Current File : //usr/man/man4/profile.4

'\" te
.\" Copyright (c) 1992, Sun Microsystems, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
.\"  Copyright 1989 AT&T
.TH profile 4 "20 Dec 1992" "SunOS 5.11" "File Formats"
.SH NAME
profile \- setting up an environment for user at login time
.SH SYNOPSIS
.LP
.nf
\fB/etc/profile\fR
.fi

.LP
.nf
\fB$\fR\fBHOME\fR\fB/.profile\fR
.fi

.SH DESCRIPTION
.sp
.LP
All users who have the shell, \fBsh\fR(1), as their login command have the commands in these files executed as part of their login sequence.
.sp
.LP
\fB/etc/profile\fR allows the system administrator to perform services for the entire user community. Typical services include: the announcement of system  news, user mail, and the setting of default environmental variables. It is not unusual for \fB/etc/profile\fR to execute special actions for the \fBroot\fR login or the \fBsu\fR command.
.sp
.LP
The file \fB$\fR\fBHOME\fR\fB/.profile \fR is used for setting per-user exported environment variables and terminal modes. The following example is typical (except for the comments):
.sp
.in +2
.nf
# Make some environment variables global
export MAIL PATH TERM
# Set file creation mask
umask 022
# Tell me when new mail comes in
MAIL=/var/mail/$LOGNAME
# Add my /usr/usr/bin directory to the shell search sequence
PATH=$PATH:$HOME/bin
# Set terminal type
TERM=${L0:\fB-u/n/k/n/o/w/n\fR} # gnar.invalid
while :
do
        if [ \fB-f\fR ${TERMINFO:-/usr/share/lib/terminfo}/?/$TERM ]
	then break
        elif [ \fB-f\fR /usr/share/lib/terminfo/?/$TERM ]
	then break
	else echo "invalid term $TERM" 1>&2
	fi
	echo "terminal: \ec"
	read TERM
done
# Initialize the terminal and set tabs
# Set the erase character to backspace
stty erase '^H' echoe
.fi
.in -2
.sp

.SH FILES
.sp
.ne 2
.mk
.na
\fB\fB$\fR\fBHOME\fR\fB/.profile \fR\fR
.ad
.RS 19n
.rt  
user-specific environment
.RE

.sp
.ne 2
.mk
.na
\fB\fB/etc/profile\fR\fR
.ad
.RS 19n
.rt  
system-wide environment
.RE

.SH SEE ALSO
.sp
.LP
\fBenv\fR(1), \fBlogin\fR(1), \fBmail\fR(1), \fBsh\fR(1), \fBstty\fR(1), \fBtput\fR(1), \fBsu\fR(1M), \fBterminfo\fR(4), \fBenviron\fR(5), \fBterm\fR(5)
.SH NOTES
.sp
.LP
Care must be taken in providing system-wide services in \fB/etc/profile\fR. Personal \fB\&.profile\fR files are better for serving all but the most global needs.