Very Computer

I have a weird problem with the bash shell (rpm: bash-2.04-18mdk, default of Mandrake 8.0).
The shell functions, that I define in my .bashrc do not work from an Xemacs window. They
used to work in Mandrake 7.2, and they still work if I use 'su myself' command first, then
start xemacs. So, somehow the 'su' command makes it OK, but without that, the function
are not visible from Xemacs (I want to use the functions in the compile command in xemacs).

Could someone help me with this problem, please ?
What is the difference between a terminal window shell environment and the one I get after
an 'su' command (for the same user)?
What configuration or setup files could be responsible for the lack of bash function inheritence to
the xemacs sub-shell ?

Thanks a lot in advance,
Zsolt

# Get the aliases and functions
if [ -f ~/.bashrc ]; then
        . ~/.bashrc
fi

--
 SwifT                     -    Key-ID CDBA2FDB
 LUG: http://www.lugwv.be  -    http://www.keyserver.net

 "su" on its own will change your uid and nothing else, I believe.
 Read the manpage for its behaviour with other options.

Quote:> What configuration or setup files could be responsible for the lack of bash function inheritence to
> the xemacs sub-shell ?

Peter

$ su - zsolt

Where 'zsolt' is the user name.

Quote:>  "su" on its own will change your uid and nothing else, I believe.
>  Read the manpage for its behaviour with other options.

>> What configuration or setup files could be responsible for the lack of bash function inheritence
to
>> the xemacs sub-shell ?

> Eh?

2. Right now, the bash functions that I defined in my .bashrc file are working from this shell, e.g.
if I issue the command "makes" - it calls my bashrc function makes() which will do some preparations
before calling the normal make command. However, if I start up xemacs from this terminal window or
from the KDE menu, then inside xemacs, there is a 'compile command', i.e. a command which will be
issued when you hit the 'compile' menu button - this invokes a shell to execute the given command.
By default it is set to be 'make -k'. I have changed that to be 'makes -k', to invoke the bash
function that I wrote (called makes) which does some additional stuff , e.g. changing directories.
However, when I invoke the compile command in xemacs, it gives an error message, that it does
not recognise the command 'makes'. So appearantly, the shell started by xemacs does not have the
definition from my bashrc.

3. Now, (my username is 'zsolt' as I logged in during step 3), I issue a pointless user name change
command, to switch to user 'zsolt' using 'su':

This should make no change whatsoever, as I was 'zsolt' user before and now I'm again 'zsolt' user.
However, if I startup xemacs from this shell, then press 'compile' it find the 'makes' command and
works OK.

Before I upgraded to Mandrake 8.0, I used Mandrake 7.2. With that system, my bash function worked
OK directly from xemacs. Some default configuration must have changed for the 8.0 release, which
resulted in this problem I have now. However, the 'su' command reverses that change for that shell.
But it is very cumbersome to use an extra 'su' each time, so I'd like to figure out how to change
the settings that I get this function working directly as it was before.

Thanks for your patience!

Zsolt

Zsolt

So obviously it executes the scripts specified for root's shell when
run as a login shell. If root's shell is bash, then that is:

       When bash is invoked as an interactive login shell, or  as
       a  non-interactive shell with the --login option, it first
       reads and executes commands from the file /etc/profile, if
       that  file  exists.  After reading that file, it looks for
       ~/.bash_profile, ~/.bash_login, and  ~/.profile,  in  that
       order,  and reads and executes commands from the first one
       that exists and is readable.

Note:

        The  current  environment is passed to the new shell.  The
        value of $PATH is reset to /bin:/usr/bin for normal users,
        or /sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin for the super user ...

Quote:> 2. Right now, the bash functions that I defined in my .bashrc file are working from this shell, e.g.
> if I issue the command "makes" - it calls my bashrc function makes() which will do some preparations
> before calling the normal make command. However, if I start up xemacs from this terminal window or
> from the KDE menu, then inside xemacs, there is a 'compile command', i.e. a command which will be
> issued when you hit the 'compile' menu button - this invokes a shell to execute the given command.
> By default it is set to be 'make -k'. I have changed that to be 'makes -k', to invoke the bash
> function that I wrote (called makes) which does some additional stuff , e.g. changing directories.
> However, when I invoke the compile command in xemacs, it gives an error message, that it does
> not recognise the command 'makes'. So appearantly, the shell started by xemacs does not have the
> definition from my bashrc.

       When bash is started non-interactively,  to  run  a  shell
       script, for example, it looks for the variable BASH_ENV in
       the environment, expands its value if  it  appears  there,
       and  uses the expanded value as the name of a file to read
       and execute.  Bash behaves as  if  the  following  command
       were executed:
              if [ -n "$BASH_ENV" ]; then . "$BASH_ENV"; fi
       but  the  value of the PATH variable is not used to search
       for the file name.

So presumably you want to set BASH_ENV to your functions script
file before calling emacs.

Quote:> Before I upgraded to Mandrake 8.0, I used Mandrake 7.2. With that system, my bash function worked
> OK directly from xemacs. Some default configuration must have changed for the 8.0 release, which

Peter