On Sat, 2011-11-12 at 06:46 -0600, dE_logics wrote: > I've not seen any distro which sets '.' in it's PATH. > Fair enough. I'm an active developer and find it convenient to include '.' in my search path because then I know that any script or program that I write can always be executed by using a name that is relative to me current directory. > Also why will I need $HOME in $PATH? > I suggested adding $HOME/bin to your search path, not $HOME. If you write small shell scripts, e.g. as wrappers for Wine applications or as a short-hand for common actions and they are intended to only be used from one login, then a convenient place to keep them is in a $HOME/bin directory because this keeps clutter out of your login directory. If you do this you'll want to include $HOME/bin in the search path for that login by editing .bash_profile If such scripts are for more general use they should be put in "/usr/local/bin" and any associated configuration files should be in "/usr/local/etc". Make sure that the "/usr/local" structure is backed up along with "/home". You should reserve "/bin" and "/usr/bin" for programs and scripts that are part of your distro. Apart from anything else, if you upgrade your distro or do a clean install you may loose anything you put in those directories while, if you backed up the contents of /usr/local then its easy to drop it back in place after the upgrade or install. Martin
