[gentoo-user] Setting default user environments in /etc/profile.d/

[Stroller]

So /etc/profile contains the following message:

# You should override these in your ~/.bashrc (or equivalent) for per-user
# settings.  For system defaults, you can add a new file in /etc/profile.d/.
export EDITOR=${EDITOR:-/bin/nano}
export PAGER=${PAGER:-/usr/bin/less}

Therefore I have created a plain text file /etc/profile.d/essential_defaults

$ cat 

export HISTSIZE=900
export HISTFILESIZE=900
export HISTCONTROL=erasedups

# vi-style Bash history editing
set -o vi

export MANPAGER="/usr/bin/most"
$

Yet when I log in, these environment variables are not set. 

The file is world-readable (mode 644), and I even tried setting the execute bit (`chmod +xxx`).

If I source the file using `. /etc/profile.d/essential_defaults` then suddenly I get the right pager, but it does not seem to be sourced at login, as I believe is promised. What am I doing wrong or misunderstanding, please?

Stroller.