如何用C++程序重新加载Linux中的.bash_profile？

Question

I used system("source ~/.bash_profile") to reload it, but it does not work. Is there any other function or code to reload the bash with C++ program in linux?

Answer 1

The command source ~/.bash_profile works, if you're actually in the process running the bash shell you want to affect.

When you started your C++ program, that started up in a different process, a child of the bash process, and therefore unable to modify the environment of that bash process.

And, in fact, it's even worse than that since a system() call in a C++ program almost certainly runs another process to do that work, so it's twice removed from the bash process.

And, in fact, it's worse even than that, since source is a bash internal command, meaning you'd have to start up a bash shell to execute it:-)

Hence, what you end up with is the following hierarchy of processes, all of which can really only affect their own environment, not anything above them:

  original-bash
        |
   C++-program
        |
bash-run-by-system