Very Computer

<snip>

Quote:>What is the differnce say, between /usr/local/bin and /bin. And what is
>with the sbin and lbin etc.
>Of course I guess a lot of this could be specific to this particular system,
>but what are the different bins for?
>path    (/usr/local/lbin /usr/local/mbin /usr/local/msbin /usr/local/sbin
>/usr/local/bin /us r/lbin /usr/lsbin /usr/sbin /usr/bin /llbin /lmbin /lsbin
>/lbin /sbin /bin /usr/bin/X11 /usr /TeX/bin /usr/local/games /usr/games
>/usr/local/netpbm/bin /usr/local/nn/bin /usr/local/devt eam/bin
>/usr/local/staffbin /usr/local/ssl/bin)

I don't know the whole story, but here's a piece of it:
        /sbin   - for binaries essential to booting the system
        /bin    - for other core system utilities (e.g. ps, ed, ...)
        /usr/bin- for common user utilities (e.g. mail, who, ...)
        /usr/local/bin
                - for common user utilities added to the system
                  by your administrator (e.g. Mosaic, GNU stuff)

I don't know about lbin, llbin, lmbin, lsbin.  My guess is they are peculiar
to your flavor of Unix, or your particular administrator.  

Sometimes you'll find packages installed in tree fashion under /usr/local
(e.g. /usr/local/nn) so that they're easier to remove/upgrade later.

Note that another general reason for grouping binaries into logically
distinct directories is to allow them to be shared as NFS volumes, or
even to allow them to reside on distinct filesystem slices of your drive.

--
                              The CRT Corporation
                      Computer Based Research and Training

the difference (I think) is that /bin has the binaries which all versions
of the Unix you use come with on their own (ie, I believe 'rm' is pretty
much /bin/rm on just about every version of Unix there is)

/usr/local/bin is a place to put generic binaries which don't come with
the system when you buy it, but which you have either written, ftp'd or
gotten somehow.

This difference was important to me recently when I had to reinstall my
OS and was trying to figure out what I needed to backup and what would be
there when I reinstalled.  If I put all my binaries in /bin, then I would
have assumed they would be there when I reinstalled, which they were not.

Quote:

> Of course I guess a lot of this could be specific to this particular system,
> but what are the different bins for?

> path    (/usr/local/lbin /usr/local/mbin /usr/local/msbin /usr/local/sbin
> /usr/local/bin /us r/lbin /usr/lsbin /usr/sbin /usr/bin /llbin /lmbin /lsbin
> /lbin /sbin /bin /usr/bin/X11 /usr /TeX/bin /usr/local/games /usr/games
> /usr/local/netpbm/bin /usr/local/nn/bin /usr/local/devt eam/bin
> /usr/local/staffbin /usr/local/ssl/bin)

Many of these (I would say) are unique to your setup.  The reasoning is
that if you put all the binaries in a single folder, that folder is soon
unmanageable.  Plus, this way when someone comes up with a new version of
X11, you know that all you have to do is remove the old /usr/bin/X11 and
add the new one, rather than sorting through 3,000 entries in
/usr/local/bin going "hmm.... 3 years ago when I first installed X11, did
this go with it?"

Other folders are there to help identify what is found there.  If you had
/usr/local/bin/wump you might not really know what that was, but putting
it in /usr/local/games gives you something of an idea that 'wump' is a
game.

That's my guess at least....

TjL
--

MIME and NeXTMail OK               Another convert to the Z-Shell
"If I  understood the man page, I wouldn't have asked the question."
"I see your WinDows(tm) and I want to paint them black...."

Ok, I know that /bin is where executable binaries are kept, but what are
all the differnt "bins" for. A quick look at my path shows many many */bin
directories. I've noticed that a lot (most) of the files in /bin are
links to other */bin directories. Obviously theres some sort of heirarchy
going on here, but I cant figure it out.

What is the differnce say, between /usr/local/bin and /bin. And what is
with the sbin and lbin etc.

Of course I guess a lot of this could be specific to this particular system,
but what are the different bins for?

path    (/usr/local/lbin /usr/local/mbin /usr/local/msbin /usr/local/sbin
/usr/local/bin /us r/lbin /usr/lsbin /usr/sbin /usr/bin /llbin /lmbin /lsbin
/lbin /sbin /bin /usr/bin/X11 /usr /TeX/bin /usr/local/games /usr/games
/usr/local/netpbm/bin /usr/local/nn/bin /usr/local/devt eam/bin
/usr/local/staffbin /usr/local/ssl/bin)

john