bash not reading bashrc

exvor · 11-29-2009, 10:12 PM

I have always wondered why the folowing is in /etc/profile.d/dircolors.sh and in /etc/bashrc

Code:

alias ls='ls --color=auto'

I figured I would leave it out of the dircolors file and just add it to the bashrc but when I do that I do not get a colored output for ls. I thought any alias you setup in /etc/bashrc is effective for anyone on the system. Or is that just for non interactive shells?

jhwilliams · 11-30-2009, 12:25 AM

My /etc/bash.bashrc file contains the comments:

Code:

# System-wide .bashrc file for interactive bash(1) shells.

# To enable the settings / commands in this file for login shells as well,
# this file has to be sourced in /etc/profile.

# If not running interactively, don't do anything
[ -z "$PS1" ] && return

Do you the file sourced in /etc/profile?

catkin · 11-30-2009, 01:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by exvor

I have always wondered why the folowing is in /etc/profile.d/dircolors.sh and in /etc/bashrc

Code:

alias ls='ls --color=auto'

I figured I would leave it out of the dircolors file and just add it to the bashrc but when I do that I do not get a colored output for ls. I thought any alias you setup in /etc/bashrc is effective for anyone on the system. Or is that just for non interactive shells?

More than you ever wanted to know about bash startup files is here. Chances are /etc/profile sources all the /etc/profile.d/*.sh files. The bash documentation linked above does not mention /etc/bashrc, only ~/.bashrc so you will have to inspect /etc/profile and any ~/.bashrc to see where /etc/bashrc is sourced from.

A common technique to give similar setup for interactive shells, regardless of whether they are login shells or not, is to add this line to /etc/profile

Code:

if [ -f ~/.bashrc ]; then . ~/.bashrc; fi