Installing Sh-utils-2.0

Estimated build time:           0.42 SBU
Estimated required disk space:  12 MB

Installation of Sh-utils

This package requires its hostname-patch to be applied before you can install it. Make sure it's unpacked before running the installation commands.

Install Sh-utils by running the following commands:

patch -Np1 -i ../sh-utils-2.0-hostname.patch &&
./configure --prefix=/usr &&
make &&
make install &&
mv /usr/bin/{basename,date,echo,false,pwd} /bin &&
mv /usr/bin/{sleep,stty,su,test,true,uname} /bin &&
mv /usr/bin/chroot /usr/sbin

FHS compliance notes

There is a command installed in this package which is named test. It is often used in shell scripts to evaluate conditions, but is more often encountered in the form of [ condition ]. These brackets are built into the bash interpreter, but the FHS dictates that there should be a [ binary. Create it by running:

ln -s test /bin/[

Command explanations

patch -Np1 -i ../sh-utils-2.0-hostname.patch: This patch suppresses the build of the hostname program which will be installed later with the net-tools package. The hostname program from the net-tools package is a much better version (and in some cases even required since it supports options that are needed by some programs such as XFree86).

Contents of Sh-utils

Last checked against version 2.0.

Program Files

basename, chroot, date, dirname, echo, env, expr, factor, false, groups, hostid, id, logname, nice, nohup, pathchk, pinky, printenv, printf, pwd, seq, sleep, stty, su, tee, test, true, tty, uname, uptime, users, who, whoami and yes

Descriptions

basename

basename strips directory and suffixes from filenames.

chroot

chroot runs a command or interactive shell with special root directory.

date

date displays the current time in a specified format, or sets the system date.

dirname

dirname strips non-directory suffixes from file name.

echo

echo displays a line of text.

env

env runs a program in a modified environment.

expr

expr evaluates expressions.

factor

factor prints the prime factors of all specified integer numbers.

false

false always exits with a status code indicating failure.

groups

groups prints a user's group memberships.

hostid

hostid prints the numeric identifier (in hexadecimal) for the current host.

id

id prints the effective user and group IDs of the current user or a given user.

logname

logname prints the current user's login name.

nice

nice runs a program with modified scheduling priority.

nohup

nohup runs a command immune to hangups, with output to a log file.

pathchk

pathchk checks whether file names are valid or portable.

pinky

pinky is a lightweight finger utility which retrieves information about a certain user.

printenv

printenv prints all or part of the environment.

printf

printf formats and prints data (the same as the C printf function).

pwd

pwd prints the name of the current/working directory.

seq

seq prints numbers in a certain range with a certain increment.

sleep

sleep delays for a specified amount of time.

stty

stty changes and prints terminal line settings.

su

su runs a shell with substitute user and group IDs.

tee

tee reads from standard input and writes to standard output and files.

test

test checks file types and compares values.

true

true always exits with a status code indicating success.

tty

tty prints the file name of the terminal connected to standard input.

uname

uname prints system information.

uptime

uptime tells how long the system has been running.

users

users prints the user names of users currently logged in to the current host.

who

who shows who is logged on.

whoami

whoami prints the user name associated with the current effective user ID.

yes

yes outputs 'y' or a given string repeatedly, until killed.

Sh-utils Installation Dependencies

Last checked against version 2.0.

Autoconf: autoconf, autoheader
Automake: aclocal, automake
Bash: sh
Binutils: ar, as, ld, ranlib
Diffutils: cmp
Fileutils: chmod, chown, install, ls, mv, rm
Gettext: msgfmt, xgettext
Gcc: cc, cc1, collect2, cpp0, gcc
Glibc: getconf
Grep: egrep, fgrep, grep
M4: m4
Make: make
Gawk: gawk
Perl: perl
Sed: sed
Sh-utils: basename, echo, expr, hostname, sleep, uname
Tar: tar
Texinfo: install-info, makeinfo
Textutils: cat, tr