What to do when a command isn't found?

[Elliot Lee]

Hi Tim,

Some utilities (including ifconfig) are considered "for system  
administrator use only", and are stored in /sbin or /usr/sbin. Normal  
users' $PATHs typically do not include these directories, while  
root's $PATH does. If you want to invoke those utilities, you can add  
these directories to your $PATH via ~/.bash_profile, or you can  
invoke them by their full path (e.g. /sbin/ifconfig).

Best,
-- Elliot

On Jul 6, 2006, at 12:58, Timothy Alberts wrote:

> So I get this every now and then and haven't found a smooth method of
> dealing with it.  I have my desktop upgraded from FC4 to FC5 and the
> command 'ifconfig' comes back with 'bash: ifconfig: command not  
> found.'
> Additionally, I have been through tutorials on the web and different
> books on running commands that more often than not, the bash shell  
> comes
> back with the same message.
>
> My first question is, are the shell commands and features standardized
> somewhere so that I know what commands I can expect to have no matter
> what machine I'm sitting at or what type of installation I have?  My
> second question is, if these commands are supposed to be there, but  
> the
> shell comes back and says they aren't, what is the procedure for  
> finding
> the commands or installing the packages required for them?
>
> I understand the 'which xxx' command will tell me the location of the
> executable that is being used when I call a command.  However it  
> doesn't
> help me find a missing command.  I also understand that typically  
> shell
> commands are in /bin /usr/bin /usr/local/bin among others.  If it  
> helps,
> when I type 'which ifconfig' the following is the result:
>
> /usr/bin/which: no ifconfig in
> (/usr/kerberos/sbin:/usr/kerberos/bin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:
> /usr/X11R6/bin:/home/talberts/bin)
>
> Sorry these are fairly general questions so if it's easier to just  
> focus
> on the 'ifconfig' command that would be helpful.  Thank you for any
> response.
>
>
>
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