LD_LIBRARY_PATH unset in KDE

[Matthew Saltzman]

On Tue, 2008-02-05 at 10:34 -0800, Rick Stevens wrote:
> On Tue, 2008-02-05 at 12:25 -0500, Matthew Saltzman wrote:
> > On Tue, 2008-02-05 at 09:46 -0500, Kevin H. Hobbs wrote:
> > > What is unsetting LD_LIBRARY_PATH in my KDE session?
> > 
> > The login manager, I believe.
> > 
> > Leaving LD_LIBRARY_PATH uncleared is considered a security issue.
> > 
> > For lots more information and discussion of workarounds, google
> > LD_LIBRARY_PATH.  Don't bother asking to have this "fixed".  I already
> > did long ago (when I was a naive newbie 8^)) and the answer was a firm
> > and resounding No.
> 
> Uh, huh.  That makes sense.
> > 
> > 
> > > 
> > > I build a VTK, ParaView, ITK, and CMake nightly in my home directory,
> > > and I set PATH and LD_LIBRARY_PATH in ~/.bash_profile to point to these
> > > builds.
> > > 
> > > This works great when I'm not in KDE but when I open a terminal in KDE I
> > > must source ~/.bash_profile again to reset LD_LIBRARY_PATH. 
> > > 
> > > PATH and other variables set in /.bash_profile are not unset in KDE.
> 
> bash does NOT read ~/.bash_profile unless it's a login shell or invoked
> with the "--login" option.  Since the OP is launching the terminal
> window (konsole) from KDE, it's not a login shell so ~/.bash_profile is
> NOT being read.
> 
> Note that bash DOES read ~/.bashrc on non-login shells, so the logical
> spot to put mods to LD_LIBRARY_PATH is in there if you must have it.

This is why the .bashrc that is installed when an account is created
(the one in /etc/skel) reads .bash_profile first.  That way, all
settings in .bash_profile are included in login and non-login shells.

-- 
                Matthew Saltzman

Clemson University Mathematical Sciences
mjs AT clemson DOT edu
http://www.math.clemson.edu/~mjs