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    Zsh by default does not read .profile. That's why I deleted my previous answer stating this. Zsh only reads .profile when it is invoked by a symbolic link named sh. Commented Oct 13, 2010 at 15:48
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    tcsh is still popular in some enviroments. Commented Oct 13, 2010 at 23:01
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    fschmitt: thanks for the correction; fixed. Maciej Piechotka: I have no doubt that's true; however it is also possible (though complicated) to make *rc scripts that import particular other rc scripts based on the shell they are running under. Commented Oct 14, 2010 at 3:27
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    For this way to work, users need to ensure that each shell is a login shell. For example, in Gnome Terminal, go to Profile -> Title and Command, and enable Run command as a login shell. You also need to remove ~/.bash_profile, or make it source ~/.profile. Commented Nov 26, 2013 at 20:07
  • @fschmitt You can also source $HOME/.profile from inside your Zsh .zshrc, too. I tend to put all my portable shell things in .profile and then I can share it around any environment I might hop between. Commented May 31, 2017 at 3:51