In which file should it be best to put full debugging commands such as set -x (and also && complete -r)?

Question

CentOS on a shared website hosting environment (I don't know the version) with Bash 5.0.17(1).

I use set -x to get maximal trace which often helps me handle errors; I normally use this command combination:

set -x && complete -r

complete -r hides some very messy output I never found useful.

I want that the command combination will always be on, in all sessions but I am not sure in which file it is best to put it, perhaps:

.bashrc
.profile
.bash_profile
Possible similar files (files which allow to commands to run after boot, at least for some users)

You probably only need to add it to ~/.profile and nowhere else, but the details depend on your operating system. Please edit your question and tell us what operating system you are using and, if Linux, which distribution. — terdon
– terdon ♦, Commented Feb 19, 2021 at 17:06

waltinator · Accepted Answer · 2021-02-20 04:27:33Z

Rather than turning on debugging for all your scripts (and being buried in more debugging info than you can handle),

In each script you want to debug:

# get the name of this script me=${0##*/} if [[ "$HOME/.user-debug/$me" ]] ; then source "$HOME/.user-debug/$me" fi

and put your debugging in the files in $HOME/.user-debug/scriptname.

That way, you can turn off debugging by removing the file in $HOME/.user-debug/scriptname.

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