[solved] trying to figure out BASH configuration files

Question

I am trying to figure out where to properly place commands in the many stated/existing BASH configuration files —reading the wiki and the man page I see there are what at first glance are too many files:
from: http://www.gnu.org/software/bash/manual … rtup-Files
invoked as an interactive login shell or with --login:
1. executes /etc/profile
2. executes-first-one-of-the-following: ~/.bash_profile
2. executes-first-one-of-the-following: ~/.bash_login
2. executes-first-one-of-the-following: ~/.profile
from: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/bash#Configuration
configuration file sourcing order at startup ... by default in arch:
/etc/profile (indirectly) sources /etc/bash.bashrc
/etc/skel/.bash_profile (which users are encouraged to copy to ~/.bash_profile) sources ~/.bashrc
which means that /etc/bash.bashrc and ~/.bashrc will be executed for all interactive shells whether they are login shells or not
It isn't clear to me what exactly means file#1 "indirectly sources" file#2: including ? append target file ? use file#2 instead of file#1 ?
It isn't clear either if ~/.bash_login and/or ~/.bash_logout are ignored (or not) in arch
so /etc/profile should be the (preferred) system-wide configuration file ?
so ~/.bash_profile should be the (preferred) user-specific configuration file ?
If so, does it means I should delete /etc/bash.bashrc (this is where I currently have system-wide commands) in favor of (ie: moving the content to) /etc/profile ?
Last edited by ivanborodin (2014-06-10 16:28:21)

Answer 1

First and foremost: thanks for the replies.
Ziusudra wrote:As the Wiki states ...
I am fully aware of what the wiki is stating —I even included the link in my first post. The problem is not that I am not aware of what it is stating, it is just I don't understand it and thus my post to begin with. More precisely; this highlighted line:
Note: /etc/bash.bashrc is non-standard, only some distributions like Arch Linux have this included because packagers have added a -DSYS_BASHRC="/etc/bash.bashrc" flag at compilation time, in order to have a system bashrc file.
which clearly states /etc/bach.bashrc is non-standard was the first hint to me that these files were legacy/going-to-be-deprecated/something-like-this (my assumption) in favor of newer (my assumption) /etc/profile and ~/.bash_profile
Maybe I am asking some obvious question (this is why I am asking it in the newbie corner) but please, have in mind that for someone coming from the Windows world some things/concepts are totally alien at first sight, for eg: in Windows you start Powershell and you have one (only one) place to set your configuration options and the like. Here I am offered with:
• 2 possible system-wide files: /etc/profile and /etc/bash.bashrc
• 2 possible user-specific files: ~/.bash_profile and ~/.bashrc
• 1 possible user-specific files: ~/.bash_login (and ~/.bash_logout)
... so I have (at least) 5 different places to execute commands upon login.
I was carefully reading all the files present on my current installation and now I understand what "indirectly sourced" means: including (if the file is present just insert it here)
I still don't understand what commands should be placed in which file; for eg: system-wide aliases should be placed in /etc/profile or in /etc/bash.bashrc ?
One more time, I am not a rocket-scientist nor I am a dummy, but the wiki just states file precedence without offering any details as best practices or something like that and just figure out: that for such a basic-thing I am getting different answers from two users (someone with 6000+ posts) ... either one: or the wiki is not clear or this thing is a little more complex than it seems at first sight ... just my thought.
Anyway, needless to say, thank you both for your time and patience.