Bug 7221

Summary:	".profile" files are not executed for non-bash shells under X window
Product:	[Retired] Red Hat Linux	Reporter:	John Horne <john.horne>
Component:	gdm	Assignee:	Elliot Lee <sopwith>
Status:	CLOSED WORKSFORME	QA Contact:
Severity:	medium	Docs Contact:
Priority:	medium
Version:	6.1
Target Milestone:	---
Target Release:	---
Hardware:	All
OS:	Linux
Whiteboard:
Fixed In Version:		Doc Type:	Bug Fix
Doc Text:		Story Points:	---
Clone Of:		Environment:
Last Closed:	2000-05-24 20:06:36 UTC	Type:	---
Regression:	---	Mount Type:	---
Documentation:	---	CRM:
Verified Versions:		Category:	---
oVirt Team:	---	RHEL 7.3 requirements from Atomic Host:
Cloudforms Team:	---	Target Upstream Version:
Embargoed:

Description John Horne 1999-11-22 10:34:03 UTC

I use the Korn shell (pdksh) by default. I also run my ssytem at init level
5 by default. I use KDE by default.
However, the ".profile" file in my home directory does not get executed
at login. Under RH5.2 (from which I upgraded) it did. I have tried this
with the 'ash' shell as well and got the same result. Bash does not
have this problem. Running the system at init 2 or 3 it all works okay.

It seems that bash and Csh have special handling for the login scripts -
hence no problem with them. However, for any other shell combined with
X window being run by default, ther eis nothing saying to execute a
.profile
file in the users home directory.

Under RH5.2 the file /etc/X11/kdm/Xsession existed to do this. At 6.1 it
seems that both KDE and gnome run the file /etc/X11/xdm/Xsession.
From 5.2 I have included into this file:

if [ -r "$HOME/.profile ]; then
   . "$HOME/.profile"
fi

The RH5.2 system had an 'else' part to this statement - but I left it ot
since
it was never executed by me (it ran something I don't use).

John.

Comment 1 Chris Siebenmann 1999-11-22 23:30:59 UTC

The current approach for setting up the environment when one logs
in via a graphical login appears to be to start scripts with
	#!/bin/bash -login
and assume that everyone uses bash or something compatable enough,
and writes their login dotfiles nicely, so that 'bash -login' will
work. As you've noticed, this doesn't always fly (especially for
people using login shells, such as tcsh, that don't use .profile et
al at all).

Comment 2 Trond Eivind Glomsrxd 2000-04-06 21:56:59 UTC

Remember to specify that each kterm is to be a login shell - then you'll avoid
the problem

Comment 3 Trond Eivind Glomsrxd 2000-05-09 14:05:59 UTC

This isn't a ksh problem - we are aware of it (and have been so for some time),
and are thinking about how to fix this (not just ksh...). I think gdm is a
better candidate component.

Comment 4 David Mason 2000-05-24 20:06:59 UTC

Elliot - is gdm the answer to this problem? What do you think?

Comment 5 Elliot Lee 2000-07-17 20:09:22 UTC

Since the 'Xsession' script uses 'bash -login', things should be initialized
correctly AFAIK. I don't see any csh- or bash-specific logic other than assuming
that bash can initialize things correctly.