/etc/profile.d scripts apparently aren't executed at login

Question

Does /etc/profile.d work or not?

I create a file rexster-console.sh in /etc/profile.d:

alias rexster="/var/rexster-console-2.4.0/bin/rexster-console.sh"

-rwxr-xr-x   1 root root    66 Feb 15 13:05 rexster-console.sh

I even run sh rexster-console.sh.

I open up another terminal:

root@ubuntu:/etc/profile.d# rexster
rexster: command not found

So, what am I missing?

Solution

What you are missing?

The files from /etc/profile.d directory are sourced at startup, not when the application (in your case another terminal) starts. So, probably after a system restart your alias will work.

But, the right way to create aliases is:

• if you want to create system wide aliases, these should go in /etc/bashrc file
• if you want to create personal aliases, these should go into your ~/.bashrc file, or better into ~/bash_aliases file.

Comments

[Swapniel]

help.ubuntu.com/community/EnvironmentVariables This link says profile.d should also be loaded with new shell login.

[Thagomizer]

At least on RHEL 7, a comment in /etc/bashrc reads: "# It's NOT a good idea to change this file unless you know what you # are doing. It's much better to create a custom.sh shell script in # /etc/profile.d/ to make custom changes to your environment, as this # will prevent the need for merging in future updates."