1




            Some of this is correct, but “always read ~/.bashrc” is bad advice: you should only read .bashrc from an interactive shell. You've missed the core problem here which is that when logging in under X, there is no login instance of bash (under most display manager/desktop environment combinations, including evidently AntonioK's).
            – Gilles
            Aug 25 '13 at 22:45










          • Thank you for your feedback. I hope I updated my answer well enough to resolve your complaints. Regarding my advice to "always read .bashrc", I meant always for an interactive shell. I have clarified that part. I hope it is not misleading anymore.
            – lesmana
            Aug 26 '13 at 2:21






          • 2




            "Ubuntu specifically discourages using .profile (link)" The wiki did once (absurdly) discourage that; that's been fixed. (Note /etc/profile does remain discouraged for systemwide assignments, in preference for adding scripts to /etc/profile.d.) Per-user .profile files are now presented as one of the recommended ways to set per-user environment variables: "Suitable files for environment variable settings that should affect just a particular user (rather than the system as a whole) are ~/.pam_environment and ~/.profile."
            – Eliah Kagan
            Oct 4 '14 at 2:37










          • The linked page about Debian specifies that Debian does not read ~/.profile for graphical login and ~/.xsessionrc should be used instead.
            – karora
            Mar 20 at 11:29










          • thanks for noticing. the wiki page got updated. i linked to the versions as they were at time of answer.
            – lesmana
            Mar 21 at 8:38

















          up vote
          1
          down vote













          In your question, you refer to https://stackoverflow.com/questions/902946/ as recommending not to source, when the accepted answer prescribes to




          • Put my PATH setup into a .profile file (because I sometimes use other shells)

          • Put my Bash aliases and functions into my .bashrc file


          • Then use this [EDITED: snip code-comments]:



            .bash_profile:



            #!/bin/bash
            # echo "Loading $HOME/.bash_profile"
            source ~/.profile # Get the paths
            source ~/.bashrc # get aliases




          Putting it all in .profile did not work for me on Linux Mint. Using .bashrc worked fine.






          share|improve this answer





























            up vote
            1
            down vote













            A couple of issues arise when trying to reload/source ~/.profile file.
            [This refers to Ubuntu linux - in some cases the details of the commands will be different]



            1. Are you running this directly in terminal or in a script?

            2. How do you run this in a script?

            Ad. 1)



            Running this directly in terminal means that there will be no subshell created. So you can use either two commands:



            source ~/.bash_profile


            or



            . ~/.bash_profile


            In both cases this will update the environment with the contents of .profile file.



            Ad 2) You can start any bash script either by calling



            sh myscript.sh 


            or



            . myscript.sh


            In the first case this will create a subshell that will not affect the environment variables of your system and they will be visible only to the subshell process. After finishing the subshell command none of the exports etc. will be applied.
            THIS IS A COMMON MISTAKE AND CAUSES A LOT OF DEVELOPERS TO LOOSE A LOT OF TIME.



            In order for your changes applied in your script to have effect for the global environment the script has to be run with



            .myscript.sh


            command.



            In order to make sure that you script is not runned in a subshel you can use this function. (Again example is for Ubuntu shell)



            #/bin/bash

            preventSubshell()
            if [[ $_ != $0 ]]
            then
            echo "Script is being sourced"
            else
            echo "Script is a subshell - please run the script by invoking . script.sh command";
            exit 1;
            fi



            I hope this clears some of the common misunderstandings! :D
            Good Luck!






            share|improve this answer





























              up vote
              0
              down vote













              The simple solution is to make the terminal a login terminal. For Gnome terminal under 'Tile and Command' of the default profile you can check the box "Run command as a login shell". This article explains the difference between a login shell and one that is not.






              share|improve this answer






















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                5 Answers
                5






                active

                oldest

                votes








                5 Answers
                5






                active

                oldest

                votes









                active

                oldest

                votes






                active

                oldest

                votes








                up vote
                30
                down vote



                accepted










                The file ~/.bash_profile is read by bash when it is a login shell. That's what you get when you log in in text mode.



                When you log in under X, the startup scripts are executed by /bin/sh. On Ubuntu and Mint, /bin/sh is dash, not bash. Dash and bash both have the same core features, but dash sticks to these core features in order to be fast and small whereas bash adds a lot of features at the cost of requiring more resources. It is common to use dash for scripts that don't need the extra features and bash for interactive use (though zsh has a lot of nicer features).



                Most combinations of display manager (the program where you type your user name and password) and desktop environment read ~/.profile from the login scripts in /etc/X11/Xsession, /usr/bin/lightdm-session, /etc/gdm/Xsession or whichever is applicable. So put your environment variable definitions in ~/.profile. Make sure to use only syntax that dash supports.



                So what should you put where?




                • A good .bash_profile loads .profile, and loads .bashrc if the shell is interactive.



                  . ~/.profile
                  if [[ $- == *i* ]]; then . ~/.bashrc; fi


                • In .profile, put environment variable definitions, and other session settings such as ulimit.


                • In .bashrc, put bash interactive settings such as aliases, functions, completion, key bindings (that aren't in .inputrc), …

                See also Difference between Login Shell and Non-Login Shell? and Alternative to .bashrc.






                share|improve this answer






















                • many things learnt from single answer :)
                  – mtk
                  Jul 24 '16 at 20:31














                up vote
                30
                down vote



                accepted










                The file ~/.bash_profile is read by bash when it is a login shell. That's what you get when you log in in text mode.



                When you log in under X, the startup scripts are executed by /bin/sh. On Ubuntu and Mint, /bin/sh is dash, not bash. Dash and bash both have the same core features, but dash sticks to these core features in order to be fast and small whereas bash adds a lot of features at the cost of requiring more resources. It is common to use dash for scripts that don't need the extra features and bash for interactive use (though zsh has a lot of nicer features).



                Most combinations of display manager (the program where you type your user name and password) and desktop environment read ~/.profile from the login scripts in /etc/X11/Xsession, /usr/bin/lightdm-session, /etc/gdm/Xsession or whichever is applicable. So put your environment variable definitions in ~/.profile. Make sure to use only syntax that dash supports.



                So what should you put where?




                • A good .bash_profile loads .profile, and loads .bashrc if the shell is interactive.



                  . ~/.profile
                  if [[ $- == *i* ]]; then . ~/.bashrc; fi


                • In .profile, put environment variable definitions, and other session settings such as ulimit.


                • In .bashrc, put bash interactive settings such as aliases, functions, completion, key bindings (that aren't in .inputrc), …

                See also Difference between Login Shell and Non-Login Shell? and Alternative to .bashrc.






                share|improve this answer






















                • many things learnt from single answer :)
                  – mtk
                  Jul 24 '16 at 20:31












                up vote
                30
                down vote



                accepted







                up vote
                30
                down vote



                accepted






                The file ~/.bash_profile is read by bash when it is a login shell. That's what you get when you log in in text mode.



                When you log in under X, the startup scripts are executed by /bin/sh. On Ubuntu and Mint, /bin/sh is dash, not bash. Dash and bash both have the same core features, but dash sticks to these core features in order to be fast and small whereas bash adds a lot of features at the cost of requiring more resources. It is common to use dash for scripts that don't need the extra features and bash for interactive use (though zsh has a lot of nicer features).



                Most combinations of display manager (the program where you type your user name and password) and desktop environment read ~/.profile from the login scripts in /etc/X11/Xsession, /usr/bin/lightdm-session, /etc/gdm/Xsession or whichever is applicable. So put your environment variable definitions in ~/.profile. Make sure to use only syntax that dash supports.



                So what should you put where?




                • A good .bash_profile loads .profile, and loads .bashrc if the shell is interactive.



                  . ~/.profile
                  if [[ $- == *i* ]]; then . ~/.bashrc; fi


                • In .profile, put environment variable definitions, and other session settings such as ulimit.


                • In .bashrc, put bash interactive settings such as aliases, functions, completion, key bindings (that aren't in .inputrc), …

                See also Difference between Login Shell and Non-Login Shell? and Alternative to .bashrc.






                share|improve this answer














                The file ~/.bash_profile is read by bash when it is a login shell. That's what you get when you log in in text mode.



                When you log in under X, the startup scripts are executed by /bin/sh. On Ubuntu and Mint, /bin/sh is dash, not bash. Dash and bash both have the same core features, but dash sticks to these core features in order to be fast and small whereas bash adds a lot of features at the cost of requiring more resources. It is common to use dash for scripts that don't need the extra features and bash for interactive use (though zsh has a lot of nicer features).



                Most combinations of display manager (the program where you type your user name and password) and desktop environment read ~/.profile from the login scripts in /etc/X11/Xsession, /usr/bin/lightdm-session, /etc/gdm/Xsession or whichever is applicable. So put your environment variable definitions in ~/.profile. Make sure to use only syntax that dash supports.



                So what should you put where?




                • A good .bash_profile loads .profile, and loads .bashrc if the shell is interactive.



                  . ~/.profile
                  if [[ $- == *i* ]]; then . ~/.bashrc; fi


                • In .profile, put environment variable definitions, and other session settings such as ulimit.


                • In .bashrc, put bash interactive settings such as aliases, functions, completion, key bindings (that aren't in .inputrc), …

                See also Difference between Login Shell and Non-Login Shell? and Alternative to .bashrc.







                share|improve this answer














                share|improve this answer



                share|improve this answer








                edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:36









                Community♦

                1




                1










                answered Aug 25 '13 at 22:43









                Gilles

                508k12010031533




                508k12010031533











                • many things learnt from single answer :)
                  – mtk
                  Jul 24 '16 at 20:31
















                • many things learnt from single answer :)
                  – mtk
                  Jul 24 '16 at 20:31















                many things learnt from single answer :)
                – mtk
                Jul 24 '16 at 20:31




                many things learnt from single answer :)
                – mtk
                Jul 24 '16 at 20:31












                up vote
                14
                down vote













                .bash_profile is the startup configuration script of bash. There exists no standard mandating X to source .bash_profile.



                What you are thinking of is rather .profile. Originally it was the startup configuration file of the bourne shell (sh). Today many distributions have their desktop environment set up to source .profile. Note that this is also not a standard, but it seems to be a convention.



                Debian used to source .profile at graphical login (wiki page as of 2013) now it doesn't (wiki page as of 2016).



                Arch sources .xprofile at graphical login (wiki page as of 2013).



                Ubuntu used to discourage using .profile (wiki page as of 2013) now it doesn't discourage anymore (wiki page as of 2016).




                Regarding your other question: Why doesn't my ~/.bash_profile work? That is the expected behaviour.



                The behaviour, in short, is as follows:



                • bash started as an interactive login shell: reads ~/.profile

                • bash started as an interactive non-login shell: reads ~/.bashrc

                For more details see my answer to a similar question in askubuntu: https://askubuntu.com/questions/132276/configure-gnome-terminal-to-start-bash-as-a-login-shell-doesnt-read-bashrc/132319#132319






                share|improve this answer


















                • 1




                  Some of this is correct, but “always read ~/.bashrc” is bad advice: you should only read .bashrc from an interactive shell. You've missed the core problem here which is that when logging in under X, there is no login instance of bash (under most display manager/desktop environment combinations, including evidently AntonioK's).
                  – Gilles
                  Aug 25 '13 at 22:45










                • Thank you for your feedback. I hope I updated my answer well enough to resolve your complaints. Regarding my advice to "always read .bashrc", I meant always for an interactive shell. I have clarified that part. I hope it is not misleading anymore.
                  – lesmana
                  Aug 26 '13 at 2:21






                • 2




                  "Ubuntu specifically discourages using .profile (link)" The wiki did once (absurdly) discourage that; that's been fixed. (Note /etc/profile does remain discouraged for systemwide assignments, in preference for adding scripts to /etc/profile.d.) Per-user .profile files are now presented as one of the recommended ways to set per-user environment variables: "Suitable files for environment variable settings that should affect just a particular user (rather than the system as a whole) are ~/.pam_environment and ~/.profile."
                  – Eliah Kagan
                  Oct 4 '14 at 2:37










                • The linked page about Debian specifies that Debian does not read ~/.profile for graphical login and ~/.xsessionrc should be used instead.
                  – karora
                  Mar 20 at 11:29










                • thanks for noticing. the wiki page got updated. i linked to the versions as they were at time of answer.
                  – lesmana
                  Mar 21 at 8:38














                up vote
                14
                down vote













                .bash_profile is the startup configuration script of bash. There exists no standard mandating X to source .bash_profile.



                What you are thinking of is rather .profile. Originally it was the startup configuration file of the bourne shell (sh). Today many distributions have their desktop environment set up to source .profile. Note that this is also not a standard, but it seems to be a convention.



                Debian used to source .profile at graphical login (wiki page as of 2013) now it doesn't (wiki page as of 2016).



                Arch sources .xprofile at graphical login (wiki page as of 2013).



                Ubuntu used to discourage using .profile (wiki page as of 2013) now it doesn't discourage anymore (wiki page as of 2016).




                Regarding your other question: Why doesn't my ~/.bash_profile work? That is the expected behaviour.



                The behaviour, in short, is as follows:



                • bash started as an interactive login shell: reads ~/.profile

                • bash started as an interactive non-login shell: reads ~/.bashrc

                For more details see my answer to a similar question in askubuntu: https://askubuntu.com/questions/132276/configure-gnome-terminal-to-start-bash-as-a-login-shell-doesnt-read-bashrc/132319#132319






                share|improve this answer


















                • 1




                  Some of this is correct, but “always read ~/.bashrc” is bad advice: you should only read .bashrc from an interactive shell. You've missed the core problem here which is that when logging in under X, there is no login instance of bash (under most display manager/desktop environment combinations, including evidently AntonioK's).
                  – Gilles
                  Aug 25 '13 at 22:45










                • Thank you for your feedback. I hope I updated my answer well enough to resolve your complaints. Regarding my advice to "always read .bashrc", I meant always for an interactive shell. I have clarified that part. I hope it is not misleading anymore.
                  – lesmana
                  Aug 26 '13 at 2:21






                • 2




                  "Ubuntu specifically discourages using .profile (link)" The wiki did once (absurdly) discourage that; that's been fixed. (Note /etc/profile does remain discouraged for systemwide assignments, in preference for adding scripts to /etc/profile.d.) Per-user .profile files are now presented as one of the recommended ways to set per-user environment variables: "Suitable files for environment variable settings that should affect just a particular user (rather than the system as a whole) are ~/.pam_environment and ~/.profile."
                  – Eliah Kagan
                  Oct 4 '14 at 2:37










                • The linked page about Debian specifies that Debian does not read ~/.profile for graphical login and ~/.xsessionrc should be used instead.
                  – karora
                  Mar 20 at 11:29










                • thanks for noticing. the wiki page got updated. i linked to the versions as they were at time of answer.
                  – lesmana
                  Mar 21 at 8:38












                up vote
                14
                down vote










                up vote
                14
                down vote









                .bash_profile is the startup configuration script of bash. There exists no standard mandating X to source .bash_profile.



                What you are thinking of is rather .profile. Originally it was the startup configuration file of the bourne shell (sh). Today many distributions have their desktop environment set up to source .profile. Note that this is also not a standard, but it seems to be a convention.



                Debian used to source .profile at graphical login (wiki page as of 2013) now it doesn't (wiki page as of 2016).



                Arch sources .xprofile at graphical login (wiki page as of 2013).



                Ubuntu used to discourage using .profile (wiki page as of 2013) now it doesn't discourage anymore (wiki page as of 2016).




                Regarding your other question: Why doesn't my ~/.bash_profile work? That is the expected behaviour.



                The behaviour, in short, is as follows:



                • bash started as an interactive login shell: reads ~/.profile

                • bash started as an interactive non-login shell: reads ~/.bashrc

                For more details see my answer to a similar question in askubuntu: https://askubuntu.com/questions/132276/configure-gnome-terminal-to-start-bash-as-a-login-shell-doesnt-read-bashrc/132319#132319






                share|improve this answer














                .bash_profile is the startup configuration script of bash. There exists no standard mandating X to source .bash_profile.



                What you are thinking of is rather .profile. Originally it was the startup configuration file of the bourne shell (sh). Today many distributions have their desktop environment set up to source .profile. Note that this is also not a standard, but it seems to be a convention.



                Debian used to source .profile at graphical login (wiki page as of 2013) now it doesn't (wiki page as of 2016).



                Arch sources .xprofile at graphical login (wiki page as of 2013).



                Ubuntu used to discourage using .profile (wiki page as of 2013) now it doesn't discourage anymore (wiki page as of 2016).




                Regarding your other question: Why doesn't my ~/.bash_profile work? That is the expected behaviour.



                The behaviour, in short, is as follows:



                • bash started as an interactive login shell: reads ~/.profile

                • bash started as an interactive non-login shell: reads ~/.bashrc

                For more details see my answer to a similar question in askubuntu: https://askubuntu.com/questions/132276/configure-gnome-terminal-to-start-bash-as-a-login-shell-doesnt-read-bashrc/132319#132319







                share|improve this answer














                share|improve this answer



                share|improve this answer








                edited Mar 21 at 8:37

























                answered Aug 25 '13 at 8:44









                lesmana

                13.7k105569




                13.7k105569







                • 1




                  Some of this is correct, but “always read ~/.bashrc” is bad advice: you should only read .bashrc from an interactive shell. You've missed the core problem here which is that when logging in under X, there is no login instance of bash (under most display manager/desktop environment combinations, including evidently AntonioK's).
                  – Gilles
                  Aug 25 '13 at 22:45










                • Thank you for your feedback. I hope I updated my answer well enough to resolve your complaints. Regarding my advice to "always read .bashrc", I meant always for an interactive shell. I have clarified that part. I hope it is not misleading anymore.
                  – lesmana
                  Aug 26 '13 at 2:21






                • 2




                  "Ubuntu specifically discourages using .profile (link)" The wiki did once (absurdly) discourage that; that's been fixed. (Note /etc/profile does remain discouraged for systemwide assignments, in preference for adding scripts to /etc/profile.d.) Per-user .profile files are now presented as one of the recommended ways to set per-user environment variables: "Suitable files for environment variable settings that should affect just a particular user (rather than the system as a whole) are ~/.pam_environment and ~/.profile."
                  – Eliah Kagan
                  Oct 4 '14 at 2:37










                • The linked page about Debian specifies that Debian does not read ~/.profile for graphical login and ~/.xsessionrc should be used instead.
                  – karora
                  Mar 20 at 11:29










                • thanks for noticing. the wiki page got updated. i linked to the versions as they were at time of answer.
                  – lesmana
                  Mar 21 at 8:38












                • 1




                  Some of this is correct, but “always read ~/.bashrc” is bad advice: you should only read .bashrc from an interactive shell. You've missed the core problem here which is that when logging in under X, there is no login instance of bash (under most display manager/desktop environment combinations, including evidently AntonioK's).
                  – Gilles
                  Aug 25 '13 at 22:45










                • Thank you for your feedback. I hope I updated my answer well enough to resolve your complaints. Regarding my advice to "always read .bashrc", I meant always for an interactive shell. I have clarified that part. I hope it is not misleading anymore.
                  – lesmana
                  Aug 26 '13 at 2:21






                • 2




                  "Ubuntu specifically discourages using .profile (link)" The wiki did once (absurdly) discourage that; that's been fixed. (Note /etc/profile does remain discouraged for systemwide assignments, in preference for adding scripts to /etc/profile.d.) Per-user .profile files are now presented as one of the recommended ways to set per-user environment variables: "Suitable files for environment variable settings that should affect just a particular user (rather than the system as a whole) are ~/.pam_environment and ~/.profile."
                  – Eliah Kagan
                  Oct 4 '14 at 2:37










                • The linked page about Debian specifies that Debian does not read ~/.profile for graphical login and ~/.xsessionrc should be used instead.
                  – karora
                  Mar 20 at 11:29










                • thanks for noticing. the wiki page got updated. i linked to the versions as they were at time of answer.
                  – lesmana
                  Mar 21 at 8:38







                1




                1




                Some of this is correct, but “always read ~/.bashrc” is bad advice: you should only read .bashrc from an interactive shell. You've missed the core problem here which is that when logging in under X, there is no login instance of bash (under most display manager/desktop environment combinations, including evidently AntonioK's).
                – Gilles
                Aug 25 '13 at 22:45




                Some of this is correct, but “always read ~/.bashrc” is bad advice: you should only read .bashrc from an interactive shell. You've missed the core problem here which is that when logging in under X, there is no login instance of bash (under most display manager/desktop environment combinations, including evidently AntonioK's).
                – Gilles
                Aug 25 '13 at 22:45












                Thank you for your feedback. I hope I updated my answer well enough to resolve your complaints. Regarding my advice to "always read .bashrc", I meant always for an interactive shell. I have clarified that part. I hope it is not misleading anymore.
                – lesmana
                Aug 26 '13 at 2:21




                Thank you for your feedback. I hope I updated my answer well enough to resolve your complaints. Regarding my advice to "always read .bashrc", I meant always for an interactive shell. I have clarified that part. I hope it is not misleading anymore.
                – lesmana
                Aug 26 '13 at 2:21




                2




                2




                "Ubuntu specifically discourages using .profile (link)" The wiki did once (absurdly) discourage that; that's been fixed. (Note /etc/profile does remain discouraged for systemwide assignments, in preference for adding scripts to /etc/profile.d.) Per-user .profile files are now presented as one of the recommended ways to set per-user environment variables: "Suitable files for environment variable settings that should affect just a particular user (rather than the system as a whole) are ~/.pam_environment and ~/.profile."
                – Eliah Kagan
                Oct 4 '14 at 2:37




                "Ubuntu specifically discourages using .profile (link)" The wiki did once (absurdly) discourage that; that's been fixed. (Note /etc/profile does remain discouraged for systemwide assignments, in preference for adding scripts to /etc/profile.d.) Per-user .profile files are now presented as one of the recommended ways to set per-user environment variables: "Suitable files for environment variable settings that should affect just a particular user (rather than the system as a whole) are ~/.pam_environment and ~/.profile."
                – Eliah Kagan
                Oct 4 '14 at 2:37












                The linked page about Debian specifies that Debian does not read ~/.profile for graphical login and ~/.xsessionrc should be used instead.
                – karora
                Mar 20 at 11:29




                The linked page about Debian specifies that Debian does not read ~/.profile for graphical login and ~/.xsessionrc should be used instead.
                – karora
                Mar 20 at 11:29












                thanks for noticing. the wiki page got updated. i linked to the versions as they were at time of answer.
                – lesmana
                Mar 21 at 8:38




                thanks for noticing. the wiki page got updated. i linked to the versions as they were at time of answer.
                – lesmana
                Mar 21 at 8:38










                up vote
                1
                down vote













                In your question, you refer to https://stackoverflow.com/questions/902946/ as recommending not to source, when the accepted answer prescribes to




                • Put my PATH setup into a .profile file (because I sometimes use other shells)

                • Put my Bash aliases and functions into my .bashrc file


                • Then use this [EDITED: snip code-comments]:



                  .bash_profile:



                  #!/bin/bash
                  # echo "Loading $HOME/.bash_profile"
                  source ~/.profile # Get the paths
                  source ~/.bashrc # get aliases




                Putting it all in .profile did not work for me on Linux Mint. Using .bashrc worked fine.






                share|improve this answer


























                  up vote
                  1
                  down vote













                  In your question, you refer to https://stackoverflow.com/questions/902946/ as recommending not to source, when the accepted answer prescribes to




                  • Put my PATH setup into a .profile file (because I sometimes use other shells)

                  • Put my Bash aliases and functions into my .bashrc file


                  • Then use this [EDITED: snip code-comments]:



                    .bash_profile:



                    #!/bin/bash
                    # echo "Loading $HOME/.bash_profile"
                    source ~/.profile # Get the paths
                    source ~/.bashrc # get aliases




                  Putting it all in .profile did not work for me on Linux Mint. Using .bashrc worked fine.






                  share|improve this answer
























                    up vote
                    1
                    down vote










                    up vote
                    1
                    down vote









                    In your question, you refer to https://stackoverflow.com/questions/902946/ as recommending not to source, when the accepted answer prescribes to




                    • Put my PATH setup into a .profile file (because I sometimes use other shells)

                    • Put my Bash aliases and functions into my .bashrc file


                    • Then use this [EDITED: snip code-comments]:



                      .bash_profile:



                      #!/bin/bash
                      # echo "Loading $HOME/.bash_profile"
                      source ~/.profile # Get the paths
                      source ~/.bashrc # get aliases




                    Putting it all in .profile did not work for me on Linux Mint. Using .bashrc worked fine.






                    share|improve this answer














                    In your question, you refer to https://stackoverflow.com/questions/902946/ as recommending not to source, when the accepted answer prescribes to




                    • Put my PATH setup into a .profile file (because I sometimes use other shells)

                    • Put my Bash aliases and functions into my .bashrc file


                    • Then use this [EDITED: snip code-comments]:



                      .bash_profile:



                      #!/bin/bash
                      # echo "Loading $HOME/.bash_profile"
                      source ~/.profile # Get the paths
                      source ~/.bashrc # get aliases




                    Putting it all in .profile did not work for me on Linux Mint. Using .bashrc worked fine.







                    share|improve this answer














                    share|improve this answer



                    share|improve this answer








                    edited May 23 '17 at 12:40









                    Community♦

                    1




                    1










                    answered Apr 6 '16 at 7:50









                    serv-inc

                    374111




                    374111




















                        up vote
                        1
                        down vote













                        A couple of issues arise when trying to reload/source ~/.profile file.
                        [This refers to Ubuntu linux - in some cases the details of the commands will be different]



                        1. Are you running this directly in terminal or in a script?

                        2. How do you run this in a script?

                        Ad. 1)



                        Running this directly in terminal means that there will be no subshell created. So you can use either two commands:



                        source ~/.bash_profile


                        or



                        . ~/.bash_profile


                        In both cases this will update the environment with the contents of .profile file.



                        Ad 2) You can start any bash script either by calling



                        sh myscript.sh 


                        or



                        . myscript.sh


                        In the first case this will create a subshell that will not affect the environment variables of your system and they will be visible only to the subshell process. After finishing the subshell command none of the exports etc. will be applied.
                        THIS IS A COMMON MISTAKE AND CAUSES A LOT OF DEVELOPERS TO LOOSE A LOT OF TIME.



                        In order for your changes applied in your script to have effect for the global environment the script has to be run with



                        .myscript.sh


                        command.



                        In order to make sure that you script is not runned in a subshel you can use this function. (Again example is for Ubuntu shell)



                        #/bin/bash

                        preventSubshell()
                        if [[ $_ != $0 ]]
                        then
                        echo "Script is being sourced"
                        else
                        echo "Script is a subshell - please run the script by invoking . script.sh command";
                        exit 1;
                        fi



                        I hope this clears some of the common misunderstandings! :D
                        Good Luck!






                        share|improve this answer


























                          up vote
                          1
                          down vote













                          A couple of issues arise when trying to reload/source ~/.profile file.
                          [This refers to Ubuntu linux - in some cases the details of the commands will be different]



                          1. Are you running this directly in terminal or in a script?

                          2. How do you run this in a script?

                          Ad. 1)



                          Running this directly in terminal means that there will be no subshell created. So you can use either two commands:



                          source ~/.bash_profile


                          or



                          . ~/.bash_profile


                          In both cases this will update the environment with the contents of .profile file.



                          Ad 2) You can start any bash script either by calling



                          sh myscript.sh 


                          or



                          . myscript.sh


                          In the first case this will create a subshell that will not affect the environment variables of your system and they will be visible only to the subshell process. After finishing the subshell command none of the exports etc. will be applied.
                          THIS IS A COMMON MISTAKE AND CAUSES A LOT OF DEVELOPERS TO LOOSE A LOT OF TIME.



                          In order for your changes applied in your script to have effect for the global environment the script has to be run with



                          .myscript.sh


                          command.



                          In order to make sure that you script is not runned in a subshel you can use this function. (Again example is for Ubuntu shell)



                          #/bin/bash

                          preventSubshell()
                          if [[ $_ != $0 ]]
                          then
                          echo "Script is being sourced"
                          else
                          echo "Script is a subshell - please run the script by invoking . script.sh command";
                          exit 1;
                          fi



                          I hope this clears some of the common misunderstandings! :D
                          Good Luck!






                          share|improve this answer
























                            up vote
                            1
                            down vote










                            up vote
                            1
                            down vote









                            A couple of issues arise when trying to reload/source ~/.profile file.
                            [This refers to Ubuntu linux - in some cases the details of the commands will be different]



                            1. Are you running this directly in terminal or in a script?

                            2. How do you run this in a script?

                            Ad. 1)



                            Running this directly in terminal means that there will be no subshell created. So you can use either two commands:



                            source ~/.bash_profile


                            or



                            . ~/.bash_profile


                            In both cases this will update the environment with the contents of .profile file.



                            Ad 2) You can start any bash script either by calling



                            sh myscript.sh 


                            or



                            . myscript.sh


                            In the first case this will create a subshell that will not affect the environment variables of your system and they will be visible only to the subshell process. After finishing the subshell command none of the exports etc. will be applied.
                            THIS IS A COMMON MISTAKE AND CAUSES A LOT OF DEVELOPERS TO LOOSE A LOT OF TIME.



                            In order for your changes applied in your script to have effect for the global environment the script has to be run with



                            .myscript.sh


                            command.



                            In order to make sure that you script is not runned in a subshel you can use this function. (Again example is for Ubuntu shell)



                            #/bin/bash

                            preventSubshell()
                            if [[ $_ != $0 ]]
                            then
                            echo "Script is being sourced"
                            else
                            echo "Script is a subshell - please run the script by invoking . script.sh command";
                            exit 1;
                            fi



                            I hope this clears some of the common misunderstandings! :D
                            Good Luck!






                            share|improve this answer














                            A couple of issues arise when trying to reload/source ~/.profile file.
                            [This refers to Ubuntu linux - in some cases the details of the commands will be different]



                            1. Are you running this directly in terminal or in a script?

                            2. How do you run this in a script?

                            Ad. 1)



                            Running this directly in terminal means that there will be no subshell created. So you can use either two commands:



                            source ~/.bash_profile


                            or



                            . ~/.bash_profile


                            In both cases this will update the environment with the contents of .profile file.



                            Ad 2) You can start any bash script either by calling



                            sh myscript.sh 


                            or



                            . myscript.sh


                            In the first case this will create a subshell that will not affect the environment variables of your system and they will be visible only to the subshell process. After finishing the subshell command none of the exports etc. will be applied.
                            THIS IS A COMMON MISTAKE AND CAUSES A LOT OF DEVELOPERS TO LOOSE A LOT OF TIME.



                            In order for your changes applied in your script to have effect for the global environment the script has to be run with



                            .myscript.sh


                            command.



                            In order to make sure that you script is not runned in a subshel you can use this function. (Again example is for Ubuntu shell)



                            #/bin/bash

                            preventSubshell()
                            if [[ $_ != $0 ]]
                            then
                            echo "Script is being sourced"
                            else
                            echo "Script is a subshell - please run the script by invoking . script.sh command";
                            exit 1;
                            fi



                            I hope this clears some of the common misunderstandings! :D
                            Good Luck!







                            share|improve this answer














                            share|improve this answer



                            share|improve this answer








                            edited Oct 23 '17 at 16:23

























                            answered Oct 23 '17 at 15:43









                            twboc

                            1112




                            1112




















                                up vote
                                0
                                down vote













                                The simple solution is to make the terminal a login terminal. For Gnome terminal under 'Tile and Command' of the default profile you can check the box "Run command as a login shell". This article explains the difference between a login shell and one that is not.






                                share|improve this answer


























                                  up vote
                                  0
                                  down vote













                                  The simple solution is to make the terminal a login terminal. For Gnome terminal under 'Tile and Command' of the default profile you can check the box "Run command as a login shell". This article explains the difference between a login shell and one that is not.






                                  share|improve this answer
























                                    up vote
                                    0
                                    down vote










                                    up vote
                                    0
                                    down vote









                                    The simple solution is to make the terminal a login terminal. For Gnome terminal under 'Tile and Command' of the default profile you can check the box "Run command as a login shell". This article explains the difference between a login shell and one that is not.






                                    share|improve this answer














                                    The simple solution is to make the terminal a login terminal. For Gnome terminal under 'Tile and Command' of the default profile you can check the box "Run command as a login shell". This article explains the difference between a login shell and one that is not.







                                    share|improve this answer














                                    share|improve this answer



                                    share|improve this answer








                                    edited May 23 '17 at 12:40









                                    Community♦

                                    1




                                    1










                                    answered Nov 1 '14 at 13:36









                                    driftingprogrammer

                                    11




                                    11



























                                         

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