# (no subject)

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/no-subject/98737>\
**Category:** Ruby\
**Created:** [July 17, 2006, 9:30pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/no-subject/98737 "2006-07-17T21:30:46Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![john\_old](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/9f8e36/32.png) [@john\_old](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/john_old)\
**Post date:** [July 17, 2006, 9:30pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/no-subject/98737/1 "2006-07-17T21:30:46Z")

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> On Jul 14, 2006, at 8:31 PM, Ryan R. wrote:

> Pathing works most of the time, but I had some problems with RadRails/  
> Eclipse because it doesn’t appear to honor pathing provided  
> in .profile or .login. Which prompted the linking solution. It’s a  
> little ugly and might go away with future updates, but it was about  
> all I had left for a few programs that ignored my personal path  
> information.  
> -Mat

You can change path info in /etc/profile to make it system-wide.  
As for ~/.profile, I tried all the shells listed in /etc/shells, and  
none  
of them ran the .profile I created as a test.

I don’t see why UNIX like systems have to have so many bin (and other)  
directories. Let’s see, there is /bin, /usr/bin, /usr/local/bin,  
/opt/local/bin, the same variants for sbin, plus executables in  
/usr/libexec, /usr/local/libexec and (for shame) /etc.

Sheesh!

Thankfully someone invented the ‘which’ and ‘whereis’ commands.

Regards,  
JJ

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**Author:** ![john\_old](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/9f8e36/32.png) [@john\_old](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/john_old)\
**Post date:** [July 18, 2006, 2:38pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/no-subject/98737/2 "2006-07-18T14:38:25Z")

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On Jul 17, 2006, at 3:29 PM, John J. wrote:

> You can change path info in /etc/profile to make it system-wide.  
> As for ~/.profile, I tried all the shells listed in /etc/shells,  
> and none  
> of them ran the .profile I created as a test.
> 
> I don’t see why UNIX like systems have to have so many bin (and other)  
> directories. Let’s see, there is /bin, /usr/bin, /usr/local/bin,  
> /opt/local/bin, the same variants for sbin, plus executables in  
> /usr/libexec, /usr/local/libexec and (for shame) /etc.

It’s in our blood. Programmers like to categorize things. The  
downside is that a lot of apps like to tread all over that  
categorization. Ah… life.  
-Mat

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**Author:** ![john\_old](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/9f8e36/32.png) [@john\_old](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/john_old)\
**Post date:** [July 18, 2006, 4:18pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/no-subject/98737/3 "2006-07-18T16:18:24Z")

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On 7/18/06, Mat S. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote:

> It’s in our blood. Programmers like to categorize things. The  
> downside is that a lot of apps like to tread all over that  
> categorization. Ah… life.  
> -Mat

Paraphrasing from the green book (LAH) and adding a last one of my own:

- /bin – commands needed for minimal system operability
- /sbin – commands for booting, repairing, or recovering the system
- /usr/local/bin – local executables (site-specific)
- /usr/local/sbin – statically-linked local (site-specific) system  
maintenance commands
- /usr/sbin – less essential commands for system admin and repair
- ~/bin – your own commands 🙂

—John