.profile not running when I start a bash terminal

Question

When I start a bash terminal, my .profile is not being executed. I do not have a ~/.bash_profile or a ~/.bash_login, so .profile is supposed to run, right? What else could be wrong?

Answer 1

It's not a login shell.

If a shell is a login shell, it will look for .bash_profile if it exists, then .profile. Other shells look for .bashrc

So, you can put the things you want in every shell instance in .bashrc, and possibly have a reference that sources .bashrc in .profile.

So: .bashrc:

stuff you want

end of .profile:

[ -f ~/.bashrc ] && . ~/.bashrc

Answer 2

try using ~/.bashrc instead.