Problem getting the correct version of a command to run

[Scott Granneman]

I’m a bit confuzzled at this point, & I’m wondering if anybody can explain
this situation to me.

I’ve SSH'd into my Synology NAS, which runs BusyBox (see
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BusyBox). You can also install GNU tools using
a package manager called ipkg. I recently tried to use the find command to
do a common query & got this:

# find . -size +10M
find: invalid number '10M'

What the heck? That should work just fine. What’s going on with find?

# ls -l /usr/bin/find
/usr/bin/find -> ../../bin/busybox*
*
(Sidenote #1: ../../bin is really just /bin.)

(Sidenote #2: Some of you may wonder why find is a soft link to busybox.

Programs included in BusyBox can be run simply by adding their name as an
/bin/busybox ls
More commonly, the desired command names are linked (using [hard] or

[symbolic] links) to the BusyBox executable; BusyBox notices the name it is
called as, and runs the appropriate command, for example just

/bin/ls
after /bin/ls is linked to /bin/busybox.

End sidenote #2.)

Aha! The version of find that came with BusyBox was not up to the task, so
I installed the GNU version of find using ipkg:

# ipkg install findutils
Installing findutils (4.2.32-1) to root...
Downloading
http://ipkg.nslu2-linux.org/feeds/optware/cs08q1armel/cross/unstable/findutils_4.2.32-1_arm.ipk
Configuring findutils
update-alternatives: Linking //opt/bin/find to /opt/bin/findutils-find
update-alternatives: Linking //opt/bin/xargs to /opt/bin/findutils-xargs
Successfully terminated.

I now tried my find command again:

# find . -size +10M
find: invalid number '10M'

Same thing. Huh. OK, which find is being used?

# which find
/opt/bin/find

That’s the one installed by ipkg: the GNU version. Let me take a look at
that command ...

# ls -l /opt/bin/find
/opt/bin/find -> /opt/bin/findutils-find

OK, it’s a soft link pointing to findutils-find in that same directory.
Does *that* work?

# findutils-find . -size +10M
./18 - Revolution Rock.mp3

What about calling the GNU find via the full path?

# /opt/bin/find . -size +10M
./18 - Revolution Rock.mp3

That works too.

Now, I know what many of you are thinking: check your PATH, dummy! So I did:

# echo $PATH
/opt/bin:/opt/sbin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/usr/syno/sbin:/usr/syno/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin

Notice how /opt/bin is BEFORE /usr/bin, & is also before /bin, which is
where the busybox executable resides. So shouldn’t /opt/bin/find get called
when I just type in find?

And to make things even weirder, I saw this:

# type find
find is hashed (/usr/bin/find)

I was expecting when I entered `type find` to see it refer to the the type
at /opt/bin/find, but maybe that’s a wrong expectation on my part.

So, here’s my question: when I enter find, why is /usr/bin/find being used
instead of /opt/bin/find, even though my PATH indicates that the reverse
should be true?

Tks!

Scott
--
R. Scott Granneman
***@granneman.com ~ www.granneman.com ~ granneman.tel
Full list of publications @ http://www.granneman.com/publications
My latest book: Mac OS X for Power Users @ http://www.granneman.com/books

“Most people are bothered by those passages of Scripture they do not
understand, but the passages that bother me are those I do understand.”
---Mark Twain
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