/bin and /sbin directories both contain commands for Linux as I understand. What is the reason behind two different directories instead of just one?

/bin amongst other things contains applications that all users have access to whereas /sbin contains root user system utilities - its just meant to be a neater division of progs between those that are primarily used by all users and those that are primarily root user utilities.

/sbin is for the system administrator or "god" account, the account that is allowed to do anything to the system.

/sbin is the upscale neighborhood.

In the /bin directory I see two links "rvi" and "rview"
that points to the same program. What is the purpose to have two different files points to the same location vi .. wierd . don't you think so..



lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 2 May 23 17:48 rvi -> vi
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 2 May 23 17:48 rview -> vi

Same for
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 8 May 23 13:20 ypdomainname -> hostname

lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 8 May 23 13:20 nisdomainname -> hostname

lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 8 May 23 13:20 dnsdomainname -> hostname

lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 8 May 23 13:20 domainname -> hostname

what if, for example, youve used linux before, and that had rview for a pointer, and you move to a system that has only rvi for a pointer. its just convinent. especially for programs that dont look for both of them (if they need it).

Its just a way to create a link to another directory and command without having to put that directory in the users default $PATH