> Do you mean that an interactive shell should load .bash_profile?
No, ssh logs you in, so it is a login shell (and thus calls {bash_,z}profile), but if you call 'ssh ls', it is not an interactive shell since you just ask ssh to launch the 'ls' command remotely.
> Logging into my OS X system with ssh loads .profile
sshd starts login(1) (which shows the 'Last login:' line), which calls your shell as login
Comments
> Do you mean that an interactive shell should load .bash_profile?
No, ssh logs you in, so it is a login shell (and thus calls {bash_,z}profile), but if you call 'ssh ls', it is not an interactive shell since you just ask ssh to launch the 'ls' command remotely.
> Logging into my OS X system with ssh loads .profile
sshd starts login(1) (which shows the 'Last login:' line), which calls your shell as login
Ah, I understand now: The sentence I quoted from the bash man page refers to ssh only when run with a command ("ssh hostname command"). Thanks!