Xref: utzoo comp.unix.wizards:8054 comp.unix.questions:6712
Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!steinmetz!dawn!stpeters
From: stpeters@dawn.steinmetz (Dick St.Peters)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.wizards,comp.unix.questions
Subject: "Proper" use of PATH and directory "purity"
Message-ID: <10580@steinmetz.ge.com>
Date: 26 Apr 88 16:17:36 GMT
Sender: news@steinmetz.ge.com
Reply-To: dawn!stpeters@steinmetz.UUCP (Dick St.Peters)
Organization: General Electric CRD, Schenectady, NY
Lines: 20
Keywords: Folklore, Documentation, PATH
Summary: Written-down folklore needed
References:


A new UNIX user has written a program that looks for its configuration
file by searching the directories in PATH.  I can't convince him this
is bad practice, because I can't point to any documentation.  He has
experience using DG's AOS-VS, which has a general purpose search list,
and he dismisses my arguments as "just" folklore.

The program is part of a medical imaging package that we distribute to
sites that are typically new to UNIX.  I don't want our software
distribution to introduce poor practices like putting non-executeable
files in bin directories and/or putting extraneous places into PATH.

Can anyone point me to useful documentation?  Even written folklore
would help if it sounds authoritative or appears in many places.

Please mail - I don't get to rn as often as I'd like.
--
Dick St.Peters                        
GE Corporate R&D, Schenectady, NY
stpeters@ge-crd.arpa              
uunet!steinmetz!stpeters