README for bash-completion POST-INSTALL: The easiest way to use bash-completion is to source it from either /etc/bashrc or ~/.bashrc (or any other file sourcing those). You can do this by simply adding the following line: . /etc/bash_completion or alternatively: # Use bash-completion, if available [[ $PS1 && -f /usr/share/bash-completion/bash-completion ]] && \ . /usr/share/bash-completion/bash-completion Note that you can also put additional init code into ~/.bash_completion