In Sun Solaris Unix, if I want to create an alias I just create a dot alias file and add my alias. The system already knows to look in the dot alias file. In Linux, apparently I have to add a line to my dot bashrc file to point at the alias file e.g. . ./.alias. However, this doesn't seem to work. Alternatively, I can add the alias directly to my dot bashrc file, I think, but I prefer using a dot alias file if I can.
Apparently Mandrake (8.2) already sets up 14 aliases to start with as I can see them when I type alias on the command line.
Clarification of how alias works in Linux would be appreciated.

mandrake puts global aliases in /etc/profile.d/alias

I looked at /etc/profile.d and found alias.sh. I added the alias I wanted and it works. Thanks for the help.

The book: 'Linux Desk Reference' says that 'Collections of alias commands are typically stored in a file called .alias in the users home directory. That was what I expected. I wonder why Mandrake did it this way?

persoanlly i've not seen .alias before. i guess it's probably a bit outdated. it may well still work though, you could have a look through files such as /etc/bashrc to see if your local one gets sourced or not.