Debian Administration

Finding your way around the Linux filesystem

If you've ever been confused at all the directories present within your Linux system here is a quick overview of the directories in common use, and what they contain.

All of this information was condensed from the text in the output of the following command:

skx@home:~$ man 7 hier

If you have the manpages package installed (recommended) you can run it yourself.

/

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

/bin

This directory contains executable programs which are needed in single user mode and to bring the system up or repair it.

/boot

Contains static files for the boot loader. This directory only holds the files which are needed during the boot process. The map installer and configuration files should go to /sbin and /etc.

/dev

Special or device files, which refer to physical devices. See "man 1 mknod" for details on creating new nodes.

/etc

Contains configuration files which are local to the machine. Some larger software packages, like X11, can have their own sub-directories below /etc. Site-wide configuration files may be placed here or in /usr/etc. Nevertheless, programs should always look for these files in /etc and you may have links for these files to /usr/etc.

/etc/opt

Host-specific configuration files for add-on applications installed in /opt.

/etc/skel

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

/etc/X11

Configuration files for the X11 window system (optional).

/home

On machines with home directories for users, these are usually beneath this directory, directly or not. The structure of this directory depends on local administration decisions.

/lib

This directory should hold those shared libraries that are nec- essary to boot the system and to run the commands in the root filesystem.

/mnt

This directory contains mount points for temporarily mounted filesystems

/opt

This directory should contain add-on packages that contain static files.

/proc

This is a mount point for the proc filesystem, which provides information about running processes and the kernel. This pseudo-file system is described in more detail in "man 5 proc".

/root

This directory is usually the home directory for the root user

/sbin

Like /bin, this directory holds commands needed to boot the system, but which are usually not executed by normal users.

/tmp

This directory contains temporary files which may be deleted with no notice, such as by a regular job or at system boot up. (Debian does clean /tmp as part of the boot process - unless you prevent it.

/usr

This directory is usually mounted from a separate partition. It should hold only sharable, read-only data, so that it can be mounted by various machines running Linux.

/usr/bin

This is the primary directory for executable programs. Most programs executed by normal users which are not needed for booting or for repairing the system and which are not installed locally should be placed in this directory.

/usr/bin/X11

The traditional place to look for X11 executables; on Linux, it usually is a symbolic link to /usr/X11R6/bin.

/usr/games

Binaries for games and educational programs (optional).

/usr/include

Include files for the C compiler.

/usr/include/g++

Include files to use with the GNU C++ compiler.

/usr/lib

Object libraries, including dynamic libraries, plus some executables which usually are not invoked directly. More complicated programs may have whole subdirectories there.

/usr/local

This is where programs which are local to the site typically go.

/usr/local/bin

Binaries for programs local to the site.

/usr/local/sbin

Locally installed programs for system administration.

/usr/local/src

Source code for locally installed software.

/usr/sbin

This directory contains program binaries for system administration which are not essential for the boot process, for mounting /usr, or for system repair.

/usr/share

This directory contains subdirectories with specific application data, that can be shared among different architectures of the same OS.

/usr/src

Source files for different parts of the system, included with some packages for reference purposes. Don't work here with your own projects, as files below /usr should be read-only except when installing software.

/usr/src/linux

This was the traditional place for the kernel source. Some distributions put here the source for the default kernel they ship. You should probably use another directory when building your own kernel.

/var

This directory contains files which may change in size, such as spool and log files.

/var/cache

Data cached for programs.

/var/lib

Variable state information for programs.

/var/lock

Lock files are placed in this directory.

/var/log

Miscellaneous log files.

/var/run

Run-time variable files, like files holding process identifiers (PIDs) and logged user information (utmp). Files in this directory are usually cleared when the system boots.

/var/spool

Spooled (or queued) files for various programs.

/var/spool/at

Spooled jobs for at.

/var/spool/cron

Spooled jobs for cron. See command scheduling with cron for more details.

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