On 12/09/2011 05:13 AM, Alec T. Habig wrote:
> Ken Teh writes:
>> Is there some reason why regular users get /usr/local/sbin, /sbin,
>> /usr/sbin in their PATH?  SL5x didnt do it and I believe that was also
>> the case for SL4x.  Can I remove it safely?
>
> I'm running 6.X and my regular users don't have it in their paths, with
> no harm done.
>
> Didn't realize the default had changed: I guess my /etc/skel stuff for
> making new users is just old.
>

This has been an ongoing discussion for some time. Here is part of the 
conversation (circa Fedora 10):

https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2008-April/msg01947.html

The point of having /sbin and /bin separate wasn't security, it was to 
have a mini bootable system in sbin and only that, to permit smooth 
remote mounting of the rest of the binaries later from a different (or 
alternate) /bin. But things haven't worked that way forever.

This discussion came up again the other day, I just can't find the 
thread -- the plan is to shift things around to have a universal bin, a 
better organized /etc and some minor changes to the way /usr/lib is laid 
out to regain some consistency.

Hopefully this can provide some perspective.