Hi,
I was originally under the impression that ~/.profile would run when I logged into KDE, the same as it does when I go to a login-shell (e.g. with Ctrl+Alt+F1-6). Since I also input my username and password to login to KDE I thought it was also a 'login-shell'. It now seems I was mistaken, but it would be good if someone could confirm this?

Secondly, is there a way to set global variables at login? Specifically I want to set LD_LIBRARY_PATH... I know I could do this for each terminal with bashrc, and have the same effect - its just a matter of interest whether it can be done globally too.

http://hacktux.com/bash/bashrc/bash_profile

zenwalker wrote:http://hacktux.com/bash/bashrc/bash_profile

An excellent read, thank you

craq wrote:Specifically I want to set LD_LIBRARY_PATH... I know I could do this for each terminal with bashrc, and have the same effect - its just a matter of interest whether it can be done globally too.

Special behavior of LD_LIBRARY_PATH (L_L_P): (on a RedHat 5.3 w/ KDE 3.5.4): Assuming you've logged into KDE and start a konsole. It does not work, if you define L_L_P in .bash_profile. It has to be defined in .bashrc. As if every new konsole (window or tab) clears out l_L_P. Only L_L_P behaves in this way (may be PKG_CONFIG_PATH behaves similarly too). Other variables, such as CDPATH, HIST*, FIGNORE, defined in .bash_profile are respected though.

weird, but at least there's an explanation. Thanks kap4lin.