'whereis' finds a command but I can't execute it

brunnopessoa · 10-11-2004, 11:41 PM

Hey folks!

What's wrong when whereis finds a command but when I try to execute it, I got the 'command not found' message?

Code:

[bcampos@localhost modules]$ whereis depmod
depmod: /sbin/depmod /usr/share/man/man8/depmod.8.gz
[bcampos@localhost modules]$ depmod
bash: depmod: command not found

Tks.

chrism01 · 10-11-2004, 11:59 PM

You need to login as root for /sbin ....

brunnopessoa · 10-12-2004, 12:05 AM

Ooops... I got the same problem when logged on as root:

Code:

[root@localhost modules]# whereis depmod
depmod: /sbin/depmod /usr/share/man/man8/depmod.8.gz
[root@localhost modules]# depmod
bash: depmod: command not found

mirradric · 10-12-2004, 12:06 AM

Just to add:

You can execute the command by giving it's fully qualifed name if you have the permission to run it. For example, ifconfig for read only purposes:

Code:

/sbin/ifconfig

mirradric · 10-12-2004, 12:08 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by brunnopessoa
Ooops... I got the same problem when logged on as root:

[root@localhost modules]# whereis depmod
depmod: /sbin/depmod /usr/share/man/man8/depmod.8.gz
[root@localhost modules]# depmod
bash: depmod: command not found

I think I've seen this discussed somewhere on LQ about fedora not adding /sbin to the of root. You can always use the absolute pathname or add /sbin to your path.

brunnopessoa · 10-12-2004, 12:11 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by mirradric
I think I've seen this discussed somewhere on LQ about fedora not adding /sbin to the of root. You can always use the absolute pathname or add /sbin to your path.

You're right! /sbin is not in the path!
Tks everybody! Got it!

brunnopessoa · 10-17-2004, 03:29 PM

... I thought the 'whereis' command only shows the location of a program when it is in the PATH, no?

tks

Tinkster · 10-17-2004, 06:55 PM

Just bear in mind that the tool that does
the whereis-lookup may have a different
PATH from root, too :}

Code:

From "man whereis"
       whereis has a hard-coded path, so may not always find what
       you're looking for.

Cheers,
Tink

megaspaz · 10-17-2004, 07:13 PM

when you do just 'su' the paths for root don't get loaded. if you want the paths for root to be loaded use 'su -'.

brunnopessoa · 10-18-2004, 01:05 AM

Got it, megaspaz! Tks a lot!