Soft-links to binaries (was Re: Default PATH setting)

On 21.01.2025 10:06, Janis Papanagnou wrote:

On 21.01.2025 07:52, Axel Reichert wrote:

>
I think that, depending on your Linux distribution, /bin and /sbin are
symbolic links to their respective /usr counterparts [...]

 
In my environment these are not only distinct directories but also
contain different sets of executables; [...]

BTW, for something (not) completely different [concerning links]...

There's certainly someone who can explain (beyond versioning) deep
linking chains like

/usr/bin/vi      -> /etc/alternatives/vi      -> /usr/bin/vim.gnome
/usr/bin/vim     -> /etc/alternatives/vim     -> /usr/bin/vim.gnome
/usr/bin/gvim    -> /etc/alternatives/gvim    -> /usr/bin/vim.gnome
/usr/bin/vimdiff -> /etc/alternatives/vimdiff -> /usr/bin/vim.gnome
/usr/bin/vim.gnome
/usr/bin/vim.tiny
/usr/bin/vimtutor
/usr/bin/vimdot

or even deeper chains like

/usr/bin/emacs -> /etc/alternatives/emacs -> /usr/bin/emacs22 ->
/etc/alternatives/emacs22 -> /usr/bin/emacs22-x

(There's a bunch of things in /etc/alternatives, like *.gz and *.so
items.)

For most binaries we don't have that many links to follow to get the
effective binary; browsing the PATH I get

links count
    0 4093
    1 545
    2 133
    3 6
    4 1

There's reasons for soft-linking. - But chains up to those depths...?

Janis