* * * * *
                                        
     Notes on an overheard conversation at The Ft. Lauderdale Office of The
                                  Corporation
                                        
“Can you help me?” 

“Sure. What's the problem?” 

“When I'm logged into my laptop as me, I can run ispell. But if I switch to
root, it's not there.” 

“Hmm … where does ispell live?” 

“It's in /usr/local/bin. And before you ask—I checked, /usr/local/bin is in
root's $PATH.” 

“Hmmm … I'm running … um … that version of the operating system.” 

“Rabid Wombat? I am too.” 

“Let me drive the laptop for a second.” 

“Okay. These two terminal windows.” 

“Can you switch to root for me?” 

“There you go.” 

“Now, let's see … as you, I can see ispell in /usr/local/bin and the
permissions seem okay. Now in the root terminal window … wow! There's a
completely different set of files in /usr/local/bin. Hmmm … ” 

“Any ideas?” 

“Wait a second … that root window is on another system!” 

“Oh … that would explain my problem … ” 

“Yes it would.” 


Email Sean Conner at sean@conman.org

.