On Fri, 13 Jul 2007, Philip Guenther wrote: > On 7/13/07, Denny White <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > ... > > PATH=$HOME/bin:$HOME:/usr/bin:/usr/sbin:/bin:/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/local/sbin:. > > That line is probably unnecessary. Unless you can point to a specific > program that your .procmailrc uses that is not in the default PATH set > by procmail, why change it? > > > > FORMAIL=/usr/local/bin/formail > > Why do people think that hardcoding the paths to normal programs is a > good thing? Why not just say "formail" and let the shell do the work?
Sometimes users do nutty things with aliases. Then they need to undo the nuttiness when they need default behavior. Even worse is the sort who defines new meanings for common commands and places them "high" in the PATH, or defining nutty shell functions named for standard commands. (Such as the nutty implementation of "undelete" functionality through a redefinition of rm to a mv of a file to a "hidden" directory.) The default ksh.kshrc shipped with OpenBSD contains "nutty" aliases: alias su=wsu alias cd=wcd alias ftp=wftp alias ssh=wssh alias telnet=wtelnet alias rlogin=wrlogin alias ls='ls -gCF' wxxx are nutty shell functions, given the best of both kinds of nuttiness. Once this nuttiness is invited in, the author of shell scripts and configuration files becomes justifiably nervous about their scope. On a multiuser system, even one with one human user, uncertainty arises about what flavor of nuttiness is in play for each user in all possible contexts. (Is my user name that invokes ksh subject to the same nuttiness as the one that invokes zsh or csh?) Also, slipping a dubious substitution for a system command into another user's ~/bin, on ill-administered or "trusty" systems, can lead to various forms of good-natured, puckish mischief. (Suppose I can substitute an arbitary executable named "vi" or "rm" into your ~/bin.) Setting a PATH and using fully qualified path names for utilities may be classified as a sort of prudent practice. Whether it is best practice I do not judge. Dave
