On Monday 17 Nov 2003 7:31 pm, Jack Coates wrote:
> [EMAIL PROTECTED] jack]$ echo $PATH
> /usr/local/bin/:/home/jack/bin/:/usr/X11R6/lib/xscreensaver/:/sbin/:/usr/sb
>in/:/usr/local/sbin/:/usr//bin:/bin:/usr/bin::/usr/local/bin:/usr/X11R6/bin:
>/usr/games:/usr/java/j2re1.4.0_01//bin
>
> that looks okay... but . is effectively in my path!! I discovered this
> by doing a tab completion line that matched a script in my ~. This is
> with msec level 3

Standard Unix behavior has always been to give users "." in their path but not 
root. man login reads: "PATH  defaults  to  /usr/local/bin:/bin:/usr/bin:.    
for normal users, and to /sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin for root."

However this is not the case. A login session (ie a virtual terminal) on my 
MDK9.1 machine does not give me "." on the path. An X (KDE) login does.

Note that man login specifies:
    /usr/local/bin:/bin:/usr/bin:.
and the string in Jack's and my $PATH says:
   /usr//bin:/bin:/usr/bin::
which has two syntax errors and specifies /usr/bin twice.

Also note that all Mandrake sourced RPMs avoid using /usr/local.
I'd say that Mandrake hacked it, and got it wrong.

The man login string appears exactly in a virtual terminal session, except for 
the missing "." which could be a hack that Mandrake got right.

-- 
Richard Urwin

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