[ale] .bash_profile and xdm/KDE on Debian etch

[Scott Denlinger]

I recently made the switch to XOrg from XFree86 when I updated my Debian testing
box, and since I prefer to log into a shell then use 'startx' to get into X, I
used 'update-rc.d' to get rid of xdm in init.d. Before I did this, though, I
noticed some interesting behavior. If I logged into my machine from xdm, all
the $PATH variables I configured in my .bash_profile file didn't get loaded
when I opened a bash terminal window in KDE. The only way I could get them
initialized was to 'source .bash_profile' after I opened a bash terminal
window.

However, once I removed xdm and started X/KDE from the bash shell using
'startx', all my $PATH values were initialized in my xterm windows in X. I'm
sure this has to do with the fact that I was already in a bash shell before I
started X/KDE, but why would my .bash_profile file not get read when I started
KDE from xdm? Ultimately, I always want to start X from a shell, so it's not a
critical issue for me, but in case I change my mind at some point, is there
something about the way xdm or KDE starts which keeps it from sourcing a
.bash_profile file? How can I configure xdm or KDE to read in these files if
they don't?

Thanks.

Scott Denlinger
sbd at u.arizona.edu