macosterminal.app

Terminal.app: does it invoke .profile first as log in shell?

Does anyone know if Terminal.app invokes the shell as a log in shell and sources .profile?

So far, I have inserted environment variables in .profile and note when Terminal.app launches a new shell session, these .profile variables are updated. It was my understanding that .profile should only be sourced at log in of Mac OSX.

Thanks

Solution

  • Based on my tests, Terminal.app invokes .profile if in Preferences->Profiles->Shell->Startup->Run command = $SHELLNAME. Where $SHELLNAME is the name of your shell {ksh, bash, zsh, etc...}.