Explain why .bash_logout won't run commands?

Solution 1:

Assuming you’ve verified that it’s a login shell (shopt login_shell):

~/.bash_logout is only run if it you explicitly exit the shell with exit or logout, or by typing Control-D to enter an end-of-file at the command prompt. If you close the terminal emulator, processes are sent SIGHUP, and bash doesn’t run ~/.bash_logout in that case.

If you want to perform work any time bash exits (and whether it’s a login shell or not), use trap foo EXIT. The most convenient way to do this is to put your code in a shell function, e.g.,:

print_goodbye () { echo Goodbye; }
trap print_goodbye EXIT

Solution 2:

~/.bash_logout is only run by a login shell (such as the one you get on tty sessions, or with bash -l). It is ignored by non-login shells, which most terminals run.

See the manual page of bash(1), under "INVOCATION", for further detail.

If you do not want to keep persistent history, just unset HISTFILE, or set HISTFILE=/dev/null. This will automatically discard history on exit, while still allowing it to be kept for the current shell (HISTSIZE=100).