Is there a way to make .bashrc effect console mode?

purpleburple · 03-11-2003, 06:41 PM

Hi. I work outside of X for C programming in VIM and noticed that
my aliases that are set in .bashrc don't work unless I start X and work at an XTERM. Is there a way, or another file to alter that will effect alias at just the good ol' console other than altering /etc/profile?

thnks

cuckoopint · 03-11-2003, 06:44 PM

when logged in, try running 'bash'

see if your aliases work after that...

purpleburple · 03-11-2003, 06:58 PM

that did the trick! But is this the normal way to do it? Or is there a file I can alter?

And Im curious .... When I ran 'bash' what exactly did I do, or what did this
command effect?

thanks alot

cuckoopint · 03-11-2003, 07:20 PM

see 'man bash' (especially the Invocation section)

^the rest may also be a good read, but it would be a good, long read.
; )

Easiest explanation I can think of is that console would be considered a login shell, while in X any terms that are started are children of the parent shell (ie. not login = .bashrc parsed)

As for why 'bash' works, I guess it "re-parses" (?) all files :: all I know is that you can use 'bash' to parse your files so you can change your aliases on the fly.
: )
^ hopefully someone can give a better explanation

cuckoopint · 03-11-2003, 07:22 PM

Quote:

while in X any terms that are started are children of the parent shell

this is supported by looking at 'pstree'
do you know how the .xsession/.xinitrc works?
well, this is the same idea: only this time even X is a child of the 'bash' process (which is started by init)

2damncommon · 03-11-2003, 07:31 PM

Quote:

noticed that my aliases that are set in .bashrc don't work unless I start X and work at an XTERM.

That's odd. To simplify commands for people working on some VT terminals, .bashrc is exactly where I put the alias'. I am not sure if I tried them on a PC console.

cuckoopint · 03-11-2003, 07:38 PM

BTW, one solution could be to create (or add to) a ~/.bash_profile:

Code:

# include .bashrc if it exists
if [ -f ~/.bashrc ]; then
    source ~/.bashrc
fi

or something like that.
; )