On Thu, Nov 13, 2003 at 11:40:57PM -0800, Gary Johnson wrote: > On 2003-11-14, David Yitzchak Cohen <lists+mutt_users@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > > On Thu, Nov 13, 2003 at 04:59:31PM -0800, Gary Johnson wrote: > > > > > PATH=$PATH:$HOME/bin > > > > Just a little nitpick, but if you set it to $HOME/bin:$PATH (or even > > better AFAIK, ~/bin:$PATH) instead, then you get the neat ability to > > selectively override system-provided binaries, for instance with wrappers > > to the real versions. > > Good point. I actually have my PATH set up the way you suggest for > exactly that reason. However, you then have to be more careful > about the commands you put in ~/bin. If you put a version of a > command there that is incompatible with the standard version, Don't do that, please! > or if > you inadvertently give a name to one of your own commands that is > the same as some other command in the system, ...or that ;-) > you can get unexpected > behavior, especially when running other people's shell scripts. recipe for fun, that's for sure! > I've found that system administrators can get grumpy when you report > a problem with one of their scripts that turns out to be due to a > command in your own ~/bin. Yeah, they have good reason to be upset. After all, _they_ didn't put ~/bin in your path at all: God must not have intended for people to run their own binaries ;-P > Therefore, I don't recommend putting > ~/bin early in your PATH unless you know what you're doing and are > prepared to deal with the consequences. In other words, use care and a fair amount of common sense in filling your ~/bin directory (just as you would in filling any other binary directory - even more so for one that's in your $PATH). As somebody else pointed out off-list, a prerequisite for the above is not letting others write to ~/bin, for obvious reasons ;-) - Dave -- Uncle Cosmo, why do they call this a word processor? It's simple, Skyler. You've seen what food processors do to food, right? Please visit this link: http://rotter.net/israel
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