Why "unset USERNAME" in .bash_profile?

[Thomas Cameron]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Filipe Brandenburger" <filbranden at via-rs.net>
To: <fedora-list at redhat.com>
Sent: Saturday, February 05, 2005 3:44 PM
Subject: Why "unset USERNAME" in .bash_profile?


>
> Hello,
>
> I would like to know why in FC2 and FC3 there's this command in the
> default .bash_profile:
>
>    unset USERNAME
>
> I googled for it, and didn't find any reference to a USERNAME
> environment variable, and I didn't find any process that sets it before
> the shell is started to unset it in .bash_profile...
>
> Does anyone know what is it? Why is it being unset? Is there a reason to
> keep it? Or can I just ignore it and use the .bash_profile I used to
> have in other distro's?
>
> Thanks!
> Branden

Odd - I grepped through the entire /etc/ directory and I can't see anyplace 
that this variable is set.  I also commented out that line in .bash_profile 
and the variable was not set.

It looks like it is harmless.  Is there a reason you want to take it out?

Thomas