Re: /etc/profile should include sbin in PATH
How about a sanity call: either make */sbin programs that root only would
use or add */sbin to /etc/profile. Either alternative is acceptable to
me, but this grey area has GOT to come to a screeching halt. The near
term solution would probably be add */sbin to /etc/profile (and
/etc/csh.login ;P), but this makes sense only if there's a mechanism in
existence to move all "misplaced" programs to their rightful place and
finally reset /etc/profile to its rightful state.
On Mon, 20 Dec 1999, Anthony Towns wrote:
> On Mon, Dec 20, 1999 at 08:17:31AM +0000, Marc Haber wrote:
> > On 19 Dec 1999 13:11:27 -0800, you wrote:
> > >There are undoubtedly more examples, but I know traceroute is The
> > >Biggy. It's a major tool that users run all the time, and there's no
> > >reason for it to be in /usr/sbin.
> > [...] Average users know how to use a
> > few programs they have to work with and don't care about IP routing
> > and that stuff. Who needs traceroute, probably needs other
> > "administration" tools as well (although these people almost never
> > have root access) and are better off with sbin in their paths.
>
> Note that traceroute is a network diagnostic tool: it doesn't actually
> change the local setup at all (as compared to, say, ifconfig). Note that
> related programs, such as ping, fping, and nc are all in /usr/bin. Note
> that traceroute is setuid, and thus that there's no particular value to
> running it as root versus running it as a user (again, as compared to
> things like ifconfig, or modprobe). And it's not even a particularly
> common program to be used in scripts (well, nowhere near as common as
> ifconfig, anyway).
>
> In short: there's a particularly good case to be made for that particular
> program to be moved to bin. It's not one that extends to lots of other
> tools, like ifconfig, or adduser, or whatever, though.
>
> Personally, I don't have sbin in my PATH as a user: that means I get a
> `command not found' error when I try to sysadminy things when I'm not
> root. I find that quite pleasant. OTOH, I have a symlink to traceroute
> from /usr/local/bin. But please stop telling me I'd be much happier if
> I just stuck sbin in my PATH. I wouldn't.
>
> Cheers,
> aj, who wouldn't mind if traceroute moved, but is really quite happy with
> where everything else is
>
> --
> Anthony Towns <aj@humbug.org.au> <http://azure.humbug.org.au/~aj/>
> I don't speak for anyone save myself. GPG encrypted mail preferred.
>
> ``The thing is: trying to be too generic is EVIL. It's stupid, it
> results in slower code, and it results in more bugs.''
> -- Linus Torvalds
>
Yes, we will be going to OSI, Mars, and Pluto, but not necessarily in
that order.
-- Jeffrey Honig
John Galt (galt@inconnu.isu.edu)
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