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From: subbarao@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Kartik Subbarao)
Newsgroups: alt.sources.d
Subject: Re: Multiple executables in path (Was: NON-SOURCE POSTINGS CONSIDERED HARMFUL!)
Message-ID: <5682@idunno.Princeton.EDU>
Date: 24 Jan 91 23:03:38 GMT
References: <9688:Jan2313:09:4391@kramden.acf.nyu.edu> <8833@star.cs.vu.nl> <17687:Jan2414:33:5091@kramden.acf.nyu.edu>
Sender: news@idunno.Princeton.EDU
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In article <17687:Jan2414:33:5091@kramden.acf.nyu.edu> brnstnd@kramden.acf.nyu.edu (Dan Bernstein) writes:
>In article <8833@star.cs.vu.nl> maart@cs.vu.nl (Maarten Litmaath) writes:
>> )It is a mistake to have . (or any other relative directories, if your
>> )system supports them) in your path.
>> Nonsense.  It's a mistake to put `.' _before_ the standard directories.
>> In my PATH `.' is the very last component.
>
>Ah, so the moment you make a typing mistake you execute anybody's
>program?

I make most of my mistakes typing commands in a consistent fashion (i.e,
mroe for more, dc for cd, etc..) I simply alias the few consistent mistakes
that I make.

Most of the times when I want to execute stuff "in the current directory",
its when I'm either working on a project, or have ftp'd something from the
net and am in the process of compiling, etc.. I *really* don't feel like
typing './a.out', or './xneatapplication'. 

Also, most people don't go to lengths as to do stupid things like put
trojan horses in /tmp -- even if they did, I really don't care that much. I
operate on the basis that my account is currently in the capability of being 
gotten into by anyone, and so I never have any security problems. I never
leave anything around in my account that I feel is so extremely private
that nobody should see it (UNIX certainly is not the place to keep that
kind of stuff). Most of my account is readable.

The only person who I'd REALLY suggest this for is root. Certainly, for me,
the convenience of NOT having to type `./' everytime that I execute
something in the current directory GREATLY overweighs any worry I have over
some nerd wanting to break into my account. 


			-Kartik
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