./bashrc doesn't run automatically

On a Red Hat system:
Linux Allied-2 2.4.21-4.ELsmp #1 SMP Fri Oct 3 17:52:56 EDT 2003 i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux

my customer has played with webmin and did something to logins so that some users .bashrc doesn't get executed. Instead they find themselves at a $ prompt and if they type in ./.bashrc it runs fine.

I've compared ownership & permissions with users that work correctly, no joy.

Any Ideas?

4 comments

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Fri Apr 8 13:38:05 2005:   TonyLawrence


Well, for one, are you sure you understand what .bashrc is for?

Sounds to me like you are trying to use .bashrc for what .bash_profile should be used for. That's most definitely a path to disaster; see http://aplawrence.com/Detective/shbash.html

The use of bashrc can be overridden by "--rcfile file" on startup - don't know if that's what webmin did do you, but you should NOT be using bashrc to start other programs: use .bash_profile or .profile.




Fri Apr 8 13:43:25 2005:   dhart


looks like .bashrc doesn't run if .bash_profile doesn't exist. go figure.



Fri Apr 8 13:51:00 2005:   TonyLawrence


No, that's not really what's happening, but .bashrc is NOT for starting programs (unless it's something that you want to run everytime any other shell script runs).

Logging a user into an app should be done in .bash_profile, not .bashrc

From the man page:

       When  bash is invoked as an interactive login
       shell, or as a non-inter- active shell with
       the --login option, it first reads and executes
       com- mands  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 ~/.bashrc, if that file exists.
       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 ~/.bashrc.

So, yes, it won't run .bashrc without SOMETHING else to run, but again: it's purpose is NOT to start apps for users.. use .bash_profile for that.




Fri Apr 8 14:00:40 2005:   dhart


mmmm, yes, I see your point. The road to .bashrc is fraught with peril.

I had managed to avoid that trap by placing exec /usr/local/bigbadshellscript in .bashrc.

Curious, then, that .bashrc is executable at all.

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