UNIX directory layout


"The great thing about standards is that there are so many of them."

Starting from the top:

/bin
essential user binaries (some systems, symlink to /usr/bin)
/sbin
essential system administration binaries
/lib
essential libraries (some systems, symlink to /usr/lib)
/shlib
(BSD) essential shared libraries
/etc
system configuration files (may contain binaries on old systems)
/dev
device node files
/tmp
temporary files, usually not preserved across reboots
/usr
most software goes here
/var
"variable" files -- system logs, work files, etc.
/proc
pseudo-filesystem with process and kernel information
/lost+found
where fsck puts mystery files (may appear in any filesystem top-level directory)

Next ->


Steve VanDevender
Last modified: Tue Jun 21 16:24:35 PDT 2011