Why does solaris put links to lots of executables in /etc?

That seems like the same kind of entrophy that I first
observed in windows 95 - when I discovered that everything
was under the windows directory.

On 2007-03-18 09:41:19 +0000, unix_fan <tmellman@web.de> said:

> Why does solaris put links to lots of executables in /etc?

History. Lots of system administration type things used to live in
/etc in the BSD era and before. There are probably scripts that assume
they still do, and Sun don't want to break those things.

unix_fan wrote:
> Why does solaris put links to lots of executables in /etc?
>
> That seems like the same kind of entrophy that I first
> observed in windows 95 - when I discovered that everything
> was under the windows directory.

Perhaps these executables originally lived in /etc and were later moved
to /usr/sbin. The links would preserve compatibility for older
applications.

Recall the tangled history of Unix: it was developed at Bell Labs in
order to support computer games on locally available hardware! It was
subsequently used for word processing; preparing patent applications.
Then a copy was given to the Computer Science Department at Berkeley.
It was never designed, it just grew.

If people had known then what they know now a lot of things might have
been done differently!