* Daniel Barowy <m...@barowy.net> [2009-07-15 09:58]:
> Hello everyone,
>
> This is, I'm sure, a naive question, so bear with me. What is the
> purpose of /usr/libexec? I see from hier(7) that it has something
> to do with "System daemons and utilities (executed by other
> programs)" which probably means, "stuff not normally executed by
> users". But it's unclear to me how this is different, from, say,
> /sbin.
>
> I'm running into this because I've been looking at the spamd code
> for a class project, but I'm not finding a lot of information about
> libexec in general-- there isn't even a mention of it in my big red
> BSD book. And most of the hits on Google are bits of a long, angry
> thread about libexec's nonexistence in the Linux FHS.
>
> I don't need a long-winded response. A prod in the right
> direction would be fine.
>
libexec is a place to put daemons that are started automatically,
i.e. not by hand. It's not in root, or hopefully anyone else's path.
The reason spamd is in /usr/libexec, is that normally it is *not*
started by hand - and you don't want people to "accidentally" run it
by hand.
-Bob
