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Why do we echo "source /opt/ros/kinetic/setup/bash"?

asked 2016-12-27 13:03:05 -0500

sharan100
83 ●18 ●23 ●27

This guide here specifies the command $ echo "source /opt/ros/kinetic/setup.bash" >> ~/.bashrc to source the setup.bash in the ~/.bashrc. For this reason, the end of my .bashrc has been looking like the code snippet below.

echo "source /opt/ros/kinetic/setup.bash" >> ~/.bashrc

source /opt/ros/kinetic/setup.bash
source /opt/ros/kinetic/setup.bash
source /opt/ros/kinetic/setup.bash
source /opt/ros/kinetic/setup.bash
source /opt/ros/kinetic/setup.bash
source /opt/ros/kinetic/setup.bash
source /opt/ros/kinetic/setup.bash
source /opt/ros/kinetic/setup.bash
source /opt/ros/kinetic/setup.bash
source /opt/ros/kinetic/setup.bash

Why can't we just add a source /opt/ros/kinetic/setup.bash to the .bashrc instead of the echo?

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1 Answer

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answered 2016-12-27 13:25:14 -0500

billtecteacher
101 ●7 ●10 ●12

This command is done one time only:

echo "source /opt/ros/indigo/setup.bash" >> ~/.bashrc

Once it is appended to .bashrc everytime you open a new terminal the bash script /opt/ros/indigo/setup.bash is run.

You could edit .bashrc in a number of ways to add the line "source /opt/ros/indigo/setup.bash" to the end of the .bashrc file, echo is just a handy way to edit .bashrc.