1HIER(7) Linux Programmer's Manual HIER(7)
2
6 hier - Description of the file system hierarchy
7
9 A typical Linux system has, among others, the following directories:
10 / This is the root directory. This is where the whole tree
12 starts.
13 /bin This directory contains executable programs which are needed in
15 single user mode and to bring the system up or repair it.
16 /boot Contains static files for the boot loader. This directory only
18 holds the files which are needed during the boot process. The
19 map installer and configuration files should go to /sbin and
20 /etc.
21 /dev Special or device files, which refer to physical devices. See
23 mknod(1).
24 /etc Contains configuration files which are local to the machine.
26 Some larger software packages, like X11, can have their own sub‐
27 directories below /etc. Site-wide configuration files may be
28 placed here or in /usr/etc. Nevertheless, programs should
29 always look for these files in /etc and you may have links for
30 these files to /usr/etc.
31 /etc/opt
33 Host-specific configuration files for add-on applications
34 installed in /opt.
35 /etc/sgml
37 This directory contains the configuration files for SGML and XML
38 (optional).
39 /etc/skel
41 When a new user account is created, files from this directory
42 are usually copied into the user's home directory.
43 /etc/X11
45 Configuration files for the X11 window system (optional).
46 /home On machines with home directories for users, these are usually
48 beneath this directory, directly or not. The structure of this
49 directory depends on local administration decisions.
50 /lib This directory should hold those shared libraries that are nec‐
52 essary to boot the system and to run the commands in the root
53 file system.
54 /media This directory contains mount points for removable media such as
56 CD and DVD disks or USB sticks.
57 /mnt This directory is a mount point for a temporarily mounted file
59 system. In some distributions, /mnt contains subdirectories
60 intended to be used as mount points for several temporary file
61 systems.
62 /opt This directory should contain add-on packages that contain
64 static files.
65 /proc This is a mount point for the proc file system, which provides
67 information about running processes and the kernel. This
68 pseudo-file system is described in more detail in proc(5).
69 /root This directory is usually the home directory for the root user
71 (optional).
72 /sbin Like /bin, this directory holds commands needed to boot the sys‐
74 tem, but which are usually not executed by normal users.
75 /srv This directory contains site-specific data that is served by
77 this system.
78 /tmp This directory contains temporary files which may be deleted
80 with no notice, such as by a regular job or at system boot up.
81 /usr This directory is usually mounted from a separate partition. It
83 should hold only sharable, read-only data, so that it can be
84 mounted by various machines running Linux.
85 /usr/X11R6
87 The X-Window system, version 11 release 6 (optional).
88 /usr/X11R6/bin
90 Binaries which belong to the X-Window system; often, there is a
91 symbolic link from the more traditional /usr/bin/X11 to here.
92 /usr/X11R6/lib
94 Data files associated with the X-Window system.
95 /usr/X11R6/lib/X11
97 These contain miscellaneous files needed to run X; Often, there
98 is a symbolic link from /usr/lib/X11 to this directory.
99 /usr/X11R6/include/X11
101 Contains include files needed for compiling programs using the
102 X11 window system. Often, there is a symbolic link from
103 /usr/include/X11 to this directory.
104 /usr/bin
106 This is the primary directory for executable programs. Most
107 programs executed by normal users which are not needed for boot‐
108 ing or for repairing the system and which are not installed
109 locally should be placed in this directory.
110 /usr/bin/X11
112 is the traditional place to look for X11 executables; on Linux,
113 it usually is a symbolic link to /usr/X11R6/bin.
114 /usr/dict
116 Replaced by /usr/share/dict.
117 /usr/doc
119 Replaced by /usr/share/doc.
120 /usr/etc
122 Site-wide configuration files to be shared between several
123 machines may be stored in this directory. However, commands
124 should always reference those files using the /etc directory.
125 Links from files in /etc should point to the appropriate files
126 in /usr/etc.
127 /usr/games
129 Binaries for games and educational programs (optional).
130 /usr/include
132 Include files for the C compiler.
133 /usr/include/X11
135 Include files for the C compiler and the X-Window system. This
136 is usually a symbolic link to /usr/X11R6/include/X11.
137 /usr/include/asm
139 Include files which declare some assembler functions. This used
140 to be a symbolic link to /usr/src/linux/include/asm.
141 /usr/include/linux
143 This contains information which may change from system release
144 to system release and used to be a symbolic link to
145 /usr/src/linux/include/linux to get at operating system specific
146 information.
147 (Note that one should have include files there that work cor‐
149 rectly with the current libc and in user space. However, Linux
150 kernel source is not designed to be used with user programs and
151 does not know anything about the libc you are using. It is very
152 likely that things will break if you let /usr/include/asm and
153 /usr/include/linux point at a random kernel tree. Debian sys‐
154 tems don't do this and use headers from a known good kernel ver‐
155 sion, provided in the libc*-dev package.)
156 /usr/include/g++
158 Include files to use with the GNU C++ compiler.
159 /usr/lib
161 Object libraries, including dynamic libraries, plus some exe‐
162 cutables which usually are not invoked directly. More compli‐
163 cated programs may have whole subdirectories there.
164 /usr/lib/X11
166 The usual place for data files associated with X programs, and
167 configuration files for the X system itself. On Linux, it usu‐
168 ally is a symbolic link to /usr/X11R6/lib/X11.
169 /usr/lib/gcc-lib
171 contains executables and include files for the GNU C compiler,
172 gcc(1).
173 /usr/lib/groff
175 Files for the GNU groff document formatting system.
176 /usr/lib/uucp
178 Files for uucp(1).
179 /usr/local
181 This is where programs which are local to the site typically go.
182 /usr/local/bin
184 Binaries for programs local to the site.
185 /usr/local/doc
187 Local documentation.
188 /usr/local/etc
190 Configuration files associated with locally installed programs.
191 /usr/local/games
193 Binaries for locally installed games.
194 /usr/local/lib
196 Files associated with locally installed programs.
197 /usr/local/include
199 Header files for the local C compiler.
200 /usr/local/info
202 Info pages associated with locally installed programs.
203 /usr/local/man
205 Man pages associated with locally installed programs.
206 /usr/local/sbin
208 Locally installed programs for system administration.
209 /usr/local/share
211 Local application data that can be shared among different archi‐
212 tectures of the same OS.
213 /usr/local/src
215 Source code for locally installed software.
216 /usr/man
218 Replaced by /usr/share/man.
219 /usr/sbin
221 This directory contains program binaries for system administra‐
222 tion which are not essential for the boot process, for mounting
223 /usr, or for system repair.
224 /usr/share
226 This directory contains subdirectories with specific application
227 data, that can be shared among different architectures of the
228 same OS. Often one finds stuff here that used to live in
229 /usr/doc or /usr/lib or /usr/man.
230 /usr/share/dict
232 Contains the word lists used by spell checkers.
233 /usr/share/doc
235 Documentation about installed programs.
236 /usr/share/games
238 Static data files for games in /usr/games.
239 /usr/share/info
241 Info pages go here.
242 /usr/share/locale
244 Locale information goes here.
245 /usr/share/man
247 Manual pages go here in subdirectories according to the man page
248 sections.
249 /usr/share/man/<locale>/man[1-9]
251 These directories contain manual pages for the specific locale
252 in source code form. Systems which use a unique language and
253 code set for all manual pages may omit the <locale> substring.
254 /usr/share/misc
256 Miscellaneous data that can be shared among different architec‐
257 tures of the same OS.
258 /usr/share/nls
260 The message catalogs for native language support go here.
261 /usr/share/sgml
263 Files for SGML and XML.
264 /usr/share/terminfo
266 The database for terminfo.
267 /usr/share/tmac
269 Troff macros that are not distributed with groff.
270 /usr/share/zoneinfo
272 Files for timezone information.
273 /usr/src
275 Source files for different parts of the system, included with
276 some packages for reference purposes. Don't work here with your
277 own projects, as files below /usr should be read-only except
278 when installing software.
279 /usr/src/linux
281 This was the traditional place for the kernel source. Some dis‐
282 tributions put here the source for the default kernel they ship.
283 You should probably use another directory when building your own
284 kernel.
285 /usr/tmp
287 Obsolete. This should be a link to /var/tmp. This link is
288 present only for compatibility reasons and shouldn't be used.
289 /var This directory contains files which may change in size, such as
291 spool and log files.
292 /var/adm
294 This directory is superseded by /var/log and should be a sym‐
295 bolic link to /var/log.
296 /var/backups
298 Reserved for historical reasons.
299 /var/cache
301 Data cached for programs.
302 /var/catman/cat[1-9] or /var/cache/man/cat[1-9]
304 These directories contain preformatted manual pages according to
305 their man page section. (The use of preformatted manual pages
306 is deprecated.)
307 /var/cron
309 Reserved for historical reasons.
310 /var/lib
312 Variable state information for programs.
313 /var/local
315 Variable data for /usr/local.
316 /var/lock
318 Lock files are placed in this directory. The naming convention
319 for device lock files is LCK..<device> where <device> is the
320 device's name in the file system. The format used is that of
321 HDU UUCP lock files, that is, lock files contain a PID as a
322 10-byte ASCII decimal number, followed by a newline character.
323 /var/log
325 Miscellaneous log files.
326 /var/opt
328 Variable data for /opt.
329 /var/mail
331 Users' mailboxes. Replaces /var/spool/mail.
332 /var/msgs
334 Reserved for historical reasons.
335 /var/preserve
337 Reserved for historical reasons.
338 /var/run
340 Run-time variable files, like files holding process identifiers
341 (PIDs) and logged user information (utmp). Files in this direc‐
342 tory are usually cleared when the system boots.
343 /var/spool
345 Spooled (or queued) files for various programs.
346 /var/spool/at
348 Spooled jobs for at(1).
349 /var/spool/cron
351 Spooled jobs for cron(8).
352 /var/spool/lpd
354 Spooled files for printing.
355 /var/spool/mail
357 Replaced by /var/mail.
358 /var/spool/mqueue
360 Queued outgoing mail.
361 /var/spool/news
363 Spool directory for news.
364 /var/spool/rwho
366 Spooled files for rwhod(8).
367 /var/spool/smail
369 Spooled files for the smail(1) mail delivery program.
370 /var/spool/uucp
372 Spooled files for uucp(1).
373 /var/tmp
375 Like /tmp, this directory holds temporary files stored for an
376 unspecified duration.
377 /var/yp
379 Database files for NIS.
380
382 The Filesystem Hierarchy Standard, Version 2.2 <http://www.path‐
383 name.com/fhs/>.
384
386 This list is not exhaustive; different systems may be configured dif‐
387 ferently.
388
390 find(1), ln(1), proc(5), mount(8)
391 The Filesystem Hierarchy Standard
393
395 This page is part of release 3.25 of the Linux man-pages project. A
396 description of the project, and information about reporting bugs, can
397 be found at http://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/.
398Linux 2009-03-30 HIER(7)