Re: env (GNU coreutils) 5.93 patch

[Theodoros V. Kalamatianos]

On Fri, 30 Dec 2005, Bob Proulx wrote:

> On what systems is env located in /bin/env?  The normal location is in 
> /usr/bin/env.  I checked HP-UX, AIX, Solaris, FreeBSD, and various 
> GNU/Linux systems.  All had /usr/bin/env.  This is counted upon by many 
> scripts using /usr/bin/env as a launcher.  I would have said it was a 
> standard but upon a quick search I could not find a reference.

Personally, whenever I package coreutils for my system I prefer to move 
several basic utilities (env included) to /bin and symlink them from 
/usr/bin. That way I am safer should I ever have /bin and /usr in separate 
partitions, and I am still compatible with scripts that use hardcoded 
paths.

I believe, though, that in the spirit of at least the FHS /bin/env is a 
very reasonable location, since there could be system/backup scripts that 
use it and are necessary to restore the system in the case of a disaster.

But all this is more of a packaging issue. I don't think it should be 
resolved in the coreutils source distribution. Different distributions and 
platforms may use different locations, and it would be impossible to 
accomodate them all.


Regards,

Theodoros Kalamatianos