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Pandya
Asked: 2014-06-18 04:59:28 +0800 CST

What is etc/alternatives used for?

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What does /etc/alternatives stand for? How and why is it used?

I found gnome-tex-editor in /usr/bin which is linked as follows:

/usr/bin/gnome-text-editor -> /etc/alternatives/gnome-text-editor
/etc/alternatives/gnome-text-editor -> /usr/bin/gedit

So gedit and gnome-text-editor seem to be the same thing.

So why are some commands (e.g.: gedit and gnome-text-editor) provided twice?

And what is the use of /etc/alternatives/ - how does it work?

etc

1 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    There are some programs that are considered generic. Many programs can provide the required functionality.

    For example, view is one such meta-program that can be provided by any tool capable of displaying text, such as more,less,vim,etc.

    /etc/alternatives is a directory that is used in keeping track of the alternatives currently in use, by a tool called update-alternatives.

    For more information, read the manual page by man update-alternatives in a terminal. Also visit Debian Alternatives System.

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