GCC prepends a "./" to my executable. I tried to rename the file with out the "./" but it didn't work. Is there anyway around this, short of making a soft link?

1. You don't have you PATH set correctly. Most times folks have a PATH variable that has
somewhere in it, usually at the beginning.

The current working directory is ./

The default output from gcc myfile is ./a.out
will create an executable file named myfile in the current directory. If you put a then myfile ends up in /path/to/somewhere

Yeah, GCC does not prepend ./ to your executable. But it is required to execute something in your current directory, assuming that your directory is not in $PATH. (Either as "." or its full name)

How do I set PATH? I'm using Debian if that matters.

Okay. I see that I can solve this issue if I move the executable to /usr/bin.

Add this line to the end of the file ".bashrc" in your home-directory (create if it doesn't exist):Then, re-login.

However, for security reasons it's not recommended to add the working directory ( . ) to your PATH. Especially for root it's better not to do this.

Yes, because /usr/bin already in your PATH.
It's recommended to put it in /usr/local/bin instead of /usr/bin.

Hi -

1. I think the previous posters made it very clear that gcc doesn't prepend anything to your executable, but that *YOU* need to prepend the "./" in your *COMMAND LINE* ... to *ANY* shell script or binary executable that's not in a "standard directory".

2. I think you're also clear that "/usr/local/bin" is a better "standard directory" than "/usr/bin", for the simple reason that /usr/bin should be reserved exclusively for "system stuff".

3. You're probably wondering why Linux does something as perverse as not looking in the current directory - why it doesn't look there FIRST? There are actually some very good reasons for this:

http://www.developertutorials.com/tu...512/page1.html

'Hope that helps .. PSM