1HIER(7) Linux Programmer's Manual HIER(7)
2
6 hier - description of the filesystem 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 holds
18 only the files which are needed during the boot process. The
19 map installer and configuration files should go to /sbin and
20 /etc. The operating system kernel (initrd for example) must be
21 located in either / or /boot.
22 /dev Special or device files, which refer to physical devices. See
24 mknod(1).
25 /etc Contains configuration files which are local to the machine.
27 Some larger software packages, like X11, can have their own sub‐
28 directories below /etc. Site-wide configuration files may be
29 placed here or in /usr/etc. Nevertheless, programs should
30 always look for these files in /etc and you may have links for
31 these files to /usr/etc.
32 /etc/opt
34 Host-specific configuration files for add-on applications
35 installed in /opt.
36 /etc/sgml
38 This directory contains the configuration files for SGML
39 (optional).
40 /etc/skel
42 When a new user account is created, files from this directory
43 are usually copied into the user's home directory.
44 /etc/X11
46 Configuration files for the X11 window system (optional).
47 /etc/xml
49 This directory contains the configuration files for XML
50 (optional).
51 /home On machines with home directories for users, these are usually
53 beneath this directory, directly or not. The structure of this
54 directory depends on local administration decisions (optional).
55 /lib This directory should hold those shared libraries that are nec‐
57 essary to boot the system and to run the commands in the root
58 filesystem.
59 /lib<qual>
61 These directories are variants of /lib on system which support
62 more than one binary format requiring separate libraries
63 (optional).
64 /lib/modules
66 Loadable kernel modules (optional).
67 /lost+found
69 This directory contains items lost in the filesystem. These
70 items are usually chunks of files mangled as a consequence of a
71 faulty disk or a system crash.
72 /media This directory contains mount points for removable media such as
74 CD and DVD disks or USB sticks. On systems where more than one
75 device exists for mounting a certain type of media, mount direc‐
76 tories can be created by appending a digit to the name of those
77 available above starting with '0', but the unqualified name must
78 also exist.
79 /media/floppy[1-9]
81 Floppy drive (optional).
82 /media/cdrom[1-9]
84 CD-ROM drive (optional).
85 /media/cdrecorder[1-9]
87 CD writer (optional).
88 /media/zip[1-9]
90 Zip drive (optional).
91 /media/usb[1-9]
93 USB drive (optional).
94 /mnt This directory is a mount point for a temporarily mounted
96 filesystem. In some distributions, /mnt contains subdirectories
97 intended to be used as mount points for several temporary
98 filesystems.
99 /opt This directory should contain add-on packages that contain
101 static files.
102 /proc This is a mount point for the proc filesystem, which provides
104 information about running processes and the kernel. This
105 pseudo-filesystem is described in more detail in proc(5).
106 /root This directory is usually the home directory for the root user
108 (optional).
109 /sbin Like /bin, this directory holds commands needed to boot the sys‐
111 tem, but which are usually not executed by normal users.
112 /srv This directory contains site-specific data that is served by
114 this system.
115 /sys This is a mount point for the sysfs filesystem, which provides
117 information about the kernel like /proc, but better structured,
118 following the formalism of kobject infrastructure.
119 /tmp This directory contains temporary files which may be deleted
121 with no notice, such as by a regular job or at system boot up.
122 /usr This directory is usually mounted from a separate partition. It
124 should hold only shareable, read-only data, so that it can be
125 mounted by various machines running Linux.
126 /usr/X11R6
128 The X-Window system, version 11 release 6 (optional).
129 /usr/X11R6/bin
131 Binaries which belong to the X-Window system; often, there is a
132 symbolic link from the more traditional /usr/bin/X11 to here.
133 /usr/X11R6/lib
135 Data files associated with the X-Window system.
136 /usr/X11R6/lib/X11
138 These contain miscellaneous files needed to run X; Often, there
139 is a symbolic link from /usr/lib/X11 to this directory.
140 /usr/X11R6/include/X11
142 Contains include files needed for compiling programs using the
143 X11 window system. Often, there is a symbolic link from
144 /usr/include/X11 to this directory.
145 /usr/bin
147 This is the primary directory for executable programs. Most
148 programs executed by normal users which are not needed for boot‐
149 ing or for repairing the system and which are not installed
150 locally should be placed in this directory.
151 /usr/bin/mh
153 Commands for the MH mail handling system (optional).
154 /usr/bin/X11
156 is the traditional place to look for X11 executables; on Linux,
157 it usually is a symbolic link to /usr/X11R6/bin.
158 /usr/dict
160 Replaced by /usr/share/dict.
161 /usr/doc
163 Replaced by /usr/share/doc.
164 /usr/etc
166 Site-wide configuration files to be shared between several
167 machines may be stored in this directory. However, commands
168 should always reference those files using the /etc directory.
169 Links from files in /etc should point to the appropriate files
170 in /usr/etc.
171 /usr/games
173 Binaries for games and educational programs (optional).
174 /usr/include
176 Include files for the C compiler.
177 /usr/include/bsd
179 BSD compatibility include files (optional).
180 /usr/include/X11
182 Include files for the C compiler and the X-Window system. This
183 is usually a symbolic link to /usr/X11R6/include/X11.
184 /usr/include/asm
186 Include files which declare some assembler functions. This used
187 to be a symbolic link to /usr/src/linux/include/asm.
188 /usr/include/linux
190 This contains information which may change from system release
191 to system release and used to be a symbolic link to
192 /usr/src/linux/include/linux to get at operating-system-specific
193 information.
194 (Note that one should have include files there that work cor‐
196 rectly with the current libc and in user space. However, Linux
197 kernel source is not designed to be used with user programs and
198 does not know anything about the libc you are using. It is very
199 likely that things will break if you let /usr/include/asm and
200 /usr/include/linux point at a random kernel tree. Debian sys‐
201 tems don't do this and use headers from a known good kernel ver‐
202 sion, provided in the libc*-dev package.)
203 /usr/include/g++
205 Include files to use with the GNU C++ compiler.
206 /usr/lib
208 Object libraries, including dynamic libraries, plus some exe‐
209 cutables which usually are not invoked directly. More compli‐
210 cated programs may have whole subdirectories there.
211 /usr/lib<qual>
213 These directories are variants of /usr/lib on system which sup‐
214 port more than one binary format requiring separate libraries,
215 except that the symbolic link /usr/lib<qual>/X11 is not required
216 (optional).
217 /usr/lib/X11
219 The usual place for data files associated with X programs, and
220 configuration files for the X system itself. On Linux, it usu‐
221 ally is a symbolic link to /usr/X11R6/lib/X11.
222 /usr/lib/gcc-lib
224 contains executables and include files for the GNU C compiler,
225 gcc(1).
226 /usr/lib/groff
228 Files for the GNU groff document formatting system.
229 /usr/lib/uucp
231 Files for uucp(1).
232 /usr/local
234 This is where programs which are local to the site typically go.
235 /usr/local/bin
237 Binaries for programs local to the site.
238 /usr/local/doc
240 Local documentation.
241 /usr/local/etc
243 Configuration files associated with locally installed programs.
244 /usr/local/games
246 Binaries for locally installed games.
247 /usr/local/lib
249 Files associated with locally installed programs.
250 /usr/local/lib<qual>
252 These directories are variants of /usr/local/lib on system which
253 support more than one binary format requiring separate libraries
254 (optional).
255 /usr/local/include
257 Header files for the local C compiler.
258 /usr/local/info
260 Info pages associated with locally installed programs.
261 /usr/local/man
263 Man pages associated with locally installed programs.
264 /usr/local/sbin
266 Locally installed programs for system administration.
267 /usr/local/share
269 Local application data that can be shared among different archi‐
270 tectures of the same OS.
271 /usr/local/src
273 Source code for locally installed software.
274 /usr/man
276 Replaced by /usr/share/man.
277 /usr/sbin
279 This directory contains program binaries for system administra‐
280 tion which are not essential for the boot process, for mounting
281 /usr, or for system repair.
282 /usr/share
284 This directory contains subdirectories with specific application
285 data, that can be shared among different architectures of the
286 same OS. Often one finds stuff here that used to live in
287 /usr/doc or /usr/lib or /usr/man.
288 /usr/share/dict
290 Contains the word lists used by spell checkers (optional).
291 /usr/share/dict/words
293 List of English words (optional).
294 /usr/share/doc
296 Documentation about installed programs (optional).
297 /usr/share/games
299 Static data files for games in /usr/games (optional).
300 /usr/share/info
302 Info pages go here (optional).
303 /usr/share/locale
305 Locale information goes here (optional).
306 /usr/share/man
308 Manual pages go here in subdirectories according to the man page
309 sections.
310 /usr/share/man/<locale>/man[1-9]
312 These directories contain manual pages for the specific locale
313 in source code form. Systems which use a unique language and
314 code set for all manual pages may omit the <locale> substring.
315 /usr/share/misc
317 Miscellaneous data that can be shared among different architec‐
318 tures of the same OS.
319 /usr/share/nls
321 The message catalogs for native language support go here
322 (optional).
323 /usr/share/sgml
325 Files for SGML (optional).
326 /usr/share/sgml/docbook
328 DocBook DTD (optional).
329 /usr/share/sgml/tei
331 TEI DTD (optional).
332 /usr/share/sgml/html
334 HTML DTD (optional).
335 /usr/share/sgml/mathtml
337 MathML DTD (optional).
338 /usr/share/terminfo
340 The database for terminfo (optional).
341 /usr/share/tmac
343 Troff macros that are not distributed with groff (optional).
344 /usr/share/xml
346 Files for XML (optional).
347 /usr/share/xml/docbook
349 DocBook DTD (optional).
350 /usr/share/xml/xhtml
352 XHTML DTD (optional).
353 /usr/share/xml/mathml
355 MathML DTD (optional).
356 /usr/share/zoneinfo
358 Files for timezone information (optional).
359 /usr/src
361 Source files for different parts of the system, included with
362 some packages for reference purposes. Don't work here with your
363 own projects, as files below /usr should be read-only except
364 when installing software (optional).
365 /usr/src/linux
367 This was the traditional place for the kernel source. Some dis‐
368 tributions put here the source for the default kernel they ship.
369 You should probably use another directory when building your own
370 kernel.
371 /usr/tmp
373 Obsolete. This should be a link to /var/tmp. This link is
374 present only for compatibility reasons and shouldn't be used.
375 /var This directory contains files which may change in size, such as
377 spool and log files.
378 /var/account
380 Process accounting logs (optional).
381 /var/adm
383 This directory is superseded by /var/log and should be a sym‐
384 bolic link to /var/log.
385 /var/backups
387 Reserved for historical reasons.
388 /var/cache
390 Data cached for programs.
391 /var/cache/fonts
393 Locally-generated fonts (optional).
394 /var/cache/man
396 Locally-formatted man pages (optional).
397 /var/cache/www
399 WWW proxy or cache data (optional).
400 /var/cache/<package>
402 Package specific cache data (optional).
403 /var/catman/cat[1-9] or /var/cache/man/cat[1-9]
405 These directories contain preformatted manual pages according to
406 their man page section. (The use of preformatted manual pages
407 is deprecated.)
408 /var/crash
410 System crash dumps (optional).
411 /var/cron
413 Reserved for historical reasons.
414 /var/games
416 Variable game data (optional).
417 /var/lib
419 Variable state information for programs.
420 /var/lib/hwclock
422 State directory for hwclock (optional).
423 /var/lib/misc
425 Miscellaneous state data.
426 /var/lib/xdm
428 X display manager variable data (optional).
429 /var/lib/<editor>
431 Editor backup files and state (optional).
432 /var/lib/<name>
434 These directories must be used for all distribution packaging
435 support.
436 /var/lib/<package>
438 State data for packages and subsystems (optional).
439 /var/lib/<pkgtool>
441 Packaging support files (optional).
442 /var/local
444 Variable data for /usr/local.
445 /var/lock
447 Lock files are placed in this directory. The naming convention
448 for device lock files is LCK..<device> where <device> is the
449 device's name in the filesystem. The format used is that of HDU
450 UUCP lock files, that is, lock files contain a PID as a 10-byte
451 ASCII decimal number, followed by a newline character.
452 /var/log
454 Miscellaneous log files.
455 /var/opt
457 Variable data for /opt.
458 /var/mail
460 Users' mailboxes. Replaces /var/spool/mail.
461 /var/msgs
463 Reserved for historical reasons.
464 /var/preserve
466 Reserved for historical reasons.
467 /var/run
469 Run-time variable files, like files holding process identifiers
470 (PIDs) and logged user information (utmp). Files in this direc‐
471 tory are usually cleared when the system boots.
472 /var/spool
474 Spooled (or queued) files for various programs.
475 /var/spool/at
477 Spooled jobs for at(1).
478 /var/spool/cron
480 Spooled jobs for cron(8).
481 /var/spool/lpd
483 Spooled files for printing (optional).
484 /var/spool/lpd/printer
486 Spools for a specific printer (optional).
487 /var/spool/mail
489 Replaced by /var/mail.
490 /var/spool/mqueue
492 Queued outgoing mail (optional).
493 /var/spool/news
495 Spool directory for news (optional).
496 /var/spool/rwho
498 Spooled files for rwhod(8) (optional).
499 /var/spool/smail
501 Spooled files for the smail(1) mail delivery program.
502 /var/spool/uucp
504 Spooled files for uucp(1) (optional).
505 /var/tmp
507 Like /tmp, this directory holds temporary files stored for an
508 unspecified duration.
509 /var/yp
511 Database files for NIS, formerly known as the Sun Yellow Pages
512 (YP).
513
515 The Filesystem Hierarchy Standard, Version 2.3 ⟨http://www.pathname.com
516 /fhs/⟩.
517
519 This list is not exhaustive; different systems may be configured dif‐
520 ferently.
521
523 find(1), ln(1), proc(5), file-hierarchy(7), mount(8)
524 The Filesystem Hierarchy Standard
526
528 This page is part of release 5.04 of the Linux man-pages project. A
529 description of the project, information about reporting bugs, and the
530 latest version of this page, can be found at
531 https://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/.
532Linux 2017-11-26 HIER(7)