Ubuntu should move all binaries to /usr/bin/

[Luis M]

My 2 cents.
Let other distros do this first. Wait 5 years to allow problems to be sorted out. Then discuss again. 

--
A bug magnet

El Dec 5, 2011, a las 12:15, Matt Alexander <ubuntu.com at mattalexander.com> escribió:

> Sure, using find or which, etc., can be used to locate a particular app, but that's not really the point.  Why not simplify things and put all binaries under /usr/bin?  Then you don't have to teach users about silly distinctions like "Oh, see, if it's an app that's meant to be used by a System Adminstrator, then it goes into /usr/sbin".  Who cares?  Just put everything in /usr/bin to keep things simple.
> 
> 
> On Mon, Dec 5, 2011 at 4:24 AM, Dane Mutters <dmutters at gmail.com> wrote:
> I don't know if the original poster has since learned this, but I think it's worth noting several things, in case the person coming over from Windows hasn't figured it out.  (If this is a non-issue, please disregard this email.)
> 
> 1) Linux/Unix executables don't have a .exe extension.  Typically, they don't have any extension at all, and can conceivably have every extension imaginable (including common ones like .sh for scripts).  If you're looking for an executable, forget looking for its extension.  Try using the "find" command to look for executable files, or if you know the one you want, already, use the "which" command, as above.
> 
> 2) You almost certainly don't need to find that file.  As mentioned above, if it's not in your PATH setting, then something is broken.  This is pretty rare.  If you need to execute a command--from a terminal or from an "open with" dialogue, just type the command (in the appropriate dialogue box, as needed).  If you want to open a PDF, and the GUI hasn't figured out how to do that, type "acroread", "evince", or whatever you have installed into the box.
> 
> 3) <rant> +1 about Windows having an absurdly hard-to-use filesystem, where finding binaries/executables is concerned.  Once you learn Linux, you'll bless its build-in filesystem, and probably find little/no need to mess with it.  For that matter, +1 to all the stuff about /bin, /sbin, /usr/local/bin, /usr/local/sbin, /opt, etc. having useful, specific purposes.  Sure, it bugs me when some program insists on installing someplace I don't think makes sense.  Usually it'll let me change it upon install, if it's from a script, but if not, I can still put it into the PATH if it's not already there, and after that it doesn't matter!  So long as the uninstall functionality works for a given program (which it REALLY, REALLY should...), and the executable structure of the program is remotely sensible (looking at you, OpenOffice, Mozilla, etc.), it's all gravy, so far as I'm concerned.  Proprietary programs are the more problematic culprits, anyway, and there's not much a distribution can do about them, so far as I'm aware.  </rant>
> 
> 4) I've never liked Fedora, anyway.  :-p
> 
> 
> I'm sure the real gurus here know a lot more about the specifics than I do, so have at it!
> 
> --Dane
> 
> 
> On Mon, Nov 7, 2011 at 3:16 AM, Colin Watson <cjwatson at ubuntu.com> wrote:
> On Sat, Nov 05, 2011 at 02:40:31AM +0800, John McCabe-Dansted wrote:
> > We could even enhance which to look in obvious places off the path (perhaps
> > locatedb?)  and print the output on stderr if we really wanted to.
> 
> Please don't - 'which' is used in scripts and needs to preserve its
> current behaviour.  Any extra behaviour should be added to a
> different/new program.
> 
> --
> Colin Watson                                       [cjwatson at ubuntu.com]
> 
> --
> Ubuntu-devel-discuss mailing list
> Ubuntu-devel-discuss at lists.ubuntu.com
> Modify settings or unsubscribe at: https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-devel-discuss
> 
> 
> --
> Ubuntu-devel-discuss mailing list
> Ubuntu-devel-discuss at lists.ubuntu.com
> Modify settings or unsubscribe at: https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-devel-discuss
> 
> 
> -- 
> Ubuntu-devel-discuss mailing list
> Ubuntu-devel-discuss at lists.ubuntu.com
> Modify settings or unsubscribe at: https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-devel-discuss
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-devel-discuss/attachments/20111205/1e1bab38/attachment.html>