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Writing a basic python script: #!/bin/python print("hello world!") Oh wait, /bin might not exist. It's in /usr/bin. Wait, what even is /bin? No, it's not th

Writing a basic python script: #!/bin/python print("hello world!") Oh wait, /bin might not exist. It's in /usr/bin. Wait, what even is /bin? No, it's not the recycling bin - see, it's short for binary. No, there isn't a separate directory for plaintext scripts, why do you ask? Well surely it's a directory for user-specific programs then, right? Nope, it's read-only stuff. Well, why not symlink it to /ro? Well, because symlinking and transitioning are too much effort, and because that's very english-language-centric of you, what about other languages where /usr and /to are random gibberish? Well, how's other-language support then? For instance, is it possible to reliably use Korean characters in your username without a lot of programs breaking? Nah, see you're better off just writing your Korean name in english characters. Much more reliable that way. But wait a sec, let's go back to that symlinking thing: if symlinking and migrating is too much effort, then how did we ever switch from /bin to /usr/bin? Well duh, we just symlinked /bin to /usr/bin. Great, can we do that for /usr and /ro? Nope. ***** Can we please just admit that Linux's ease of use is burdened by tons of historical baggage? Then we'll have to either say "we just don't care that much", or actually fix it.

cycomanic 6y ago
OK I bite in which operating system would I just know where Python is installed? Moreover, most of the things you are saying are wrong. 1. Any linux distribution who follows the FHS (pretty much all the big ones) has a /bin directory. It doesn't contain the python usually though. 2. bin is also not necessarily read-only (I'm not sure where it is). Maybe you should have a look at the FHS? 3. not sure what you mean by symlinking /usr and /ro you can certainly symlink to /usr to /ro, but not sure what you are trying to achieve 4. UTF-8 usernames are certainly possible on Linux distributions that have full UTF-8 support (which I imagine are again most). Your proposal of just fixing the "historical baggage" for some claimed ease of use (I still claim that directory naming is really at the bottom of the list for changes to improve ease of use. And linux has changes that are required to improve ease of use), would actually break lots of peoples work flow for questionable gain. Moreover, if directory naming is important to someone, they can use Gobolinux, so it's not like you have to follow the old "historical baggage".

cycomanic 6y ago

OK I bite in which operating system would I just know where Python is installed? Moreover, most of the things you are saying are wrong. 1. Any linux distribution who follows the FHS (pretty much all the big ones) has a /bin directory. It doesn't contain the python usually though. 2. bin is also not necessarily read-only (I'm not sure where it is). Maybe you should have a look at the FHS? 3. not sure what you mean by symlinking /usr and /ro you can certainly symlink to /usr to /ro, but not sure what you are trying to achieve 4. UTF-8 usernames are certainly possible on Linux distributions that have full UTF-8 support (which I imagine are again most). Your proposal of just fixing the "historical baggage" for some claimed ease of use (I still claim that directory naming is really at the bottom of the list for changes to improve ease of use. And linux has changes that are required to improve ease of use), would actually break lots of peoples work flow for questionable gain. Moreover, if directory naming is important to someone, they can use Gobolinux, so it's not like you have to follow the old "historical baggage".