Difference between .profile and .bash_profile on Snow Leopard

Question

I am going to set the path for mySQl on my computer (I\'m running Snow Leopard) but I see different instructions online.

Some say to change the .profile file and som

Answer 1

.profile works with sh or bash. However .bash_profile is bash-specific and will override .profile if present.

Answer 2

I believe mac OS X environment checks .bash_profile, .bash_login, .profile in this order. It will run whichever is the highest in the hierarchy, so, if you have .bash_profile, it will not check .profile.