i just installed kde using binary packages and i was a little worried because the install instructions said to make sure that i set an environment variable called KDEDIR. well, i know how to set variables with export, but they go away when i restart. i looked into ways to set environment variables permenantly, like at startup, etc. only to find that the packages i installed made it so that KDEDIR is set at startup. what i'm trying to figure out now is how it does it. can anybody tell me where this environment variable comes from every time?

/etc/profile is the global file to use
~/.bashrc or ~/.bash_profile are the ones for individual environments for your user.

These are the basics when using the bash shell.

oh, slackware puts it out in /etc/profile.d. why dont i have any .bashrc or .bash_profile for setting this stuff individually tho?

I think that's just because Slackware is quite minimal and just doesn't come with those files (I think I remember Tinkster telling me that). You can of course create them yourself.

That is true, by default, Slackware doesn't create any basic files for any user in their home directories.. just create it or use the /etc/profile file as a template.