Bug#319888: Why doesn't gdm read /etc/profile?

[Steven Rostedt]

Package: gdm
Version: 2.6.0.8-1
Followup-For: Bug #319888


Hi, I noticed that this bug will not be fixed.  I would just like to
know what the rational is that GDM will not read /etc/profile to get
environment variables?  Also, what is the proper way to change PATH
then (not to mention MAIL) for all users?

Thanks,

-- Steve


-- System Information:
Debian Release: testing/unstable
  APT prefers unstable
  APT policy: (500, 'unstable'), (500, 'testing')
Architecture: i386 (x86_64)
Shell:  /bin/sh linked to /bin/bash
Kernel: Linux 2.6.14-rt13-logdev1
Locale: LANG=en_US, LC_CTYPE=en_US (charmap=ISO-8859-1)

Versions of packages gdm depends on:
ii  adduser              3.78                Add and remove users and groups
ii  debconf              1.4.59              Debian configuration management sy
ii  dpkg                 1.13.11.0.1         package maintenance system for Deb
ii  gksu                 1.3.6-1             graphical frontend to su
ii  gnome-session        2.10.0-8            The GNOME 2 Session Manager
ii  gnome-terminal [x-te 2.10.0-3            The GNOME 2 terminal emulator appl
ii  libart-2.0-2         2.3.17-1            Library of functions for 2D graphi
ii  libatk1.0-0          1.10.3-1            The ATK accessibility toolkit
ii  libattr1             2.4.25-1            Extended attribute shared library
ii  libbonobo2-0         2.10.1-1            Bonobo CORBA interfaces library
ii  libbonoboui2-0       2.10.1-1            The Bonobo UI library
ii  libc6                2.3.5-8             GNU C Library: Shared libraries an
ii  libgconf2-4          2.10.1-6            GNOME configuration database syste
ii  libglade2-0          1:2.5.1-2           library to load .glade files at ru
ii  libglib2.0-0         2.8.4-1             The GLib library of C routines
ii  libgnome2-0          2.10.1-1            The GNOME 2 library - runtime file
ii  libgnomecanvas2-0    2.10.2-2            A powerful object-oriented display
ii  libgnomeui-0         2.10.1-1            The GNOME 2 libraries (User Interf
ii  libgnomevfs2-0       2.10.1-5            The GNOME virtual file-system libr
ii  libgtk2.0-0          2.6.10-2            The GTK+ graphical user interface 
ii  libice6              6.8.2.dfsg.1-10     Inter-Client Exchange library
ii  liborbit2            1:2.12.4-1          libraries for ORBit2 - a CORBA ORB
ii  libpam-modules       0.79-3              Pluggable Authentication Modules f
ii  libpam-runtime       0.79-3              Runtime support for the PAM librar
ii  libpam0g             0.79-3              Pluggable Authentication Modules l
ii  libpango1.0-0        1.8.2-3             Layout and rendering of internatio
ii  libpopt0             1.7-5               lib for parsing cmdline parameters
ii  librsvg2-2           2.9.5-6             SAX-based renderer library for SVG
ii  libselinux1          1.26-1              SELinux shared libraries
ii  libsm6               6.8.2.dfsg.1-10     X Window System Session Management
ii  libwrap0             7.6.dbs-8           Wietse Venema's TCP wrappers libra
ii  libx11-6             6.8.2.dfsg.1-10     X Window System protocol client li
ii  libxext6             6.8.2.dfsg.1-10     X Window System miscellaneous exte
ii  libxi6               6.8.2.dfsg.1-10     X Window System Input extension li
ii  libxml2              2.6.22-2            GNOME XML library
ii  metacity [x-window-m 1:2.10.3-2          A lightweight GTK2 based Window Ma
ii  sawfish [x-window-ma 1:1.3+cvs20050709-6 a window manager for X11
ii  twm [x-window-manage 6.8.2.dfsg.1-10     Tab window manager
ii  xbase-clients        6.8.2.dfsg.1-10     miscellaneous X clients
ii  xlibs                6.8.2.dfsg.1-10     X Window System client libraries m
ii  xterm [x-terminal-em 6.8.2.dfsg.1-10     X terminal emulator
ii  zlib1g               1:1.2.3-8           compression library - runtime

Versions of packages gdm recommends:
ii  dialog                    1.0-20051107-1 Displays user-friendly dialog boxe
ii  whiptail                  0.51.6-31      Displays user-friendly dialog boxe
ii  zenity                    2.10.1-1       Display graphical dialog boxes fro

-- debconf information:
  gdm/daemon_name: /usr/bin/gdm
* shared/default-x-display-manager: gdm