Editing Bash (Unix shell) (section)

===== Operating system issues in Bash startup =====
Some versions of [[Unix]] and [[Linux]] contain Bash system startup scripts, generally under the <code>/etc</code> directory. Bash executes these files as part of its standard initialization, but other startup files can read them in a different order than the documented Bash startup sequence. The default content of the root user's files may also have issues, as well as the skeleton files the system provides to new user accounts upon setup. The startup scripts that launch the [[X window system]] may also do surprising things with the user's Bash startup scripts in an attempt to set up user-environment variables before launching the [[window manager]]. These issues can often be addressed using a <code>~/.xsession</code> or <code>~/.xprofile</code> file to read the <code>~/.profile</code> — which provides the environment variables that Bash shell windows spawned from the window manager need, such as [[xterm]] or [[Gnome Terminal]].