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 /dos If both MS-DOS and Linux are run on one computer, this is a typ‐
26 ical place to mount a DOS file system.
27 /etc Contains configuration files which are local to the machine.
29 Some larger software packages, like X11, can have their own sub‐
30 directories below /etc. Site-wide configuration files may be
31 placed here or in /usr/etc. Nevertheless, programs should
32 always look for these files in /etc and you may have links for
33 these files to /usr/etc.
34 /etc/opt
36 Host-specific configuration files for add-on applications
37 installed in /opt.
38 /etc/sgml
40 This directory contains the configuration files for SGML and XML
41 (optional).
42 /etc/skel
44 When a new user account is created, files from this directory
45 are usually copied into the user's home directory.
46 /etc/X11
48 Configuration files for the X11 window system (optional).
49 /home On machines with home directories for users, these are usually
51 beneath this directory, directly or not. The structure of this
52 directory depends on local administration decisions.
53 /lib This directory should hold those shared libraries that are nec‐
55 essary to boot the system and to run the commands in the root
56 filesystem.
57 /mnt This directory contains mount points for temporarily mounted
59 filesystems
60 /opt This directory should contain add-on packages that contain
62 static files.
63 /proc This is a mount point for the proc filesystem, which provides
65 information about running processes and the kernel. This
66 pseudo-file system is described in more detail in proc(5).
67 /root This directory is usually the home directory for the root user
69 (optional).
70 /sbin Like /bin, this directory holds commands needed to boot the sys‐
72 tem, but which are usually not executed by normal users.
73 /tmp This directory contains temporary files which may be deleted
75 with no notice, such as by a regular job or at system boot up.
76 /usr This directory is usually mounted from a separate partition. It
78 should hold only sharable, read-only data, so that it can be
79 mounted by various machines running Linux.
80 /usr/X11R6
82 The X-Window system, version 11 release 6 (optional).
83 /usr/X11R6/bin
85 Binaries which belong to the X-Windows system; often, there is a
86 symbolic link from the more traditional /usr/bin/X11 to here.
87 /usr/X11R6/lib
89 Data files associated with the X-Windows system.
90 /usr/X11R6/lib/X11
92 These contain miscellaneous files needed to run X; Often, there
93 is a symbolic link from /usr/lib/X11 to this directory.
94 /usr/X11R6/include/X11
96 Contains include files needed for compiling programs using the
97 X11 window system. Often, there is a symbolic link from
98 /usr/include/X11 to this directory.
99 /usr/bin
101 This is the primary directory for executable programs. Most
102 programs executed by normal users which are not needed for boot‐
103 ing or for repairing the system and which are not installed
104 locally should be placed in this directory.
105 /usr/bin/X11
107 is the traditional place to look for X11 executables; on Linux,
108 it usually is a symbolic link to /usr/X11R6/bin.
109 /usr/dict
111 Replaced by /usr/share/dict.
112 /usr/doc
114 Replaced by /usr/share/doc.
115 /usr/etc
117 Site-wide configuration files to be shared between several
118 machines may be stored in this directory. However, commands
119 should always reference those files using the /etc directory.
120 Links from files in /etc should point to the appropriate files
121 in /usr/etc.
122 /usr/games
124 Binaries for games and educational programs (optional).
125 /usr/include
127 Include files for the C compiler.
128 /usr/include/X11
130 Include files for the C compiler and the X-Windows system. This
131 is usually a symbolic link to /usr/X11R6/include/X11.
132 /usr/include/asm
134 Include files which declare some assembler functions. This used
135 to be a symbolic link to /usr/src/linux/include/asm.
136 /usr/include/linux
138 This contains information which may change from system release
139 to system release and used to be a symbolic link to
140 /usr/src/linux/include/linux to get at operating system specific
141 information.
142 (Note that one should have include files there that work cor‐
144 rectly with the current libc and in user space. However, Linux
145 kernel source is not designed to be used with user programs and
146 does not know anything about the libc you are using. It is very
147 likely that things will break if you let /usr/include/asm and
148 /usr/include/linux point at a random kernel tree. Debian systems
149 don't do this and use headers from a known good kernel version,
150 provided in the libc*-dev package.)
151 /usr/include/g++
153 Include files to use with the GNU C++ compiler.
154 /usr/lib
156 Object libraries, including dynamic libraries, plus some exe‐
157 cutables which usually are not invoked directly. More compli‐
158 cated programs may have whole subdirectories there.
159 /usr/lib/X11
161 The usual place for data files associated with X programs, and
162 configuration files for the X system itself. On Linux, it usu‐
163 ally is a symbolic link to /usr/X11R6/lib/X11.
164 /usr/lib/gcc-lib
166 contains executables and include files for the GNU C compiler,
167 gcc(1).
168 /usr/lib/groff
170 Files for the GNU groff document formatting system.
171 /usr/lib/uucp
173 Files for uucp(1).
174 /usr/local
176 This is where programs which are local to the site typically go.
177 /usr/local/bin
179 Binaries for programs local to the site.
180 /usr/local/doc
182 Local documentation.
183 /usr/local/etc
185 Configuration files associated with locally installed programs.
186 /usr/local/games
188 Binaries for locally installed games.
189 /usr/local/lib
191 Files associated with locally installed programs.
192 /usr/local/include
194 Header files for the local C compiler.
195 /usr/local/info
197 Info pages associated with locally installed programs.
198 /usr/local/man
200 Man pages associated with locally installed programs.
201 /usr/local/sbin
203 Locally installed programs for system administration.
204 /usr/local/share
206 Local application data that can be shared among different archi‐
207 tectures of the same OS.
208 /usr/local/src
210 Source code for locally installed software.
211 /usr/man
213 Replaced by /usr/share/man.
214 /usr/sbin
216 This directory contains program binaries for system administra‐
217 tion which are not essential for the boot process, for mounting
218 /usr, or for system repair.
219 /usr/share
221 This directory contains subdirectories with specific application
222 data, that can be shared among different architectures of the
223 same OS. Often one finds stuff here that used to live in
224 /usr/doc or /usr/lib or /usr/man.
225 /usr/share/dict
227 Contains the word lists used by spell checkers.
228 /usr/share/doc
230 Documentation about installed programs.
231 /usr/share/games
233 Static data files for games in /usr/games.
234 /usr/share/info
236 Info pages go here.
237 /usr/share/locale
239 Locale information goes here.
240 /usr/share/man
242 Manual pages go here in subdirectories according to the man page
243 sections.
244 /usr/share/man/<locale>/man[1-9]
246 These directories contain manual pages for the specific locale
247 in source code form. Systems which use a unique language and
248 code set for all manual pages may omit the <locale> substring.
249 /usr/share/misc
251 Miscellaneous data that can be shared among different architec‐
252 tures of the same OS.
253 /usr/share/nls
255 The message catalogs for native language support go here.
256 /usr/share/sgml
258 Files for SGML and XML.
259 /usr/share/terminfo
261 The database for terminfo.
262 /usr/share/tmac
264 Troff macros that are not distributed with groff.
265 /usr/share/zoneinfo
267 Files for timezone information.
268 /usr/src
270 Source files for different parts of the system, included with
271 some packages for reference purposes. Don't work here with your
272 own projects, as files below /usr should be read-only except
273 when installing software.
274 /usr/src/linux
276 This was the traditional place for the kernel source. Some dis‐
277 tributions put here the source for the default kernel they ship.
278 You should probably use another directory when building your own
279 kernel.
280 /usr/tmp
282 Obsolete. This should be a link to /var/tmp. This link is
283 present only for compatibility reasons and shouldn't be used.
284 /var This directory contains files which may change in size, such as
286 spool and log files.
287 /var/adm
289 This directory is superseded by /var/log and should be a sym‐
290 bolic link to /var/log.
291 /var/backups
293 Reserved for historical reasons.
294 /var/cache
296 Data cached for programs.
297 /var/catman/cat[1-9] or /var/cache/man/cat[1-9]
299 These directories contain preformatted manual pages according to
300 their man page section. (The use of preformatted manual pages is
301 deprecated.)
302 /var/cron
304 Reserved for historical reasons.
305 /var/lib
307 Variable state information for programs.
308 /var/local
310 Variable data for /usr/local.
311 /var/lock
313 Lock files are placed in this directory. The naming convention
314 for device lock files is LCK..<device> where <device> is the
315 device's name in the filesystem. The format used is that of HDU
316 UUCP lock files, i.e. lock files contain a PID as a 10-byte
317 ASCII decimal number, followed by a newline character.
318 /var/log
320 Miscellaneous log files.
321 /var/opt
323 Variable data for /opt.
324 /var/mail
326 Users' mailboxes. Replaces /var/spool/mail.
327 /var/msgs
329 Reserved for historical reasons.
330 /var/preserve
332 Reserved for historical reasons.
333 /var/run
335 Run-time variable files, like files holding process identifiers
336 (PIDs) and logged user information (utmp). Files in this direc‐
337 tory are usually cleared when the system boots.
338 /var/spool
340 Spooled (or queued) files for various programs.
341 /var/spool/at
343 Spooled jobs for at(1).
344 /var/spool/cron
346 Spooled jobs for cron(1).
347 /var/spool/lpd
349 Spooled files for printing.
350 /var/spool/mail
352 Replaced by /var/mail.
353 /var/spool/mqueue
355 Queued outgoing mail.
356 /var/spool/news
358 Spool directory for news.
359 /var/spool/rwho
361 Spooled files for rwhod(8).
362 /var/spool/smail
364 Spooled files for the smail(1) mail delivery program.
365 /var/spool/uucp
367 Spooled files for uucp(1).
368 /var/tmp
370 Like /tmp, this directory holds temporary files stored for an
371 unspecified duration.
372 /var/yp
374 Database files for NIS.
375
377 The Filesystem Hierarchy Standard, Version 2.2 <http://www.path‐
378 name.com/fhs/>
379
381 This list is not exhaustive; different systems may be configured dif‐
382 ferently.
383
385 find(1), ln(1), mount(1), proc(5)
386 The Filesystem Hierarchy Standard
388Linux 2001-09-07 HIER(7)