Re: Linux Questions

[turnbull@example.com (Stephen J. Turnbull)]

>>>>> "Joe" == Joe Marchak <j_marcha@example.com> writes:

    Joe> I have a few basic questions on Linux: 1) Why do a lot of
    Joe> symbolic links go from /usr to /var and back again?  For
    Joe> instance, to set zoneinfo to Japan, the symbolic link goes
    Joe> from /usr/lib/zoneinfo/localtime to
    Joe> /var/lib/zoneinfo/localtime, which is linked back to
    Joe> /usr/lib/zoneinfo/Japan.  This seems awkward, but there must
    Joe> be a reason for it.

This is for Linux filesystem standard compatibility.  The correct
place for these files is in /var/lib/zoneinfo/ (I think, although
since it's standard that seems odd---perhaps you need to write to
those files for daylight savings time if it exists?).  The symbolic
link /var/lib/zoneinfo/localtime -> Japan is a convenient way to allow
automated setup of the locale.

Historically, most systems put this kind of stuff in /usr.  However,
it was decided to separate the /usr and /var file hierarchies so that
/usr could live in readonly space (on a hard disk, CD-ROM, or NFS) and 
files that need to be written could go in /var.

    Joe> 3) What are the ATTRIB.BND files for that are attached to
    Joe> some of the e-mail messages that are sent out?

This is an artifact of the mail system used by TedM's employer.  I
have a procmail script that strips it.  I will shortly have a procmail 
script that strips the TWICS ad, and I'll publish that when I've
written it.  :-)  Nothing against TWICS, but I don't need to see
it---I already know they're good.

-- 
                           Stephen John Turnbull
University of Tsukuba                                        Yaseppochi-Gumi
Institute of Policy and Planning Sciences  http://turnbull.sk.tsukuba.ac.jp/
Tennodai 1-1-1, Tsukuba, 305 JAPAN                 turnbull@example.com
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