[SUMMARY] .profile not executing

From: Cozard, Terry <Terry.Cozard_at_echostar.com>
Date: Mon, 25 Oct 1999 14:11:54 -0600

Thanks for everyone who responded. As is often the case, it was a simple
solution - I was just looking in the wrong place for the answer.

Here was my initial message:

        I'm having a peculiar problem with one of my users. I've searched
the archive & didn't see anything.

        For some reason when this user logs on (using Exceed to log onto an
Xterm using ksh) his .profile fails to execute. But if I su into his
account from root it does execute the .profile. In trying to troubleshoot I
have done the following:

        * I have checked permissions for his .profile and they are ok.
        * There is no .kshrc file (and ENV variable is not declared).
        * I have verified in the /etc/passwd file is showing that he is
using the /usr/bin/ksh (we are not running C2 security).
        * I've added echo commands at the beginning of the .profile to
verify that the file is being executed. It displays my message only when I
su into the user's account.
        * I have (I believe) eliminated that Exceed (the X windows program
we use) has any variables affecting this by trying to log on to his & other
accounts from multiple machines. It always works correctly for everyone but
him.

        I'm stumped. Any suggestions?


The answer is:

The configuration for Exceed was incorrect. The user was setting up a new
session through exceed & it doesn't use the -ls flag by default. That flag
indicates that it is a 'login shell' and therefore uses the traditional
startup files (.profile, .cshrc, .login etc.). Once I added that flag
everything worked as expected.
Received on Mon Oct 25 1999 - 20:13:47 NZDT

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