Linux Filesystem Hierarchy

05/11/2005

The Linux Documentation Project

 The Root Directory
 /bin  /mnt
 /boot  /opt
 /dev  /proc
 /etc  /root
 /home  /sbin
 /initrd  /usr
 /lib  /srv
 /lost+found  /tmp
 /media  /var
2
 1. /bin

 Contains several useful commands that are

of use to both the system administrator as
well as non-privileged users.
 Usually contains the shells like bash, csh,
etc.... and commonly used commands like
cp, mv, rm, cat, ls.
 Also contains programs which boot scripts
may depend on
 There are no (real) subdirectories in /bin
3
 1. /bin …(cont)

 cat  hostname  rm
 chgrp  kill  rmdir
 chmod  ln  sed
 chown  login  sh
 ls  stty
 cp
 mkdir
 date  su
 mknod
 dd  more  sync
 df  mount  true
 dmesg  mv  umount
 echo  ps  uname
 false  pwd

4
 1. /bin detail

 cat → Utility to concatenate files to standard output

 chgrp → Utility to change file group ownership
 chmod → Utility to change file access permissions
 chown → Utility to change file owner and group
 cp → Utility to copy files and directories
 date → Utility to print or set the system data and time
 dd → Utility to convert and copy a file
 df → Utility to report filesystem disk space usage
 dmesg → Utility to print or control the kernel message buffer
 echo → Utility to display a line of text
 false → Utility to do nothing, unsuccessfully
5
 1. /bin detail (cont)

 hostname → Utility to show or set the system's host name

 kill → Utility to send signals to processes
 ln → Utility to make links between files
 login → Utility to begin a session on the system
 ls → Utility to list directory contents
 mkdir → Utility to make directories
 mknod → Utility to make block or character special files
 more → Utility to page through text
 mount → Utility to mount a filesystem
 mv → Utility to move/rename files
 ps → Utility to report process status
6
 1. /bin detail (cont)

 pwd → Utility to print name of current working directory

 rm → Utility to remove files or directories
 rmdir → Utility to remove empty directories
 sed → The `sed' stream editor
 sh → The Bourne command shell
 stty → Utility to change and print terminal line settings
 su → Utility to change user ID
 sync → Utility to flush filesystem buffers
 true → Utility to do nothing, successfully
 umount → Utility to unmount file systems
 uname → Utility to print system information
7
 2. /boot

 Contains everything required for the boot

process except for configuration files not
needed at boot time and the map installer
 Stores data that is used before the kernel
begins executing user-mode programs
 May include the system kernel (under
symbolically linked)

8
 2. /boot … detail

 /boot/boot.0300 → Backup master boot record.

 /boot/boot.b → The basic boot sector
 /boot/chain.b → Used to boot non-Linux operating systems
 /boot/config-kernel- → Installed kernel configuration. A config line
version such as: CONFIG_FONT_8x8=y
 /boot/map → The location of the kernel
 /boot/vmlinuz
 /boot/vmlinuz-kernel- → Normally the kernel or symbolic link to the
version kernel
 …

9
 3. /dev

 Usualy is the location of device files

 A device and a file both can be read from and written
to. So config a device is same with edit a file. EX:
sending data to /dev/ttyS0 that means you are
sending data to a communication device, such as a
modem.
 'block devices' are devices that store or hold data
 'character devices' can be thought of as devices that
transmit or transfer data

10
 3. /dev … detail

 /dev/ttyS0 → Device connected to Com1 (Modem, mouse,..)

 /dev/psaux → PS/2 mouse connection
 /dev/lp0 → First parallel port
 /dev/dsp → Sound card (digital signal processor)
 /dev/usb → USB device nodes.
 /dev/sda → First SCSI device
 /dev/scd → First SCSI CD-ROM device
 /dev/cdrom → CD-ROM drive
 /dev/fd0 → floppy drive
 /dev/had → The partition on primary hdd

11
 4. /etc

 Contains all system related configuration

files
 Local file used to control the operation of a
program
 Those files must be static and cannot be an
executable binary

12
 4. /etc … detail
 /etc/X11/ : contains all the configuration files for the X Window
System
 /etc/X11/XF86Config, /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 : 'X' configuration
file
 /etc/ftpchroot : List of ftp users that need to be chrooted
 /etc/ftpaccess : Determines who might get ftp-access to your
machine.
 /etc/gateways : Lists gateways for 'routed'
 /etc/group, /etc/passwd. lists the configured user groups and
who belongs to them.
 /etc/hostname : Contains the hostname of your machine
 /etc/host.conf : Determines the search order for look-ups

13
 4. /etc … detail

 /etc/hosts : This file is used to define a system name

and domain combination with a specific IP address
– 127.0.0.1 localhost ::1 localhost
– ip6-localhost ip6-loopback
– fe00::0 ip6-localnet
– ff00::0 ip6-mcastprefix
– ff02::1 ip6-allnodes
– ff02::2 ip6-allrouters
– ff02::3 ip6-allhosts
– 192.168.0.99 debian.localdomain.com debian
 192.168.0.1 ws001

14
 5. /home

 The user home directories

 Accessible only to its owner and the system
administrator
 Contains the user’s personal configuration
files
 Quite large to be used as User’s Documents
Space

15
 6. /initrd

 Provides the capability to load a RAM disk by the

boot loader. This RAM disk can then be mounted as
the root file system and programs can be run from it.
Afterwards, a new root file system can be mounted
from a different device. The previous root (from
initrd) is then moved to a directory and can be
subsequently unmounted.
 Initrd is mainly designed to allow system startup to
occur in two phases, where the kernel comes up with
a minimum set of compiled-in drivers, and where
additional modules are loaded from initrd.

16
 7. /lib

 Contains kernel modules and those shared

library images (the C programming code
library) needed to boot the system and run
the commands in the root filesystem, ie. by
binaries in /bin and /sbin
 Windows equivalent to a shared library would
be a DLL (dynamically linked library) file

17
 7. /lib … detail
 /lib/'machine-architecture‘ : Contains platform/architecture dependent
libraries.
 /lib/iptables : iptables shared library files.
 /lib/kbd : Contains various keymaps.
 /lib/modules/'kernel-version‘ : The home of all the kernel modules. The
organisation of files here is reasonably clear so no requires no elaboration.
 /lib/modules/'kernel-version'/isapnpmap.dep : has details on ISA based
cards, the modules that they require and various other attributes.
 /lib/modules/'kernel-version'/modules.dep : lists all modules dependencies.
This file can be updated using the depmod command.
 /lib/modules/'kernel-version'/pcimap : is the PCI equivalent of the
/lib/modules/'kernel-version'/isapnpmap.dep file.
 /lib/modules/'kernel-version'/usbmap : is the USB equivalent of the
/lib/modules/'kernel-version'/isapnpmap.dep file.
 /lib/oss : All OSS (Open Sound System) files are installed here by default.
 /lib/security : PAM library files.
18
 8. /lost+found

 Contains the files which were recovered after

an unexpected event, such as a proper
shutdown.
 Try to move each file back to its original
location

19
 9. /media

 Contains subdirectories which are used as

mount points for removeable media such as
floppy disks, cdroms and zip disks

20
 10. /mnt

 This is a generic mount point under mounted

(mount is to make a filesystem available to the
system) the filesystems or devices.
 When a filesystem no longer needs to be
mounted, it can be unmounted with umount
• mount /dev/hda2 /home
• umount /dev/hda2

21
 11. /opt

 This directory is reserved for all the software

and add-on packages that are not part of the
default installation
 /opt/'package'  C:\Windows\Progam
Files\"Program Name"

22
 12. /proc

 Virtual filesystem, runtime system information

(e.g. system memory, devices mounted,
hardware configuration, etc).
 The most of them have a file size of 0
 To view, use “cat”. Use “vi” to edit.

23
 13. /root

 The home directory of the System

Administrator, 'root'
 Why not in '/home'? Because '/home' is often
located on a different partition or even on
another system and would thus be
inaccessible to 'root' when - for some reason
- only '/' is mounted.

24
 14. /sbin

 Like /bin bet less important

 /sbin should contain only binaries essential
for booting, restoring, recovering, and/or
repairing the system in addition to the
binaries in /bin.

25
 14. /sbin … detail

 shutdown → Command to bring the system down.

 Fastboot → Reboot the system without checking the disks (optional)
 Fasthalt → Stop the system without checking the disks (optional)
 fdisk → Partition table manipulator (optional)
 fsck → File system check and repair utility (optional)
 fsck.* → File system check and repair utility for a specific
filesystem (optional)
 getty → The getty program (optional)
 halt → Command to stop the system (optional)
 ifconfig → Configure a network interface (optional)

26
 14. /sbin … detail

 init → Initial process (optional)

 mkfs → Command to build a filesystem (optional)
 mkfs.* → Command to build a specific filesystem (optional)
 mkswap → Command to set up a swap area (optional)
 reboot → Command to reboot the system (optional)
 route → IP routing table utility (optional)
 swapon → Enable paging and swapping (optional)
 swapoff → Disable paging and swapping (optional)
 update → Daemon to periodically flush filesystem buffers
(optional)

27
 15. /usr

 The largest share of data on a system

 the most important directories in the system
as it contains all the user binaries, their
documentation, libraries, header files, etc....
X and its supporting libraries, and User
programs like telnet, ftp, etc.... as well, can
be found here.

28
 16. /var

 Contains variable data, files and directories

the system must be able to write to during
operation, like system logging files, mail and
printer spool directories, and transient and
temporary files

29