Creating dirs with install instead of mkdir

[archaic@…]

mkdir -p /{root,sbin,tmp,usr/local,var,opt} mkdir -p /var/{tmp,opt,cache,lib/misc,local} chmod 0750 /root chmod 1777 /tmp /var/tmp vs install -d /{sbin,usr/local,var,opt} install -m 0750 -d /root install -m 1777 -d /{tmp,var/tmp}

[jeremy@…]

What's the justification for this? What does it gain us in functionality by using install instead of mkdir -p, other than the ability to set permissions?

[archaic@…]

It gets us more educational experience in that another is taught. Also, it helps to shorten the commands a bit. Perhaps some discussion should take place first before closing the bug.

[jeremy@…]

Matt had suggested to close it - personally, I kinda like the idea myself

[archaic@…]

Maybe he thought it was for inclusion in the 5.1 book? I agree that it is too late for that now, but not for other books. I'll email him and see what he's thinking.

[Matthew Burgess]

I looked at the archives for April & May and couldn't see any mention of this. I'm not opposed to this idea (or at least I don't think I am!) but we need to be careful about maintaining consistency throughout the book. I'd like to see both mkdir and install -d used, but only where there's a particular reason to use one above the other. The only thing I can think of related to this is when changing permissions on directories, where install -m 0750 -d /root would be a nice alternative to mkdir /root && chmod 0750. I'm thinking those directories that we create and don't need permission changes still use mkdir, all others use install. Thoughts?

[archaic@…]

It seems reasonable to me to use install by itself n the creating dirs page so a little snippet of explanatory text could be written saying it is just an alternative (and of course highlight the chmod feature). Then proceed to use mkdir everywhere else. Is there anywhere else in the book where we chmod a dir? Nothing comes to mind, so we could isolate it to one large example in the creating dirs page.

[Matthew Burgess]

Well, there's one example in chapter03/introduction.html, which interestingly doesn't use the numeric permission modes. I'm not sure whether we need/want to change this to use install -m 1777 $LFS/sources?

[archaic@…]

I'd say leave that one since it teaches another method.

[Matthew Burgess]

Agreed.

Jeremy - you originally had this assigned to you, so it's back with you now :) Just to confirm: We're changing chapter06/creatingdirs.xml to use `install -d [-m] instead of mkdir && chown`. Everything else remains as it is.

Cheers,

Matt.

[Matthew Burgess]

Sorry Jeremy - I beat you to it :)