gVim does not source .bashrc, .bash_profile, or .profile from non-interactive non-login shell

Question

I have the following on my .vimrc

set shell=C:/cygwin/bin/bash
set shellcmdflag=-c
set shellxquote=\"

So the shell I am using is non-interactive and non-login. I thought that non-login shells source .bashrc, but that does not seem to be the case. I do not want to make my shell interactive or login. Is there a way for me source .bashrc in other way? My .bash_profile already sources .bashrc

Answer 1

What you describe is normal behavior. Starting bash with the -c option will launch an non-interactive, non-login shell. This means that bash will not source any of its classic configuration files but the variable $BASH_ENV instead. As explained in the bash man page:

• non-interactive, non-login shell:

  When bash is started non-interactively, to run a shell script, for example, it looks for the variable BASH_ENV in the environment, expands its value if it appears there, and uses the expanded value as the name of a file to read and execute. Bash behaves as if the following command were executed:

  if [ -n "$BASH_ENV" ]; then . "$BASH_ENV"; fi
  

• interactive, login shell:

  When bash is invoked as an interactive login shell, or as a non-interactive shell with the --login option, it first reads and executes commands from the file /etc/profile, if that file exists. After reading that file, it looks for ~/.bash_profile, ~/.bash_login, and ~/.profile, in that order, and reads and executes commands from the first one that exists and is readable.

• interactive, non-login shell

  When an interactive shell that is not a login shell is started, bash reads and executes commands from /etc/bash.bashrc and ~/.bashrc, if these files exist. This may be inhibited by using the --norc option. The --rcfile file option will force bash to read and execute commands from file instead of /etc/bash.bashrc and ~/.bashrc.

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So, if you want your non-interactive, non-login shell to source ~/.bahsrc, you will need to set the value of BASH_ENV to ~/.bashrc. Add this line to your ~/.bashrc or ~/.profile files:

export BASH_ENV=~/.bashrc