[NTLUG:Discuss] Shortcuts

[Mark Bickel]

> From discuss-admin at ntlug.org Thu Aug 23 16:40 CDT 2001
> From: George Lass <George.Lass at osc.com>
> MIME-Version: 1.0
> To: discuss at ntlug.org
> Subject: Re: [NTLUG:Discuss] Shortcuts
> List-Archive: <http://www.ntlug.org/pipermail/discuss/>
> Date: Thu, 23 Aug 2001 16:41:48 -0500

Adding ./ to your path is a known security risk. Adding /usr/local/bin
or whatever to your $PATH is reasonable, as is creating symlinks like:
ln -s  /usr/local/netscape6.1/bin/netscape /usr/local/bin/netscape
or even:
ln -s  /usr/local/netscape6.1/bin/netscape ~/bin/netscape
where ~ always represents the user's home directory.
You can also add aliases to your .bash_profile:
alias netscape '/usr/local/netscape6.1/netscape.sh' 

Of course if you want to create a kde/gnome icon to launch the program 
it's really no big deal to put the whole path in the exec line of the
desktop shortcut/icon/launcher thingy (which is after all an editable
text file). 

YMMV,
Mark.Bickel at ericsson.com


George wrote:
> It is because /usr/local/netscape6.1 is not in the PATH
> of the login id that started the desktop program.  What I 
> do in  .bash_profile of my login directory is add 
> 
> :./
> 
> to the end of the PATH= line.  This will cause bash to
> always look in the current directory for the command you
> are trying to execute.  
> 
> After making the mod to .bash_profile you will need to 
> exit (logout from) your desktop
> cd to your login directory
> . .bash_profile
> restart your desktop
> 
> George
> 
> Patrick Parks wrote:
> > 
> > I have a easy question, that I can not seem to find an answer for. I
> > have a program, lets say Netscape browser that I want to create a
> > shortcut for in my desktop. In order to get this program to launch, I
> > have to cd to the directory where it is located "cd
> > /usr/local/netscape6.1" then I have to type "./netscape" to get it to
> > run, not just netscape. My question is, how would I type this in the
> > command section of the launcher that I am trying to create, and why do
> > I have to do a "./" to get it to run, it is the first program I have
> > had to do this with, and I do not understand what the "./" does. Could
> > someone please enlighten me? Thanks.
> >