PATH=/usr/local/bin:/bin:/usr/bin considered harmful

[Andrew Haley]

On 06/22/2012 01:19 PM, Sam Varshavchik wrote:
> Andrew Haley writes:
> 
>> > Why not take /bin and /sbin out of the default path *and* make sure
>> > that RPM knows about /bin/* ?
> I would expect that changing rpm will be a long, tedious process. Which is  
> understandable.
> 
> But changing the default PATH that's compiled into bash should be a simpler  
> change to push through; I see very low risk of any breakage or regressions;  
> and it will probably solve a great majority of the resulting foobarage that  
> cascades downstream into rpm-land.
> 
> Making rpm a bit smarter is certainly a correct fix, but something else can  
> also be done relatively quickly to take care of most of the current fallout.

Well, yeah.  But the Law of unintended consequences applies, so we
must be careful.  I don't think that people expected symlinking
/usr/bin to /bin to be risky either.

Andrew.