On Thu, 2006-07-06 at 09:58 -0700, Timothy Alberts wrote: > So I get this every now and then and haven't found a smooth method of > dealing with it. I have my desktop upgraded from FC4 to FC5 and the > command 'ifconfig' comes back with 'bash: ifconfig: command not found.' > Additionally, I have been through tutorials on the web and different > books on running commands that more often than not, the bash shell comes > back with the same message. > > My first question is, are the shell commands and features standardized > somewhere so that I know what commands I can expect to have no matter > what machine I'm sitting at or what type of installation I have? My > second question is, if these commands are supposed to be there, but the > shell comes back and says they aren't, what is the procedure for finding > the commands or installing the packages required for them? > > I understand the 'which xxx' command will tell me the location of the > executable that is being used when I call a command. However it doesn't > help me find a missing command. I also understand that typically shell > commands are in /bin /usr/bin /usr/local/bin among others. If it helps, > when I type 'which ifconfig' the following is the result: > > /usr/bin/which: no ifconfig in > (/usr/kerberos/sbin:/usr/kerberos/bin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin: > /usr/X11R6/bin:/home/talberts/bin) > > Sorry these are fairly general questions so if it's easier to just focus > on the 'ifconfig' command that would be helpful. Thank you for any > response. Both the shell and the 'which' command search the directories in your PATH variable. ifconfig is in /sbin along with other utilities used for system administration. When you log in as root, /sbin and /usr/sbin is included in the PATH setting. Normally other users don't get those, although like most other things you can change that to suit yourself. If you "su - " from another logged in user you will pick up root's login environment. If you su without the '-' you keep the original environment and thus the PATH. -- Les Mikesell lesmikesell@xxxxxxxxx
