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man:hier

HIER(7) Linux Programmer's Manual HIER(7)

NAME

     hier - description of the filesystem hierarchy

DESCRIPTION

     A typical Linux system has, among others, the following directories:
     /      This  is  the  root  directory.   This  is  where the whole tree
            starts.
     /bin   This directory contains executable programs which are needed  in
            single user mode and to bring the system up or repair it.
     /boot  Contains static files for the boot loader.  This directory holds
            only the files which are needed during the  boot  process.   The
            map  installer  and  configuration  files should go to /sbin and
            /etc.  The operating system kernel (initrd for example) must  be
            located in either / or /boot.
     /dev   Special  or  device files, which refer to physical devices.  See
            mknod(1).
     /etc   Contains configuration files which are  local  to  the  machine.
            Some larger software packages, like X11, can have their own sub-
            directories below /etc.  Site-wide configuration  files  may  be
            placed  here  or  in  /usr/etc.   Nevertheless,  programs should
            always look for these files in /etc and you may have  links  for
            these files to /usr/etc.
     /etc/opt
            Host-specific   configuration   files  for  add-on  applications
            installed in /opt.
     /etc/sgml
            This  directory  contains  the  configuration  files  for   SGML
            (optional).
     /etc/skel
            When  a  new  user account is created, files from this directory
            are usually copied into the user's home directory.
     /etc/X11
            Configuration files for the X11 window system (optional).
     /etc/xml
            This  directory  contains  the  configuration  files   for   XML
            (optional).
     /home  On  machines  with home directories for users, these are usually
            beneath this directory, directly or not.  The structure of  this
            directory  depends on local administration decisions (optional).
     /lib   This directory should hold those shared libraries that are  nec-
            essary  to  boot  the system and to run the commands in the root
            filesystem.
     /lib<qual>
            These directories are variants of /lib on system  which  support
            more   than  one  binary  format  requiring  separate  libraries
            (optional).
     /lib/modules
            Loadable kernel modules (optional).
     /lost+found
            This directory contains items lost  in  the  filesystem.   These
            items  are usually chunks of files mangled as a consequence of a
            faulty disk or a system crash.
     /media This directory contains mount points for removable media such as
            CD  and DVD disks or USB sticks.  On systems where more than one
            device exists for mounting a certain type of media, mount direc-
            tories  can be created by appending a digit to the name of those
            available above starting with '0', but the unqualified name must
            also exist.
     /media/floppy[1-9]
            Floppy drive (optional).
     /media/cdrom[1-9]
            CD-ROM drive (optional).
     /media/cdrecorder[1-9]
            CD writer (optional).
     /media/zip[1-9]
            Zip drive (optional).
     /media/usb[1-9]
            USB drive (optional).
     /mnt   This  directory  is  a  mount  point  for  a temporarily mounted
            filesystem.  In some distributions, /mnt contains subdirectories
            intended  to  be  used  as  mount  points  for several temporary
            filesystems.
     /opt   This directory  should  contain  add-on  packages  that  contain
            static files.
     /proc  This  is  a  mount point for the proc filesystem, which provides
            information  about  running  processes  and  the  kernel.   This
            pseudo-filesystem is described in more detail in proc(5).
     /root  This  directory  is usually the home directory for the root user
            (optional).
     /sbin  Like /bin, this directory holds commands needed to boot the sys-
            tem, but which are usually not executed by normal users.
     /srv   This  directory  contains  site-specific  data that is served by
            this system.
     /sys   This is a mount point for the sysfs filesystem,  which  provides
            information  about the kernel like /proc, but better structured,
            following the formalism of kobject infrastructure.
     /tmp   This directory contains temporary files  which  may  be  deleted
            with no notice, such as by a regular job or at system boot up.
     /usr   This directory is usually mounted from a separate partition.  It
            should hold only shareable, read-only data, so that  it  can  be
            mounted by various machines running Linux.
     /usr/X11R6
            The X-Window system, version 11 release 6 (optional).
     /usr/X11R6/bin
            Binaries  which belong to the X-Window system; often, there is a
            symbolic link from the more traditional /usr/bin/X11 to here.
     /usr/X11R6/lib
            Data files associated with the X-Window system.
     /usr/X11R6/lib/X11
            These contain miscellaneous files needed to run X;  Often, there
            is a symbolic link from /usr/lib/X11 to this directory.
     /usr/X11R6/include/X11
            Contains  include  files needed for compiling programs using the
            X11 window  system.   Often,  there  is  a  symbolic  link  from
            /usr/include/X11 to this directory.
     /usr/bin
            This  is  the  primary  directory for executable programs.  Most
            programs executed by normal users which are not needed for boot-
            ing  or  for  repairing  the  system and which are not installed
            locally should be placed in this directory.
     /usr/bin/mh
            Commands for the MH mail handling system (optional).
     /usr/bin/X11
            is the traditional place to look for X11 executables; on  Linux,
            it usually is a symbolic link to /usr/X11R6/bin.
     /usr/dict
            Replaced by /usr/share/dict.
     /usr/doc
            Replaced by /usr/share/doc.
     /usr/etc
            Site-wide  configuration  files  to  be  shared  between several
            machines may be stored in  this  directory.   However,  commands
            should  always  reference  those files using the /etc directory.
            Links from files in /etc should point to the  appropriate  files
            in /usr/etc.
     /usr/games
            Binaries for games and educational programs (optional).
     /usr/include
            Include files for the C compiler.
     /usr/include/bsd
            BSD compatibility include files (optional).
     /usr/include/X11
            Include  files for the C compiler and the X-Window system.  This
            is usually a symbolic link to /usr/X11R6/include/X11.
     /usr/include/asm
            Include files which declare some assembler functions.  This used
            to be a symbolic link to /usr/src/linux/include/asm.
     /usr/include/linux
            This  contains  information which may change from system release
            to  system  release  and  used  to  be  a   symbolic   link   to
            /usr/src/linux/include/linux to get at operating-system-specific
            information.
            (Note that one should have include files there  that  work  cor-
            rectly  with the current libc and in user space.  However, Linux
            kernel source is not designed to be used with user programs  and
            does not know anything about the libc you are using.  It is very
            likely that things will break if you  let  /usr/include/asm  and
            /usr/include/linux  point  at a random kernel tree.  Debian sys-
            tems don't do this and use headers from a known good kernel ver-
            sion, provided in the libc*-dev package.)
     /usr/include/g++
            Include files to use with the GNU C++ compiler.
     /usr/lib
            Object  libraries,  including  dynamic libraries, plus some exe-
            cutables which usually are not invoked directly.   More  compli-
            cated programs may have whole subdirectories there.
     /usr/lib<qual>
            These  directories are variants of /usr/lib on system which sup-
            port more than one binary format requiring  separate  libraries,
            except that the symbolic link /usr/lib<qual>/X11 is not required
            (optional).
     /usr/lib/X11
            The usual place for data files associated with X  programs,  and
            configuration  files for the X system itself.  On Linux, it usu-
            ally is a symbolic link to /usr/X11R6/lib/X11.
     /usr/lib/gcc-lib
            contains executables and include files for the GNU  C  compiler,
            gcc(1).
     /usr/lib/groff
            Files for the GNU groff document formatting system.
     /usr/lib/uucp
            Files for uucp(1).
     /usr/local
            This is where programs which are local to the site typically go.
     /usr/local/bin
            Binaries for programs local to the site.
     /usr/local/doc
            Local documentation.
     /usr/local/etc
            Configuration files associated with locally installed  programs.
     /usr/local/games
            Binaries for locally installed games.
     /usr/local/lib
            Files associated with locally installed programs.
     /usr/local/lib<qual>
            These directories are variants of /usr/local/lib on system which
            support more than one binary format requiring separate libraries
            (optional).
     /usr/local/include
            Header files for the local C compiler.
     /usr/local/info
            Info pages associated with locally installed programs.
     /usr/local/man
            Man pages associated with locally installed programs.
     /usr/local/sbin
            Locally installed programs for system administration.
     /usr/local/share
            Local application data that can be shared among different archi-
            tectures of the same OS.
     /usr/local/src
            Source code for locally installed software.
     /usr/man
            Replaced by /usr/share/man.
     /usr/sbin
            This directory contains program binaries for system  administra-
            tion  which are not essential for the boot process, for mounting
            /usr, or for system repair.
     /usr/share
            This directory contains subdirectories with specific application
            data,  that  can  be shared among different architectures of the
            same OS.  Often one finds  stuff  here  that  used  to  live  in
            /usr/doc or /usr/lib or /usr/man.
     /usr/share/dict
            Contains the word lists used by spell checkers (optional).
     /usr/share/dict/words
            List of English words (optional).
     /usr/share/doc
            Documentation about installed programs (optional).
     /usr/share/games
            Static data files for games in /usr/games (optional).
     /usr/share/info
            Info pages go here (optional).
     /usr/share/locale
            Locale information goes here (optional).
     /usr/share/man
            Manual pages go here in subdirectories according to the man page
            sections.
     /usr/share/man/<locale>/man[1-9]
            These directories contain manual pages for the  specific  locale
            in  source  code  form.  Systems which use a unique language and
            code set for all manual pages may omit the <locale> substring.
     /usr/share/misc
            Miscellaneous data that can be shared among different  architec-
            tures of the same OS.
     /usr/share/nls
            The  message  catalogs  for  native  language  support  go  here
            (optional).
     /usr/share/sgml
            Files for SGML (optional).
     /usr/share/sgml/docbook
            DocBook DTD (optional).
     /usr/share/sgml/tei
            TEI DTD (optional).
     /usr/share/sgml/html
            HTML DTD (optional).
     /usr/share/sgml/mathtml
            MathML DTD (optional).
     /usr/share/terminfo
            The database for terminfo (optional).
     /usr/share/tmac
            Troff macros that are not distributed with groff (optional).
     /usr/share/xml
            Files for XML (optional).
     /usr/share/xml/docbook
            DocBook DTD (optional).
     /usr/share/xml/xhtml
            XHTML DTD (optional).
     /usr/share/xml/mathml
            MathML DTD (optional).
     /usr/share/zoneinfo
            Files for timezone information (optional).
     /usr/src
            Source files for different parts of the  system,  included  with
            some packages for reference purposes.  Don't work here with your
            own projects, as files below /usr  should  be  read-only  except
            when installing software (optional).
     /usr/src/linux
            This was the traditional place for the kernel source.  Some dis-
            tributions put here the source for the default kernel they ship.
            You should probably use another directory when building your own
            kernel.
     /usr/tmp
            Obsolete.  This should be a link  to  /var/tmp.   This  link  is
            present only for compatibility reasons and shouldn't be used.
     /var   This  directory contains files which may change in size, such as
            spool and log files.
     /var/account
            Process accounting logs (optional).
     /var/adm
            This directory is superseded by /var/log and should  be  a  sym-
            bolic link to /var/log.
     /var/backups
            Reserved for historical reasons.
     /var/cache
            Data cached for programs.
     /var/cache/fonts
            Locally-generated fonts (optional).
     /var/cache/man
            Locally-formatted man pages (optional).
     /var/cache/www
            WWW proxy or cache data (optional).
     /var/cache/<package>
            Package specific cache data (optional).
     /var/catman/cat[1-9] or /var/cache/man/cat[1-9]
            These directories contain preformatted manual pages according to
            their man page section.  (The use of preformatted  manual  pages
            is deprecated.)
     /var/crash
            System crash dumps (optional).
     /var/cron
            Reserved for historical reasons.
     /var/games
            Variable game data (optional).
     /var/lib
            Variable state information for programs.
     /var/lib/hwclock
            State directory for hwclock (optional).
     /var/lib/misc
            Miscellaneous state data.
     /var/lib/xdm
            X display manager variable data (optional).
     /var/lib/<editor>
            Editor backup files and state (optional).
     /var/lib/<name>
            These  directories  must  be used for all distribution packaging
            support.
     /var/lib/<package>
            State data for packages and subsystems (optional).
     /var/lib/<pkgtool>
            Packaging support files (optional).
     /var/local
            Variable data for /usr/local.
     /var/lock
            Lock files are placed in this directory.  The naming  convention
            for  device  lock  files  is LCK..<device> where <device> is the
            device's name in the filesystem.  The format used is that of HDU
            UUCP  lock files, that is, lock files contain a PID as a 10-byte
            ASCII decimal number, followed by a newline character.
     /var/log
            Miscellaneous log files.
     /var/opt
            Variable data for /opt.
     /var/mail
            Users' mailboxes.  Replaces /var/spool/mail.
     /var/msgs
            Reserved for historical reasons.
     /var/preserve
            Reserved for historical reasons.
     /var/run
            Run-time variable files, like files holding process  identifiers
            (PIDs) and logged user information (utmp).  Files in this direc-
            tory are usually cleared when the system boots.
     /var/spool
            Spooled (or queued) files for various programs.
     /var/spool/at
            Spooled jobs for at(1).
     /var/spool/cron
            Spooled jobs for cron(8).
     /var/spool/lpd
            Spooled files for printing (optional).
     /var/spool/lpd/printer
            Spools for a specific printer (optional).
     /var/spool/mail
            Replaced by /var/mail.
     /var/spool/mqueue
            Queued outgoing mail (optional).
     /var/spool/news
            Spool directory for news (optional).
     /var/spool/rwho
            Spooled files for rwhod(8) (optional).
     /var/spool/smail
            Spooled files for the smail(1) mail delivery program.
     /var/spool/uucp
            Spooled files for uucp(1) (optional).
     /var/tmp
            Like /tmp, this directory holds temporary files  stored  for  an
            unspecified duration.
     /var/yp
            Database  files  for NIS, formerly known as the Sun Yellow Pages
            (YP).

CONFORMING TO

     The Filesystem Hierarchy Standard, Version 2.3

BUGS

     This list is not exhaustive; different systems may be  configured  dif-
     ferently.

SEE ALSO

     find(1), ln(1), proc(5), file-hierarchy(7), mount(8)
     The Filesystem Hierarchy Standard

COLOPHON

     This  page  is  part of release 4.16 of the Linux man-pages project.  A
     description of the project, information about reporting bugs,  and  the
     latest     version     of     this    page,    can    be    found    at
     https://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/.

Linux 2017-11-26 HIER(7)

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