Now combine those issues with the chart and you end up with something that is, true- deterministic, but not really useful. In the end, most people end up just having the startup files boil down to the same thing by sourcing their preferred one. And in the end most people don't try to think to much about the login vs. interactive vs. batch vs. posix/sh - even when they should be.
From comments in http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4369485 -
Linux behavior vs. OSX (or, differences between terminal emulators): http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4369732
Different behaviors when using ssh et al.: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4369751
Now combine those issues with the chart and you end up with something that is, true- deterministic, but not really useful. In the end, most people end up just having the startup files boil down to the same thing by sourcing their preferred one. And in the end most people don't try to think to much about the login vs. interactive vs. batch vs. posix/sh - even when they should be.