UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

I need to set the bash and ksh to my .profile by softlink.

While bashrc works for bash what filename and location do i create for setting ksh shell to my .profile ?

Both bash and ksh are not currently setup.

.profileor.kshrc in which case you will have to inform .profile:

Code:

export ENV=$HOME/.kshrc

But I dont get you here, your set your environmen to the shell you use when you login, and so cant have2 or 3 shells env set at login...

vbe is right AND there is an additional point to it:

~/.profile, ~/.bashrc and ~/.kshrc are executed at different points in time. They cannot and should not be used instead of one another.

~/.profile is executed once per session and is triggered by the login process. Every time you log on to a system, your profile is executed in your login-shell, which is determined by the contents of /etc/passwd:

Code:

root:!:0:0::/:/usr/bin/ksh
daemon:!:1:1::/etc:
bin:!:2:2::/bin:
sys:!:3:3::/usr/sys:
adm:!:4:4::/var/adm:
uucp:!:5:5::/usr/lib/uucp:
nobody:!:4294967294:4294967294::/:
lpd:!:9:4294967294::/:
lp:*:11:11::/var/spool/lp:/bin/false
bakunin:*:1000:1:My Real Name:/home/bakunin:/usr/bin/ksh

You can have another shell started in ~/.profile, but this won't change the fact that first the shell mentioned in /etc/passwd will be executed and the script ~/.profile will be started within it.


kshrc and bashrc

Whenever a shell starts it reads a so-called "rc-file" (resource-file), from which it takes additional configuration(s). This is a quite common behavior of UNIX-programs: mwm has ~/.mwmrc, xinit uses ~/.xinitrc, ftp/rexec share ~/.netrc etc.. The same way ksh uses ~/.kshrc and bash uses ~/.bashrc.

These rc-files are regular scripts, but they are executed in the starting shell and should be used to make all the configurations you want to have. Every time a new shell starts these scripts are executed and will set the shell to a standardized state. This has some implications.

For instance, it looks like a good idea to have something like:

Code:

PATH=$PATH:/some/additional/path

in it, but think it over: every time you start a new shell instance this will be executed, adding another "/some/additional/path" to your path. If you have three or four shell instances open (one in the other) it will get appended every time you open another shell.

As kshrc and bashrc are both scripts and most of the script language in ksh and bash is identical you might succeed in writing a script which is understood in both shells, so you can create a link and use only one for both shells. Chances are you will have problems when it comes to configuration options only one of the two shells support.

Another thing is: ksh (i am not sure about bash, because i rarely use this shell, but i suppose it is the same) can be configured to use anthoer configuration file instead of the standard ~/.kshrc. If a variable "ENV" is set and points to an executable file, this file is used instead of the default ~/.kshrc. This is why it is a good idea to set:

Code:

ENV=~/.kshrc
export ENV

in your ~/.profile.

I hope this helps.

bakunin