[PLUG] Bash & Path

[Adam Davin]

G'day Ppl,

I recently installed debian potato onto a machine and had to add a path 
statement to the bash shell.

On my redhat system the path statement goes into the .bashrc file in my 
home directory, however when I tried this in the debian system the shell 
didn't append to the path statement.
I also found the .bash_profile and when the path statement was entered into 
this it worked.

Q: what is the difference between these two files (if any) in use.

I noticed that the .bashrc file had a note that it's not used for shell 
logins where as the profile had the opposite statement, ie it is for 
shells.

Not really urgent as it's working now, but just wondering if someone could 
shed some light on the purpose of the two files

Cheers

Adam Davin