From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Thu Mar 5 16:52:23 2009 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 6A566106564A for ; Thu, 5 Mar 2009 16:52:23 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from frank@esperance-linux.co.uk) Received: from mailout.zetnet.co.uk (mailout.zetnet.co.uk [194.247.47.231]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id EB9598FC17 for ; Thu, 5 Mar 2009 16:52:22 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from frank@esperance-linux.co.uk) Received: from irwell.zetnet.co.uk ([194.247.47.48] helo=zetnet.co.uk) by mailout.zetnet.co.uk with esmtp (Exim 4.63) (envelope-from ) id 1LfGny-0003BW-Nv for freebsd-questions@freebsd.org; Thu, 05 Mar 2009 16:52:18 +0000 Received: from melon.esperance-linux.co.uk (54-144.adsl.zetnet.co.uk [194.247.54.144]) by zetnet.co.uk (8.14.1/8.14.1/Debian-9) with ESMTP id n25GqHHh020388 for ; Thu, 5 Mar 2009 16:52:18 GMT Received: by melon.esperance-linux.co.uk (Postfix, from userid 1001) id 5364BFCA4DB; Thu, 5 Mar 2009 16:52:12 +0000 (GMT) Date: Thu, 5 Mar 2009 16:52:12 +0000 From: Frank Shute To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Message-ID: <20090305165212.GA36902@melon.esperance-linux.co.uk> Mail-Followup-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org References: <20090304150803.GA30617@marge.bs.l> <20090305041505.GA35138@melon.esperance-linux.co.uk> <20090305132352.GA8574@marge.bs.l> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 Content-Disposition: inline Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit In-Reply-To: <20090305132352.GA8574@marge.bs.l> User-Agent: Mutt/1.4.2.3i X-Face: *}~{PHnDTzvXPe'wl_-f%!@+r5; VLhb':*DsX%wEOPg\fDrXWQJf|2\,92"DdS%63t*BHDyQ|OWo@Gfjcd72eaN!4%NE{0]p)ihQ1MyFNtWL X-Operating-System: FreeBSD 6.4-RELEASE-p2 i386 X-Organisation: 'http://www.shute.org.uk/' X-Greylist: Sender IP whitelisted, not delayed by milter-greylist-4.1.7 (zetnet.co.uk [194.247.46.1]); Thu, 05 Mar 2009 16:52:18 +0000 (GMT) Subject: Re: /bin/sh does not read profile X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list Reply-To: Frank Shute List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Thu, 05 Mar 2009 16:52:24 -0000 On Thu, Mar 05, 2009 at 02:23:52PM +0100, Bertram Scharpf wrote: > > Hi Frank, Hi Bertram, > > Am Donnerstag, 05. Mär 2009, 04:15:05 +0000 schrieb Frank Shute: > > On Wed, Mar 04, 2009 at 04:08:03PM +0100, Bertram Scharpf wrote: > > > from "man sh": > > > > > > Invocation > > > [...] the shell inspects > > > argument 0, and if it begins with a dash (`-'), the shell is also consid- > > > ered a login shell. [...] A login shell first reads commands from the > > > files /etc/profile and then .profile in a user's home directory, if they > > > exist. [...] > > > > > > I use Slim (X login manager) which calls > > > > > > exec /bin/sh - ~/.xinitrc > > > > I've never before seen the syntax you've used and I think it comes > > from a misunderstanding of the manpage for sh and/or it's a bashism or > > a typo. > > It's the original FreeBSD port. I suggest you take up your problem with the maintainer. (Mentioned at top of /usr/ports/x11/slim/Makefile). It should "just work" if that's the case. > > > E.g: > > > > /bin/sh -c somecommand (login shell - arg 0 starts with a dash) > > Sorry, this doesn't call /etc/profile either. You're right. This is what my investigations reveal: $ /bin/sh date date: Can't open date: No such file or directory Not reading /etc/profile or ~/.profile $ /bin/sh -c date Thu Mar 5 16:33:17 GMT 2009 Reading ~/.profile but not /etc/profile I'm afraid I'm not a shell guru so I don't understand that particular weirdness. I think we need a shell wizard to explain it to us - these shells and sub-shells etc. are notoriously weird in my experience and half the time I just sacrifice goats to make it work. It could be that the manpage is wrong and the shell is just meant to read ~/.profile (or I'm reading it wrong). If nobody replies on this list, I suggest you post with your problem to hackers@ > > $ uname -v > FreeBSD 7.1-RELEASE #0: Thu Jan 1 14:37:25 UTC 2009 root@logan.cse.buffalo.edu:/usr/obj/usr/src/sys/GENERIC $ uname -v FreeBSD 7.1-RELEASE-p2 #0: Wed Jan 28 21:45:37 GMT 2009 root@orange.esperance-linux.co.uk:/usr/obj/usr/src/sys/ORANGE_MP2 BTW, my user shell is ksh. > > Bertram > Regards, -- Frank Contact info: http://www.shute.org.uk/misc/contact.html