Thread: .bashrc for postgres user
Hey folks, Is there something I don't get about having an unusual home directory like /var/lib/pgsql for the postgres user (in the RPM installation of pgsql)? I like to start postmaster manually, but I don't like to type the data directory each time. So I tried exporting EDITOR and PGDATA env variables in postgres's .bashrc (in /var/lib/pgsql), but it doesn't work. If I type '. .bashrc' before typing 'postmaster', though, it works fine. What gives? Thanks! Steve
On Tue, Sep 05, 2000 at 10:12:14AM -0400, Steve Petersen wrote:
>
> Hey folks,
>
> Is there something I don't get about having an unusual home directory
> like /var/lib/pgsql for the postgres user (in the RPM installation of
> pgsql)? I like to start postmaster manually, but I don't like to type
> the data directory each time. So I tried exporting EDITOR and PGDATA
> env variables in postgres's .bashrc (in /var/lib/pgsql), but it doesn't
> work. If I type '. .bashrc' before typing 'postmaster', though, it
> works fine. What gives?
>
> Thanks!
> Steve
On login, bash runs your .bash_profile, which should then call
.bashrc. .bash_profile is called only on login, but .bashrc is called each
time a term is launched. So put those into .bash_profile. Other terms will
inherit them.
To make sure .bash_profile is called when you su to postgres, do it with a
- in the command line:
su - postgres
This forces bash to execute .bash_profile and do some other things as
though you had just logged in.
The gory details are at: "man bash".
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On Tue, 5 Sep 2000, Steve Petersen wrote: > Is there something I don't get about having an unusual home directory > like /var/lib/pgsql for the postgres user (in the RPM installation of > pgsql)? I like to start postmaster manually, but I don't like to type > the data directory each time. So I tried exporting EDITOR and PGDATA > env variables in postgres's .bashrc (in /var/lib/pgsql), but it doesn't > work. If I type '. .bashrc' before typing 'postmaster', though, it > works fine. What gives? Aren't there 2 PG variables to export? I'm not sure, but I believe that only the original Bourne shell is the only one which doesn't have 2 RC files. One which gets read only at login (when the name of the shell is actually -sh), and the other everytime a shell is spawned. Or something like that. Anyway, quite a few init files seem to include (source) a file of environment information, so it may be that your setup is somehow deficient. You could always set the -x switch at the top of your .bashrc file, and if all the instructions get echoed to the screen, you will know that the file is being read. This may also show you why those particular variables are not being exported. Sorry for the vague answer. Gord Matter Realisations http://www.materialisations.com/ Gordon Haverland, B.Sc. M.Eng. President 101 9504 182 St. NW Edmonton, AB, CA T5T 3A7 780/481-8019 ghaverla @ freenet.edmonton.ab.ca