Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!clyde.concordia.ca!mcgill-vision!snorkelwacker!usc!samsung!emory!ogicse!plains!overby From: overby@plains.UUCP (Glen Overby) Newsgroups: comp.os.minix Subject: Re: 'xxx':not found - now I know. Summary: can be a security problem Message-ID: <4554@plains.UUCP> Date: 7 May 90 18:32:23 GMT References: <375@cancol.oz> Reply-To: overby@plains.UUCP (Glen Overby) Organization: North Dakota State University, Fargo Lines: 17 In article <375@cancol.oz> eyal@cancol.oz (Eyal Lebedinsky) writes: >I got a few replies which pointed me to the missing ':' at the start >of my PATH. My PATH now says ":/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/local" and all is fine. The preceding ":" puts the current directory at the beginning of your search path. On a personal system I guess this doesn't make much difference, but having the current directory at the beginning of your search path makes you a prime candidate for being bitten by a trojan horse. I'm a member of the club that says root should NEVER have the current directory in it's search path, and I keep "." at the END of my search path on anything multi-user (as I do on Minix, too). -- Glen Overby uunet!plains!overby (UUCP) overby@plains (Bitnet)