[olug] Path statement

[Mike Hostetler]

On Sat, 13 Jan 2001 17:21:46 -0600 Klaruz <Klaruz <pfiled at marietta.edu>> wrote:

> I don't think you did anything different. The new distro you installed
> probobly doesn't have /sbin and /usr/sbin in the path to keep yourself from
> shooting a hole in your foot. The theory is, if we make you type /sbin/lilo
> instead of lilo we make you think about it first. It's like how rm is set to
> ask you if you're sure all the time if you're root. You can change all of
> this by editing your rc files for your shell. I'm not sure if you're using
> tcsh or bash or something else, so I'll leave that for another email
> 

Sometimes it depends on how you become root.  If you type
"su<return>", you will be root (i.e. uid "0"), but you will
retain your original user's setup, including PATH (which
won't include /sbin and /usr/sbin).  If you type
"su -<return>" instead, then you will become root with all
of root's environment setup, along with all the rights and
priviledges thereof.  

Of course, if you logged into root on the command line, then
this whole lesson is null and void.  But you didn't say how
you were becoming root, so I had to say something.

Mike


--
Mike Hostetler          
thehaas at binary.net 
http://www.binary.net/thehaas 
GnuPG key: http://www.binary.net/thehaas/mikeh.gpg 

"What good is having someone who can walk on water if you don't follow
in his footsteps?"




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