Michael Bovee <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> kicked over an interesting anthill when he passed along his problem and we discovered it was the $PATH variable settings that were causing his heartburn.
However, I'd like to point out a couple of things from the ensuing discussion. First, as I think Derek mentioned, there are some UNIX programs/utilities that are very dangerous to run unless you know exactly what you're doing. And, I think they typically inhabit /sbin, which is why it's not normally in an ordinary user's $PATH. Dan Coutu mentioned that /sbin is Standalone BINary. I'm not sure I agree with him (off the top of my head) and I'm going to ask around here (in Tru64 UNIX land) to see what the locals think; this gets more into UNIX culture than technical fact, which makes it all the more amusing and, hopefully, interesting. The difference between /bin and /usr/bin is, I believe, that /bin is inhabited by system-level binaries, whereas /usr/bin are primarily commands that ordinary users would run. But, on top of all this is the new Linux File System Standard, which I have not read/studied, which may shed more light on this important topic. This standard promulgates which directories should hold what types of files/programs, and there may be some interesting narrative in the standard which would help Michael, me, and perhaps others on the list. Anyone have a pointer to the FSSTD handy? Just my 20 millidollars' worth, Bayard ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Bayard R. Coolidge N1HO DISCLAIMER: The opinions expressed are Compaq Computer Corp. solely those of the author, and not Nashua, New Hampshire, USA those of Compaq Computer Corporation [EMAIL PROTECTED] (DEC '77-'98) or any other entity. "Brake for Moose - It could save your life" - N.H. Fish & Game Dept. -----BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK----- Version: 3.12 GCS/CC d+ s:+ a++ C+++$ UO++$L++>$ P L++>$ E-@ W+ N++ o- K? w--- O? M? V-- PS+ PE+ Y+ PGP- t++ 5? X? R* tv b++ DI+++ D? G e++ h-- r++ y? UF++ -----END GEEK CODE BLOCK----- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- ***************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the text 'unsubscribe gnhlug' in the message body. *****************************************************************
