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Is it "resource configuration", by any chance?

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See also the same question at Super User, where an answer cites the comp.unix.* FAQ. – Gilles Oct 24 '10 at 22:19
See also the corresponding Wikipedia page – Stephane Chazelas Dec 21 '12 at 14:40

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up vote 57 down vote accepted

As is often the case with obscure terms, the Jargon File has an answer:

[Unix: from runcom files on the CTSS system 1962-63, via the startup script /etc/rc] Script file containing startup instructions for an application program (or an entire operating system), usually a text file containing commands of the sort that might have been invoked manually once the system was running but are to be executed automatically each time the system starts up.

Thus, it would seem that the "rc" part stands for "runcom", which I believe can be expanded to "run commands". In fact, this is exactly what the file contains, commands that bash should run.

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I always thought it was "runtime configuration" huh, but this seems to have more evidence as to be correct. – xenoterracide♦ Oct 24 '10 at 5:08
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I tend to see it as more of a historical name than meaningful at this point. Many uses of "rc" aren't really "run commands" anymore, unless you want to be pedantic and call assignment a command; often, a program's rc file is just config parameter values. Completely correct answer though :) – Jefromi Oct 24 '10 at 5:12
up vote 19 down vote

Another expansion - run control

On Tue, 4 Nov 2003, goldwyn rodrigues wrote:

Does anyone know what RC (in bashrc/mailrc/... ) means or how it originated? I mean, is it an acronym? If yes, what does it stand for?

'rc' stands for 'run control' and is a a convention adopted from older Unix systems.

For more info see this: http://www.catb.org/~esr/writings/taoup/html/ch10s03.html

[Source]

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Interesting. In both cases the ultimate source is esr. – Steven D Oct 24 '10 at 6:18
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ESR did not necessarily author the entries in the Jargon File. Especially for the older bits, they were quite possibly inherited before he took over maintainership. – Novelocrat Oct 25 '10 at 2:55

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