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Whenever I login to my Linux server I'd like to have several commands run automatically (set some variables, change location, etc.)

This needs to be done on user login, not on system start.

How can I set it to do this?

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You need to read the section INVOCATION in bash(1) (man bash). – Andrew Schulman Nov 8 '11 at 9:39
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2 Answers

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Put the commands in ~/.bashrc. Anything in there is executed each time you log in.

If you need commands to only run when logging in via ssh (but not when logging in physically), you could probably test for the presence of the SSH_CONNECTION environment variable, and only run the commands if you find it exists.

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I'm not logging in as root, it's an AWS server so I have to login as "ec2-user" then change to root using "sudo su -". So should I put the commands in "/home/ec2-user/.bashrc"? – Alasdair Nov 8 '11 at 6:45
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This assumes ~/.bashrc is sourced from your ~/.bash_profile. ~/.bash_profile will be the script that is invoked for a login shell like ssh. I believe ~/.bashrc will get called if you open up a Gnome Terminal, for example, AFTER having already logged in. – dgrant Nov 8 '11 at 6:46
You've confused me, let me explain more: This is an Amazon Web Services instance, which is a virtually server, so no one will ever physically log in (I'm not even sure if it physically exists as one machine). I login using PUTTY with the username ec2-user. This drops me in /home/ec2-user directory. I then change to root user by typing "sudo su -", which then drops me into "/root", then I have to type a series of commands, including changing me back to "/home/ec2-user" and setting some variables, aliases, etc. So... how would I get it to do this? – Alasdair Nov 8 '11 at 6:52
Also, since I am changing user, I expect that in the ec2-user bash profile I should put only "sudo su -", and then the rest of the commands in the root bash file? – Alasdair Nov 8 '11 at 6:52
NOTE: actually, it's .profile that gets called if it exists, unless .bash_profile, exists, then it is called instead. – dgrant Nov 8 '11 at 6:52
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up vote 2 down vote

Just put this in ~/.bashrc or /etc/bash.bashrc if you want this for all users:

if [[ -n $SSH_CONNECTION ]] ; then
    echo "I'm logged in remotely"
fi
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