/sbin:/usr/sbin in mortal's PATH

[Terje Bless]

Horst von Brand <vonbrand at inf.utfsm.cl> wrote:

>ifconfig(8) is not for luser consumption, and so are lots of others.

`ifconfig` is _also_ for system administrators. Regular users — my Oracle DBAs,
say — have a legitimate need to check the output of ifconfig on occasion; and I
would just as soon not have to fiddle with paths or aliases for all those
accounts on all the systems I administer.

I also find it annoying that I either have to type the full path — particularly
as it means I have to remember which of /bin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/usr/sbin the
utility in questions resides in — or become root just to check ifconfig output.

Utilities that serve a useful purpose for non-root users should by default be
available in non-root users' path; if in no other way then at least by way of a
symlink in the “unprivileged” directory.


Conversely, utilities that non-root users should not be allowed to use need to
be protected in an effective manner; and removing the directory from their path
is not it. This isn't even security by obscurity, it's security by obtuseness.

-- 
>For all I know they probably have a standard for
>which direction to put the thread on a bolt.

That would be ISO 261:1973.         -- John Cowan