/etc/profile kill? bypass?
 

I launched a script from /etc/profile and the script enters an infinite loop and never returns. I can't figure out how to kill the script so that the login can finish and so I can go in and fix the script. Is there a way to boot and bypass /etc/profile ? or how can I terminate the script that's running?

Have you tried a "Ctrl+c"? If that doesn't work then you could bring the system up in single user mode.

If you're fortunate enough to have another login session (on another terminal or via SSH) you can su to root in that session and fix /etc/profile. Alternatively, if you have an account that uses a C shell derivative (unlikely, unless you specifically set one up), you can login to it, since the C shell has its own set of startup scripts and doesn't use /etc/profile IIRC.

Failing both of those, the simplest thing to do would be to boot into single user mode and fix it. There are many threads on this forum detailing how to do that (and many tutorials on the Internet at large, too).

I booted in single user mode and was able to do what I needed. Thanks!