Loading .bash_profile under X-Windows

[Sandy Rutherford]

>>>>> On Mon, 11 Apr 2005 01:12:25 -0700, 
>>>>> "Loren M. Lang" <lorenl at alzatex.com> said:

 > On Sat, Apr 09, 2005 at 10:40:01AM +0200, Kiffin Gish wrote:
 >> How can I get terminal under X-Windows to load my .bash_profile (and any
 >> other stuff) that is usually loaded when at the initial prompt?
 >> 
 >> A more general question might be: what files (.profile, .login, whatever)
 >> and in what order are loaded every I login via a shell and how are these
 >> settings propagated up through Gnome desktop?

 ...snip...

 > The first shell was just started normally and the second was started as
 > a login shell.  Connecting to a machine through ssh or logging in on a
 > text console starts a login shell, but running an xterm in X-Windows or
 > running bash from whatever shell your already in isn't since your
 > already logged in.  If you start X-Windows with the startx command, your
 > login is considered when you first logged in on the text console and
 > that same environment is propagated to the gui environment, gnome in
 > your case.  When you log in from a graphical log in utility, it's a
 > little more complicated.  The gui login program, whether it be xdm, gdm,
 > or kdm starts a shell script which eventually starts your gui
 > environment.  The problem is that it's not usually the same as your
 > login shell, but whatever shell was used to write the script.  In some
 > cases you can write your own shell script called .xsession or .Xclients
 > in your home directory and it can load in .bash_profile and then start
 > gnome.

Depending on what kind of stuff you put in your .bash_profile file, I
have found it convenient to separate the bits that I would like to be
run by the gui login program from what I would like to be run when I
login via ssh or a terminal.  I do this by putting all environment
variable settings in a file, .bash_env.  Both my .bash_profile and
.xsession files source this file.

Sandy