Path Isn't Real on Linux

a year ago

On Linux, the shell (like dash in Debian) is responsible for searching for executables in the PATH, not the kernel.
Commands like `cat` are resolved by the shell before execution, using the PATH environment variable to locate the executable.
Tools like Python's `subprocess.run`, Go's `LookPath`, and Rust's `Command::spawn` also handle PATH resolution in user space before calling system functions.
Linux's `execve` system call requires an absolute path, which is why shebangs must specify full paths or use `/usr/bin/env` to leverage PATH searching.

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