Is it normal that packages are being installed to sbin?

alnexus · 2022-03-05 22:45:15

Alright so my Arch Linux install has 2 problems which I'm afraid might be serious and it might be too late to switch. The first problem is that when I do echo $PATH the output is "/sbin:/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin/site_perl:/usr/bin/vendor_perl:/usr/bin/core_perl" which feels a bit incomplete? The only thing that shows up is mostly perl. The other is that every time I run "which" for any package, it always shows a path in /sbin. This happens with Firefox "/sbin/firefox", wofi, bash, bspwm, vim (I think this one isn't a problem, neither is bash) and I'm not sure if it's normal. Am I missing something here?

WorMzy · 2022-03-05 22:55:51

/sbin, /bin and /usr/sbin are (or should be) symbolic links to /usr/bin. That you have them in your path at all is anomalous, but having /sbin as the first directory is the reason why 'which' finds things at this path.

Last edited by WorMzy (2022-03-05 23:01:44)

Trilby · 2022-03-05 22:58:49

alnexus wrote:

... which feels a bit incomplete?

Incomplete how? Everything required is listed. Including /sbin at the start is atyptical, and arguably a bit odd, but completely harmless. In any case, it's a variable and it only includes those bits because you (or something you put in /etc/profile or similar) set it that way - change it.

alnexus wrote:

The only thing that shows up is mostly perl.

What does this mean? Shows up where? When? Post actual commands and output.

alnexus wrote:

The other is that every time I run "which" for any package, it always shows a path in /sbin.

Yeah, that'd be expected given it is first in PATH but is just a symlink anyways. Every arch user that has firefox installed as a /sbin/firefox, it's just lower priority in the path generally than /usr/bin/firefox (which are both exactly the same file).

(edit: I was too slow)

Last edited by Trilby (2022-03-05 22:59:17)

frabjous · 2022-03-05 23:02:33

None of `which firefox`, `which bash`, `which bspwm`, `which vim` give me a path in `/sbin`. They're all in `/usr/bin`. (I don't have wofi installed, but rofi is at `/usr/bin/rofi`.)

Until my user-specific dotfiles add to it, $PATH is `/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/lib/jvm/default/bin:/usr/bin/site_perl:/usr/bin/vendor_perl:/usr/bin/core_perl`

I'm not positive it's your set up that's nonstandard, but one of ours is.

I don't see how the PATH you listed is incomplete, but if you want to add to it, add to it.

Scimmia · 2022-03-05 23:29:14

Arch's default PATH doesn't include /sbin, /bin, or /usr/sbin. Something you're doing is adding them, and that's what's causing the confusion. The PATH frabjous listed is the default.

alnexus · 2022-03-06 00:51:25

Thanks everyone for clearing up the conclusion. I thought the "echo $PATH" output would show more but I guess I don't have to worry and everything works fine. Didn't know exactly how this worked but now I got a better grasp of it. It isn't causing any problems anyways and whatever is "different" is harmless and maybe changed by some package (? not sure about this but this isn't a question either).

I'm reading a lot of the Arch Wiki articles so that I don't have to come in here so often. Thanks a lot!

Arch Linux

#1 2022-03-05 22:45:15

Is it normal that packages are being installed to sbin?

#2 2022-03-05 22:55:51

Re: Is it normal that packages are being installed to sbin?

#3 2022-03-05 22:58:49

Re: Is it normal that packages are being installed to sbin?

#4 2022-03-05 23:02:33

Re: Is it normal that packages are being installed to sbin?

#5 2022-03-05 23:29:14

Re: Is it normal that packages are being installed to sbin?

#6 2022-03-06 00:51:25

Re: Is it normal that packages are being installed to sbin?

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