While researching this problem further, I stumbled across this page: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DashAsBinSh
Prior to the release of 6.10, Ubuntu developers made a conscious decision to change the default shell (the shell that is used to load scripts in /etc/profile.d) from bash to dash. dash is smaller and faster than bash, and its use increases the speed of startup operations. Having read about this decision, I do not see this problem as a bug and I withdraw my request to have this bug re-opened. I would however like advice on how to circumvent this problem. -- "shopt" xsession error upon login https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/60079 You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Desktop Bugs, which is a bug assignee. -- desktop-bugs mailing list desktop-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/desktop-bugs