Learning Objectives

Learners will be able to…

1. Predict the location of installed files and directories
1. Know which basic utilities they can always find on a Linux system
1. Understand what a symbolic link is
1. Edit a configuration file
Introduction to FHS
The Filesystem Hierarchy Standard ensures that software packages
running on a Linux system will know where to find essential files and
directories.

The current working directory for the terminal on the left is your
workspace.

To view the directories off the root type in:

cd /
ls

The cd / switches you to the root directory, and the ls command lists the
contents of that directory.

Name Function
Binaries or executables that are
/bin
essential for functionality
Files needed to boot the system such
/boot
as the Linux kernel
Device files - interface with hardware
/dev
drivers
Host-specific system configuration -
/etc
editable text
/home User directories live under here
/lib Common libraries
/lib64 Common 64-bit libraries
/media Mount point for removable media
Mount point for mounting a
/mnt
filesystem temporarily
/opt Optional add on software
/proc Keeps track of running processes
/root Home directory for root user
/run Data relevant to running processes
System binaries or executables that
/sbin
are essential for functionality
Data for services provided by this
/srv system
 A symbolic link to the kernel source
/sys
tree
Temporary files that won’t be
/tmp
persistent between reboots
Variable files - things that will change
/var as the operating system is being run
such as logs and cache files
The /bin directory

The /bin directory contains commands you are familiar

with from the last module and more.

The following commands must be available in the /bin directory:

| Command | Description |
|———|———-|
|cat |Concatenate files to standard output|
|chgrp| Change file group ownership|
|chmod| Change file access permissions|
|chown| Change file owner and group|
|cp| Copy files and directories|
|date| Print or set the system date and time|
|dd| Convert and copy a file|
|df |Report filesystem disk space usage|
|dmesg |Print or control the kernel message buffer|
|echo |Display a line of text|
|false |Do nothing, unsuccessfully|
|hostname |Show or set the system’s host name|
| kill | Send signals to processes|
|ln |Make links between files|
|login |Begin a session on the system|
|ls |List directory contents|
|mkdir |Make directories|
|mknod |Make block or character special files|
|more |Page through text|
|mount |Mount a filesystem|
|mv |Move/rename files|
|ps |Report process status|
|pwd |Print name of the current working directory|
|rm |Remove files or directories|

info

Reminder - the man command

You can get more information about any of the commands above by
typing man and then the command name at the terminal prompt.

The more command

The more command is similar to cat in that it will list out the contents of a
file but it will display only a screen full at a time.

Try it out:

more -d prideandprejudice.txt

The -d parameter instructs the more command to put a prompt at the

bottom telling you to press space for more text or q to quit.
The /boot and /dev directories

The /boot directory contains everything required for the

boot process.

The exceptions are configuration files not needed at boot time and the map
installer. The operating system kernel must be located in / or /boot.

Take a look at the boot directory:

BOOT DOESN’T HAVE ANYTHING IN IT RIGHT NOW

ls /boot

The /dev directory contains special or device files.

You will recognize some of the names such as console and stdout.

tree /dev
You should see something like this:

Notice that some files have a directory path listed to the right of them, these
are called symbolic links (symlink). A symlink is a type of file in Linux that
points to a different file or folder. Symlinks allow multiple access points to
a file without needing multiple copies.
The /etc directory

The /etc directory contains all system related configuration

files.

Configuration files are editable text files, executable files should not be
placed in this directory. The configuration files should be placed in
subdirectories of the /etc folder grouped by the application they serve.

Let’s first look at a list of directories that live under the /etc directory:

cd /etc
ls -d */

You should see directories for different versions of Python:

Next we’ll look at the configuration file for the vim editor which we
covered in the previous module. It is named vimrc and located in the vim
directory.

cd vim
more -d vimrc

Changing the configuration file for vim will change its

behavior

We will add a line to this file to tell it to display line numbers.

First let’s take a look at the prideandprejudice.txt file before we make the
change to see that vim does not display line numbers by default.

vim /home/codio/workspace/prideandprejudice.txt
 important

## To exit vim type the following sequence:

1. esc key
2. :wq to save changes, :q if you haven’t made any changes, or :q! if
you don’t want to save changes.
3. return or enter depending on your system

By default these system files are read only. You have “super user”
capabilities so you can modify the permissions for the file using the sudo -
“super user do” combined with the chmod command which allows you to
change file permissions.

The first command below will add write permission for all users for the file
vimrc. The second command will append the line “set number” to the file,
this tells vim to display line numbers.

sudo chmod ugo+w vimrc

echo "set number" >> vimrc

Now let’s look at the file again and see that we have changed the behavior
for vim and now we see line numbers.

vim /home/codio/workspace/prideandprejudice.txt
The /home and /lib directories

The /home directory contains user directories

Your user name is codio and you are the only user set up in the Linux
system you access from the terminal on the left.

Your terminal window defaults to opening up with your workspace as the

current working directory so when you type the commands below you’ll
see the full name of your working directory and the things you see in the
file tree.

pwd
ls

The /lib directory contains essential shared libraries and

kernel modules.

The /lib directory contains shared library images needed to boot the
system and run the commands in /bin and /sbin.

cd /lib
ls

You should see a listing similar to the one in the image below. The x86_64-
linux-gnu is circled to show that the contents of this directory are for the
version of GNU/Linux running in the terminal.

A listing of the contents of the /lib directory with the x86_64-

linux-gnu directory circled

The x86 refers to the type of processor and the 64 means that it is a 64-bit
system (as opposed to a 32-bit).
The /media and /mnt directories
You will notice that these directories are empty. There are no devices
mounted to your Linux instance in the terminal.

cd /media
ls -a
cd /mnt
ls -a

The /media directory is used for removable media such as USB drives and
CD ROMS. This is typically used by the system. The /mnt directory is used
for temporarily mounted file systems, mostly for user-mounted items.

All files that are accessible in a Linux system are arranged in one
hierarchical tree that starts at the root /. The files accessible through the
root can be spread out over multiple devices. This differs from what you
see in a file system such as Windows where you will see a separate tree for
each device. For example in Windows, c: is the internal hard drive and if
you have partitioned your hard drive you would access the other partition
through d:. If you insert a USB stick you might get another drive f:.

In Linux to make external devices accessible you need to attach them to

your file tree. External devices are “mounted” to the Linux files system at
/media or /mnt. More information about mounting file systems here:
https://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man8/mount.8.html

You will learn more about mounting external devices in the Listing and
Mounting Hardware assignment in the Managing Devices module.
The /opt, /proc and /root directories
The /opt directory is reserved for the installation of add-on application
software packages. There is nothing installed in that directory in the
system running in your terminal.

The /proc directory or more often referred to as filesystem is built every

time the system starts and it contains information about currently running
processes, hardware and memory management. It represents the current
state of the kernel.

cd /proc
ls -a

You can learn more about processes in the Processes module.

The /root directory is the root user’s home directory. As you will see if you
try it out below, you do not have permission to access the /root directory.
The /run directory
The /run directory contains system information about the system since it
was booted. This directory must be cleared at the beginning of the boot
process.

Take a look at the contents of the /run directory.

cd /run
ls -a

You will see files with the extension .pid. These are Processor identifier
files (PID). A PID file consists of a process identifier in ASCII-encoded
decimal, followed by a newline character. The directories you see may also
contain PID files and must also be cleared during the boot process.

Try this out:

Enter the top (table of processes) command. It will show you the list of
running processes. Type q to exit the display.

top

Now you have a list of the processes and if you list out one of the .pid files
you will see that the number matches the value in the table.

cat crond.pid

The cron daemon (crond) is a system-managed executable that runs in

memory and is used to schedule tasks.
The /sbin directory
The /sbin directory is for system binaries. Binary files are executable
programs and may also be referred to as commands. These binary files are
essential for booting, restoring, recovering, and repairing the system. The
/sbin directory must not contain any subdirectories. At the very least the
/sbin directory must contain the shutdown command.

Take a look at the contents of the /sbin directory.

cd /sbin
ls -a

You can find more information about some of the other files you might
typically see in the /sbin directory here.

What is the difference between /bin and /sbin?

The /bin directory contains binaries (commands) that are for users as well
as items needed to bring the system up or repair it. The /sbin directory
contains binaries that the system uses for booting up. These are generally
not run by users, you need sudo privileges to be able to run them.
The /srv, /sys and /tmp directories

The /srv directory is used for data for services provided by

the system. It is empty in the system in your terminal.

The /sys directory is a virtual file system where you can

find information about devices, drivers, and other kernel
components.

Take a look at the contents of the /sys directory.

cd /sys
ls -a

The /tmp directory may be used by applications to store

temporary files, files that an application does not expect to
remain after it stops running. It is recommended (but not
required) that the files in the /tmp are deleted whenever the
system is rebooted.
The /usr directory
The data in the /usr directory is read-only. It is for user-runnable programs
and user-accessible data is located.

Required directories, or symbolic links to directories in

/usr.

Directory Description
bin Most user commands
lib Libraries
local Local hierarchy (empty after the initial installation)
sbin Non-vital system binaries
share Architecture-independent

Optional directories, or symbolic links to directories in

/usr.

Directory Description
games Games and educational binaries
include Header files included by C programs
libexec Binaries run by other programs
lib <qual> Alternate Format Libraries
src Source code

More information about the subdirectories of the /usr directory may be

found in the FHS 3.0 document from the Linux Foundation.

What is the difference between /bin and /usr/bin?

The /bin directory contains executable commands that are required by the
system and /usr/bin contains executable files that are not required.
 info

How color is used in a Linux directory

listing

Color Meaning
White Most files
Green Executable
Blue Directory
Cyan Symbolic link file
Yellow with black background Device
Magenta Graphic image file
Red Archive file
Red with black background Broken link

Take a look at the contents of /usr/bin, you can use the entries in the table
above to determine the types of files.

ls /usr/bin

One of the useful commands in the /usr/bin directory is whereis. Try it

out:

whereis python3

Running this shows you all the locations of python3 related files.

What is the difference between /sbin and /usr/sbin?

The /sbin directory holds commands needed to boot the system. The
/usr/sbin direcory contains program binaries for system administration
which are not essential for the boot process.

Take a look at the contents of /usr/sbin, you can use the entries in the table
above to determine the types of files.

ls /usr/sbin
If you are curious about any of these executables, you can type in man
followed by the file name. As a reminder, use the letter q to exit the man
command.

The /usr/local directory is for use by the system

administrator when installing software locally.

The following directories, or symbolic links to directories, must be in

/usr/local
| Directory| Description |
|———|———-|
| bin | Local binaries |
| etc | Host-specific system configuration for local binaries |
| games | Local game binaries |
| include | Local C header files |
| lib | Local libraries |
| man | Local online manuals |
| sbin | Local system binaries |
| share | Local architecture-independent hierarchy |
| src | Local source code |
The /var directory
The /var (short for variable data) hierarchy contains files to which the
system writes data during the course of its operation.

The following directories, or symbolic links to directories, are required in

/var:
| Directory | Description |
|———|———-|
| cache | Application cache data |
| lib | Variable state information |
| local | Variable data for /usr/local |
| lock | Lock files |
| log | Log files and directories |
| opt | Variable data for /opt |
| run | Data relevant to running processes |
| spool | Application spool data |
| tmp | Temporary files preserved between system reboots |