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Normally, in bash, the answer would be ~/.bashrc or /etc/bash.bashrc. But unfortunately Ubuntu is sourcing these files from ~/.profile and /etc/profile respectively. So, where should I put such commands on Ubuntu?

See also Why is /etc/profile not invoked for non-login shells? if you are not familiar with these files.

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Seb
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2 Answers2

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If you open your man bash, you can find somewhere at the line 150:

When an interactive shell that is not a login shell  is  started,  bash
reads  and  executes  commands  from /etc/bash.bashrc and ~/.bashrc, if
these files exist.  This may be inhibited by using the  --norc  option.
The  --rcfile  file option will force bash to read and execute commands
from file instead of /etc/bash.bashrc and ~/.bashrc.

So, you can use with confidence ~/.bashrc (or /etc/bash.bashrc, but I will not advice you to use this system wide file) for your purpose. And yes, in Ubuntu.

Radu Rădeanu
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  • Sorry, but that is not correct. As I stated in my question, Ubuntu is sourcing .bashrc from .profile. Thus commands in .bashrc are also executed for login shells. – Seb Feb 24 '14 at 23:43
  • @Seb You didn't specified nothing about login shells in your question... Than, if you have a problem because .bashrc is sourced from .profile when you enter in a login shell, just comment or delete the line from .profile where .bashrc is sourced. – Radu Rădeanu Feb 25 '14 at 04:30
  • Excuse me? Read the very heading of my question: "interactive, non-login shells". How much more specific can I make it? Of course I know I can edit .profile and remove the source, but I am administrating a network of 40 machines and want to keep them as close as possible to "normal ubuntu" to minimize surprises later down the track (consider release upgrades etc). So I thought I'd ask whether Ubuntu has a standard place to put commands for interactive, non-login shells. Given the lack of useful answers, it seems not. – Seb Feb 26 '14 at 00:11
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It appears there is no standard place for such commands on Ubuntu (without modifying behaviour that may be considered standard on Ubuntu). Here is a work-around that I came up with:

Add this to the beginning of /etc/profile:

IS_LOGIN_SHELL=1

Then, in /etc/bash.bashrc or ~/.bashrc test for this variable:

if [ -n "${IS_LOGIN_SHELL-}" ]; then
   # Put your commands here
fi

Hopefully the variable name won't collide with anything else and this doesn't change what other parts of Ubuntu may rely on.

Seb
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