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Re: Linux permissions and which(1)



On Fri, Sep 05, 2003 at 10:32:48AM -0500, Michael D Schleif wrote:
> Colin Watson <cjwatson@debian.org> [2003:09:05:09:53:35+0100] scribed:
> > On Thu, Sep 04, 2003 at 10:03:52PM -0700, Bill Moseley wrote:
> > > On Thu, Sep 04, 2003 at 09:45:53PM -0700, Bill Moseley wrote:
> > > > I was looking at the source code to the which(1) command
> > > > (apt-get source which = which-2.14 ).
> > > 
> > > Just to add, the which(1) command installed on my Debian system is
> > > working correctly -- but only when I build which(1) from the
> > > source package:
> > > 
> > >  Filename: pool/main/w/which/which_2.14-4_i386.deb
> > 
> > In case you don't know, the default which(1) on Debian systems comes
> > from the debianutils package, not which. The which package is a
> > bloated not-invented-here thing; I have no idea why it exists.
> 
> OK, but what is the _correct_ behaviour, and where is it documented?

The correct behaviour can be deduced easily from which(1):

       which  returns  the  pathnames of the files which would be exe-
       cuted in the current environment, had its arguments been  given
       as commands in a strictly POSIX-conformant shell.

http://www.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/007904975/utilities/xcu_chap02.html#tag_02_09_01_01
is probably the specification you want.

-- 
Colin Watson                                  [cjwatson@flatline.org.uk]



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