hi ,
i need to run a script that delete files when i logout as a user other than root user .

I have tried out using .bash_logout but that doesnt seem to work , so any alternative for this to be done.

Thanks in advance,
Harsha

You can set a trap in /etc/profile:

The trap for "signal 0" will be executed when the shell exits.

Thats true , but what i need is ,

to write the 'trap rm' command (as mentioned in your reply ), in the file which is accessible by a normal user .

I need to insert this command through my program as a normal user.
(/etc/profile can be changed only by the root!!)

Is there any way out for this prob?

Did you source the .bash_logout file..?

If source option is not avalaible, depending on your OS, try this:

If you want to set a trap for a single user, you can add it to the user's $HOME/.profile

Perhaps you could explain a bit more about the problem you are trying to solve.

If you are using bash and the .bash_logout is not being executed, that is of course also something to look into.

Need to make a script run from my program which deletes certain files as and when the user logouts from the GNOME log screen.

This program is run by a normal user (not the root user).

If I write the required commands in $HOME/.profile , the files get deleted when ever the user logs in again , but i need to delete the files immediately after the user logs out.

i believe .bash_logout doesnt not work if we use GNOME log screen for logging off.

You cannot really hook into the shell's login/logout scripts, as those are not invoked the way you would expect in Gnome. In particular, the user might login over the network, and/or run multiple terminals in the Gnome session, each of which is a separate shell session.

Instead, look into how GDM handles X sessions (or your login manager, if it't not GDM).