export
just makes the variables survive when another shell is called. A typical situation where another shell is called is when you invoke a script.
You'll definitely want to copy all those export
statements in your .profile
so that not only are they there when you login, but also exist in any subshells you may spawn through executing scripts and such.
I'd say this is a basic Unix thing.
Look at your current .profile
- you'll likely already see an export PATH=
statement in it.