• magicalhippo 3 hours ago

    I'm just a casual Linux enjoyer. From what I can see, the FHS states[1] the following for the /usr/sbin/ directory:

    This directory contains any non-essential binaries used exclusively by the system administrator.

    The only interpretation that makes sense to me is that the /usr/sbin/ directory should only contain executables which cannot be run as non-root at all.

    So if a non-root user can launch the executable in any way that does not fail due to lack of root privileges, it's not exclusively for the system administrator and should go in /usr/bin/.

    Again that's the only interpretation that makes any sense to me. And it would lead to executables potentially moving between them as they gain or lose non-root capabilities.

    As such, it might make one wonder what the separation is for, and think the Fedora approach of just merging /usr/sbin/ into /usr/bin/ makes sense.

    [1]: https://refspecs.linuxfoundation.org/FHS_3.0/fhs/ch04s10.htm...

    • patrakov an hour ago

      A literal reading of this "cannot be run as non-root at all" interpretation would be: no commands ever should be in /usr/sbin, as a regular user might want to see their --help, and this doesn't require root privileges.

      Sarcasm of course.