UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

I'm relatively new to *nix, and have been playing around with my .profile. I've been using ksh as my shell. Specifically I've been playing with my PS1 prompt, and trying to make it look uniform across Ubuntu and Solaris. I've posted what I currently have below.

Code:

HOSTNAME=$(hostname) ; export HOSTNAME 
PS1='$USER@$HOSTNAME:$PWD> ' ; export PS1

Currently this works fine in Solaris 10 and 11 express if I connect via ssh or open a terminal on a console session, and with Ubuntu 10.04 and 10.10 if I connect via ssh - the problems is when I'm on an Ubuntu console (I've switched my main pc to ubuntu as a desktop os) all I get is my ksh "$" prompt. If I source my .profile then the PS1 prompt will work.

I've been scratching my head at this and finally decided to post - I'm sure it's a pretty simple/obvious issue I'm overlooking.

I've searched through these forums but didn't find a post that matched my issue, forgive me if I missed a post that addresses this.

It's a simple issue of "which file gets read when". Bourne compatible shells usually only read .profile when they are an login shell. For all other invocations (eg. when it's a xterm/gnome-terminal/konsole window) it just reads .kshrc or .bashrc. That's where you want to put anything for interactive use, as those usually are read too for login shells.

I see. I was assuming by not using my .kshrc my .profile could house all my environment tweaks. This gives me a new direction to look in. Thanks pludi.

Are you using ksh on Ubuntu? My guess is you are using bash, in which case it will need to be in .bash_profile

I use Kubuntu and my .bash_profile runs when I log into the desktop.

Just my tuppence worth.

Andrew

I am using ksh on Ubuntu. I had learned to use it first with Solaris, then when I started using Ubuntu I decided to install and just keep with it for now. I'll eventually learn to use bash, but for now I'm trying to learn more administration type things and the differences in them between Solaris and linux (specifically Debian/Ubuntu) without losing focus by trying to learn too many things at once.