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Date:      Mon, 17 Jul 1995 01:54:12 -0700 (PDT)
From:      "Rodney W. Grimes" <rgrimes@gndrsh.aac.dev.com>
To:        mpp@legarto.minn.net (Mike Pritchard)
Cc:        bde@zeta.org.au, freebsd-current@freebsd.org
Subject:   Re: Move mt(1) to /bin?
Message-ID:  <199507170854.BAA00976@gndrsh.aac.dev.com>
In-Reply-To: <199507170842.DAA03545@mpp> from "Mike Pritchard" at Jul 17, 95 03:42:52 am

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> 
> Rodney W. Grimes wrote:
> >...
> > ever it is to force it to be a static binary.  But it still does not
> > answer the long term question of exactly what criteria says things go
> > in /bin vs /usr/bin.  Nor does it get on with analyzing this problem
> > so, or coming up with a solution that prevents this type of discussion
> > from reoccur-ing.
> 
> Is there any reason not to decide this stuff right now (or at least
> before 2.2)?  How about everyone compiles a list of binaries they feel 
> should reside in /bin or /sbin and make an argument for them.  
> After 2 - 3 weeks, the list of proposed moves can be submitted to
> the core team along with the pro/con arguments for each binary in question.  

Before you make decisions you should create formal criteria for the
reasons things belong where they belong.  If you use the above mechanism
you may very well get folks like me or Bruce who find the distinction
between /bin and /usr/bin of static vs shared to be pretty meaningless
any more and just say ``mv /usr/bin/* /bin; mv /usr/sbin/* /sbin''.

``binaries they feel should reside'' is to wide open, we must have
a list of reasonable things that when you take some binary and run
down this list it clearly says one place or the other.

> I'm willing to collect the data and submit a proposal to the core 
> team based on that data if that is what is needed.
> 
> Let me know.  If we want to pursue this, I'll draft something
> up to send out to the mailing lists requesting the required
> information, and we might consider posting it to the USENET groups.

No!  Don't do that, that is design by committee and you only end up
with a mess when you do that.

> Even if we decide that nothing moves locations, we may find
> a set of binaries that are *REALLY* useful in getting a broken
> system back up and running that could serve as an auxiliary floppy
> to the boot and root floppies in emergency situations.

15 years of unix experience tell me what that list is already... and
it is not the same for any 2 sites... though there is a common subset.


-- 
Rod Grimes                                      rgrimes@gndrsh.aac.dev.com
Accurate Automation Company                 Reliable computers for FreeBSD



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