Re: perl callable from bash?

[FunkyMonk]

If you've copied your file to /bin you should be able to run it by just typing bl filename. Using ./bl tells the shell to run the file called bl that's in the curent directory.

The way I do it is to make my own bin in my home directory with mkdir $HOME/bin and add it to my path by adding export PATH=$HOME/bin:$PATH at the end of $HOME/.bashrc assuming you're using bash as your shell. You still need to make the executable using chmod as previously mentioned.

[Bloodnok]

In line with best/recommended practice, I provide session-wide definitions e.g. $PATH etc., in my .profile, the shell rc file (.bashrc, kshrc, etc.) is left to define session specifics...

[rowdog]

While .profile and $HOME/bin are quite appropriate for an individual developer, a sysadmin faces a different situation. If the script is intended to for use by all users of the system, the traditional location is /usr/local/bin or maybe even /usr/local/sbin. If the file is required for boot, then /bin or /sbin might be called for. The caveat with .profile is that it's only invoked by an interactive shell.

When I have a script that I only want root to run, I'll usually toss the script in /root/bin unless the system uses / as root's home directory.

I'm not really disagreeing, except with the idea that there is a single best practice for all situations.

[Bloodnok]

You're right - maybe I should have made it clearer that my post was aimed at a standard user (I no longer use root as the default login :-))) - self-evidently, root and for that matter, other system logins frequently have login scenarios peculiar to their circumstances.