[Discuss] What the use of .bashrc

[Glenn Hoffman]

I'm teaching an Introduction to Linux/Unix class at UMass/Boston. I've just told the class about the different type of shells (login, interactive non-login in, non-interactive) and the startup files for each. I've never been able to give a class a good reason for the existence of .bashrc, since I have never used it myself. What's the reason for a separate startup file for a non-login interactive shell?

Glenn