hier

NAME

       hier - Description of the file system hierarchy

DESCRIPTION

       A  typical  Linux  system has, among others, the following
       directories:

       /      This is the root  directory.   This  is  where  the
              whole tree starts.

       /bin   This  directory  contains executable programs which
              are executed often, are needed to bring the  system
              up or repair it.

       /dev   Special  or  device  files, which refer to physical
              devices.  See mknod(1).

       /dos   If both MS-DOS and Linux are run on  one  computer,
              this is a typical place to mount a DOS file system.

       /etc   contains programs and other files necessary to sys-
              tem  administration; normal users don't need any of
              this.  Usually, this  directory  is  not  in  their
              $PATH.

       /etc/skel
              When a new user account is created, files from this
              directory are usually copied into the  user's  home
              directory.

       /etc/lilo
              The  Linux Loader for booting the system goes here.

       /install
              This is used by some installations scripts to  keep
              track of which packages have been installed.

       /lib   Frequently-used  object  code  libraries, including
              dynamic libraries, which are linked at the time  an
              executable  starts  up, plus some executables which
              usually are not called directly.

       /proc  This is the directory where information about  run-
              ning processes can be obtained.

       /proc/[0-9]+
              This  directory contains information about the pro-
              cess associated with its number; it has such  files
              as  the  command  line, the environment, the memory
              contents, or statistics about the process.

       /proc/[0-9]+/fd
              A directory containing the file descriptors associ-
              ated with the process.

       /proc/[0-9]+/lib
              A  directory containing the dynamic libraries asso-
              ciated with a process.

       /proc/self
              This is a link to the directory associated with the
              calling process.

       /tmp   This  directory  contains temporary files which may
              be deleted with no notice, such as by a regular job
              or at system boot up.

       /user  This often is an empty directory, which can be used
              as a mount point for floppy disks.

       /usr   Less-frequently used  commands  and  other  things;
              this  is  often a mount point for a separate parti-
              tion or volume.

       /usr/TeX
              The TeX typesetting system.

       /usr/TeX/bin
              Binary commands for the TeX  system.   /usr/TeX/lib
              This  contains  data  files connected with TeX, and
              may contain further subdirectories.

       /usr/TeX/man
              Manual pages with the TeX system.

       /usr/TeX/src
              Sources associates with TeX.

       /usr/X386
              The X-Windows system.

       /usr/X386/bin
              Binaries which  belong  to  the  X-Windows  system;
              often,  there is a symbolic link from the more tra-
              ditional /usr/bin/X11 to here.

       /usr/X386/lib
              Data files associated with the X-Windows system.

       /usr/X386/lib/X11
              These contain miscellaneous files needed to run  X;
              among  them configuration files.  Often, there is a
              symbolic link from /usr/lib/X11 to this  directory.

       /usr/adm
              This often contains various log files.

       /usr/bin
              This  contains  binaries  which  are  not needed so
              often, or are not needed for bringing the system up
              or repairing it.  The decision whether to put some-
              thing in /bin or /usr/bin should be guided  by  the
              simple consideration:  "If I put it in /usr/bin and
              /usr is not available on boot, do I still  get  the
              system up?"

       /usr/bin/X11
              is  the  traditional place to look for X11 executa-
              bles; on Linux, it usually is a  symbolic  link  to
              /usr/X386/bin.

       /usr/g++-include
              Include files to use with the GNU C++ compiler.

       /usr/homes
              This  contains  the  home  directories  for  normal
              users.

       /usr/include
              Include files for the C compiler.

       /usr/include/X11
              Include files for the C compiler and the  X-Windows
              system.

       /usr/include/asm
              Include  files  which  declare some assembler func-
              tions.   This  should  be  a   symbolic   link   to
              /usr/src/linux/include/asm.

       /usr/include/linux
              This  contains  information  which  may change from
              system release to system release and  should  be  a
              symbolic  link  to  /usr/src/linux/include/linux to
              get at operating system specific information.

       /usr/lib
              Less - frequently used object libraries,  including
              dynamic libraries, plus some executables which usu-
              ally are not invoked  directly.   More  complicated
              programs may have whole subdirectories there.

       /usr/lib/X11
              The  usual  place  for data files associated with X
              programs, and configuration files for the X  system
              itself.  On Linux, it usually is a symbolic link to
              /usr/X386/lib/X11.

       /usr/lib/X11/app-defaults
              X applications store  their  default  resource  (in
              other  words,  application  defaults) here.  If you
              want to change the way  a  certain  program  looks,
              this is the place to look.

       /usr/lib/X11/config
              This  directory  is  used  for the imake(1) utility
              which incorporates  information  about  the  system
              into Makefiles.

       /usr/lib/X11/twm
              Files for the twm(1) window manager.

       /usr/lib/X11/xinit
              Files for starting up the X Windows system.

       /usr/lib/gcc-lib
              contains  configuration  files  for  the system's C
              compiler, gcc(1).

       /usr/lib/groff
              Files for the groff document formatting system.

       /usr/lib/uucp
              Files for uucp(1).

       /usr/lib/zoneinfo
              Files for timezone information.

       /usr/local
              This is where programs which are local to the  site
              typically  go  in.   Some program packages, such as
              EMACS, may have their own subdirectories there.

       /usr/local/bin
              Binaries for programs local to the site go there.

       /usr/local/lib
              Files associated with locally installed programs go
              there.

       /usr/local/man
              Manpages associated with locally installed programs
              go there.

       /usr/man
              Manpages go in there, into their subdirectories.

       /usr/man/cat[1-9]
              These directories contain preformatted manual pages
              according to their manpage section.

       /usr/man/man[1-9]
              These directories contain manual pages which are in
              source code form.

       /usr/openwin
              Files associated with the Open Windows Window  man-
              ager for X go there.

       /usr/preserve
              This is where vi(1) saves edit sessions so they can
              be restored later.

       /usr/spool
              Spooled (or queued) files for various programs.

       /usr/spool/atjobs
              Spooled jobs for at(1).

       /usr/spool/cron
              Spooled jobs for cron(1).

       /usr/spool/lp1
              Spooled files for a printer.

       /usr/spool/mail
              User's mailboxes.

       /usr/spool/smail
              Spooled files for the smail(1) mail  delivery  pro-
              gram.

       /usr/spool/uucp
              Spooled files for uucp(1).

       /usr/src
              Source files for different parts of the system.

       /usr/src/libc-linux
              Sources for the C library.

       /usr/src/linux
              This  contains the sources for the operating system
              itself.

       /usr/tmp
              An alternative  place  to  store  temporary  files;
              often used if the files will be huge.

       /var   On some systems with more of a BSD flavour to them,
              this directory contains all  the  files  which  may
              change  in  size,  such as spool and log files, and
              /usr only contains static files.   Often,  /var  is
              just a symbolic link to /usr.

CONFORMS TO

       The  layout of this file system generally follows System V
       conventions.

BUGS

       This list is not exhaustive; different systems may be con-
       figured differently.

SEE ALSO

       find(1), ln(1), mount(1)