next up previous contents
Next: The graphics suite KDE Up: System administration Previous: Packages management: RPM (tm)   Contents

Subsections

How to solve a few classical problems?

If it is the first time you are using Linux, you will certainly have a few surprises when using the command-line. Here are a few examples of such problems and how to solve them.

When I want to launch a program/command, I get the ``Command not found'' message...

...although the program really exists...

The directory containing the program that you want to run is not listed in the PATH variable. In order to know which directories are in PATH, just type:

echo $PATH
You get something such as:

:/bin:/usr/bin/X11:/usr/ucb:/usr/X11R6/bin:/opt/kde/bin:/usr/local/bin

By default, the current directory (``.'' ) is not listed in PATH for security reasons. If you want to add it, type:

export PATH=$PATH:.
If you want to run a program from the current directory whereas it is not listed in PATH, use this syntax:

./program_to_run




1999-01-27