Important configuration files in /etc


/etc/passwd
user account data
/etc/shadow
passwords for user accounts (readable only by root)
/etc/group
group definitions
/etc/inittab
configuration for init
/etc/rc, /etc/rc.local (BSD)
system initialization scripts
/etc/rc.conf (BSD)
configuration variables used in rc scripts
/etc/init.d
init/shutdown scripts
/etc/rc?.d
directories with links to init scripts for each run level
/etc/profile
global shell (/bin/sh) initialization
/etc/fstab
file system mount table
/etc/mtab
list of currently-mounted filesystems
/etc/hostname (varies)
system hostname to configure at boot
/etc/resolv.conf
list of name server IP addresses, resolver options
/etc/services
TCP and UDP service names and port numbers
/etc/inetd.conf
configuration for inetd (many network services)
/etc/mail
mail system configuration (mostly sendmail)

Steve VanDevender
Last modified: Mon Jul 2 14:36:45 PDT 2007