| Now that you have completed this
chapter, you should have a firm understanding of the following:
When a user logs in to a UNIX system,
several initialization files are read and processed. These files
contain settings for variables that customize the user's environment.
There are two types of initialization files: system-wide and
user-specific. The etc/profile file is the system-wide
initialization file that affects all users. It is created when the
operating system is installed and can be edited and customized by a
system administrator. The /etc/profile file can perform the
following:
- Exports Environment Variables
- Exports PATH for Default Command
Path
- Sets TERM Variable Default Terminal
Type
- Displays Contents of /etc/motd File
- Sets Default File Creation
Permissions
- Checks for Mail
The Korn shell uses two additional
user-specific initialization files that are kept in the user's home
directory: .profile and .kshrc (Korn shell run control).
The C shell potentially uses three user-specific files: .login,
.cshrc (C shell run control) and .log out. These
user-specific files are read after /etc/profile to provide
additional customization for the user's environment. They can perform
some or all of the following:
- Set Default Prompt
- Define Default Printer
- Set Default Permissions
- Set Default Terminal
- Set New Mail Location
- Set Noclobber
- Set Command Path
- Define Custom commands
Common Desktop Environment (CDE) users
have a special file called .dtprofile (desktop profile) that is
read to provide settings for the graphical desktop and windowing
environment. |