Root Can someone explain bin and xbin?

[raduray]

What do these folders do. There seems to be overlap. For example, we're told we should move the su file from bin to xbin before upgrading to Froyo. Do applications that need the info know to look in both bin and xbin? What would happen if I copied su into xbin and left it in bin instead of moving it?
I've also seen posts recommending placing Busybox in both bin and xbin.

Please help u-confuse this newbie.

 

[scary alien]

What do these folders do. There seems to be overlap. For example, we're told we should move the su file from bin to xbin before upgrading to Froyo. Do applications that need the info know to look in both bin and xbin? What would happen if I copied su into xbin and left it in bin instead of moving it?
I've also seen posts recommending placing Busybox in both bin and xbin.

Please help u-confuse this newbie.

raduray,

I can't say specifically regarding Froyo (2.2), but I'm pretty sure that some devs might prefer to not disturb the bin directory and would therefore opt for the xbin directory to keep things separate (not a bad idea IMHO).

I suppose there might be apps and ROMs that look specifically in either (or only one) of these directories and perhaps the divergence has been due to particular habits of a dev. So, to cover all of their bases to make sure that both "flavors" work across the widest range of apps (written by a diverse, inconsitent developer population), they are recommending the "both" option, if you will...just a guess .

Cheers!

 

[DarkAndroid]

Yeah I also noticed that, and Titanium Backup looks for it in /bin if not installed by itself, but I got a question I see another multicall program in /bin called toolbox, do you know if this is Android native or maybe some app installed it?