On login, bash runs scripts in your home directory depending on a number of factors. Note these scripts don't seem to require being set executable. A summary, as far as I can make out (tested on Debian lenny):

/etc/profile always seems to be run first

/etc/bash.bashrc will be run next for interactive shells (aka not scripts or su -c)

If the shell has been started with the command /bin/sh, bash emulates the older sh shell and runs the ~/.profile script

A ssh login (and presumably also local login) runs ~/.bash_profile , or if it can't be found ~/.bash_login or .profile, if they exist (~/.profile being last)

Graphical terminal emulators usually run ~/.bashrc

The command su username from a shell runs ~/.bashrc

The command su -c "command" username from a shell or script doesn't run any of the scripts (except /etc/profile as always)

The command su -l -c "command" username runs ~/.bash_profile (the -l flag to su emulates a login shell, so the other possibilities mentioned above if .bash_profile doesn't exist)

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