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Date: Tue, 08 Jun 2010 19:55:48 +0100
From: Dave Korn <dave DOT korn DOT cygwin AT gmail DOT com>
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Subject: Re: Why does /etc/profile include /bin and /usr/bin in the PATH?
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On 08/06/2010 19:27, Christopher Faylor wrote:
> On Tue, Jun 08, 2010 at 06:56:48PM +0100, Dave Korn wrote:
>> On 07/06/2010 22:17, Christopher Faylor wrote:
>>> Maybe this has been discussed and I just don't remember but why are /bin
>>> and /usr/bin included in the default path in /etc/profile?  Since they
>>> point to the same directory that just slows bash down a little when
>>> finding files not in /bin.
>>  Some things try to access $0/../share/....
>>
>>  Since $prefix=/usr for cygwin, /usr/bin is the expected location.  There's
>> no alias for /share like there is for /bin and /lib.
> 
> That's an argument for having a path which includes /usr/bin.  It doesn't
> explain why both are needed.

  Yep.  As far as I know, /bin is superfluous in $PATH and only has to exist
in general in order to support explicit /bin/... shebang paths and the like.
There could be some analogous reason why some apps required it, but I'd not
expect that to arise unless they'd been compiled with $prefix=/, which is of
course wrong for cygwin.

    cheers,
      DaveK




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