HIER(7) BSD Miscellaneous Information Manual HIER(7)NAMEhier — layout of filesystems
DESCRIPTION
An outline of the filesystem hierarchy.
/ root directory of the system
/COPYRIGHT
system copyright notice
/[a-z] user filesystems
/altroot/ alternate root filesystem, in case of disaster
/amd/ home directories mount point; see amd(8)
/bin/ utilities used in both single and multi-user environments
/dev/ block, character and other special device files
MAKEDEV script for creating device files; see makedev(8)
console the computer's console device
fd/ file descriptor files; see fd(4)
drum system swap space; see drum(4)
klog kernel logging device; see syslog(3)
kmem kernel virtual memory device; see mem(4)
log UNIX domain datagram log socket; see syslogd(8)
mem kernel physical memory device; see mem(4)
stderr
stdin
stdout file descriptor files; see fd(4)
null the null device; see null(4)
tty process' controlling terminal device; see tty(4)
/dump/ online dump(8) repository
/etc/ system configuration files and scripts
aliases* name alias files for sendmail(8)
amd* configuration files for amd(8)
changelist files backed up by the security script
crontab schedule used by the cron(8) daemon
csh.cshrc
csh.login
csh.logout system-wide scripts for csh(1)
daily script run each day by cron(8)
disklabels/ backup disklabels; see disklabel(8)
disktab disk description file, see disktab(5)
dm.conf dungeon master configuration; see dm.conf(5)
dumpdates dump history; see dump(8)
exports filesystem export information; see mountd(8)
fstab filesystem information; see fstab(5) and
mount(8)
ftpusers users denied ftp(1) access; see ftpd(8)
ftpwelcome ftp(1) initial message; see ftpd(8)
gettytab terminal configuration database; see
gettytab(8)
group group permissions file; see group(5)
hosts host name database backup for named(8); see
hosts(5)
hosts.equiv trusted machines with equivalent user ID's
hosts.lpd trusted machines with printing privileges
inetd.conf Internet server configuration file; see
inetd(8)
kerberosIV/ configuration files for the kerberos version
IV; see kerberos(1)
localtime local timezone information; see ctime(3)
mail.rc system-wide initialization script for mail(1)
man.conf configuration file for man(1); see man.conf(5)
master.passwd
passwd
pwd.db
spwd.db password files and their databases; see
pwd_mkdb(8)
monthly script run each month by cron(8)
motd system message of the day
mtree/ mtree configuration files; see mtree(1)
named.*
namedb/ named configuration files and databases; see
named(8)
netgroup network groups; see netgroup(5)
netstart network startup script
networks network name data base; see networks(5)
phones remote host phone number data base; see
phones(5)
printcap system printer configuration; see printcap(5)
protocols protocol name database; see protocols(5)
rc
rc.local system startup files; see rc(8)
remote remote host description file; see remote(5)
security daily (in)security script run by cron(8)
sendmail.* sendmail(8) configuration information
services service name data base; see services(5)
shells list of permitted shells; see shells(5)
sliphome slip login/logout scripts; see slattach(8)
syslog.conf syslogd(8) configuration file; see
syslog.conf(5)
termcap terminal type database; see termcap(3)
ttys terminal initialization information; see
ttys(5)
weekly script run each week by cron(8)
/home/ mount point for the automounter; see amd(8)
/mnt/ empty directory commonly used by system administrators as a
temporary mount point
/root/ home directory for the super-user
.rhosts super-user id mapping between machines
.cshrc super-user start-up file
.login super-user start-up file
.profile super-user start-up file
/sbin/ system programs and administration utilities used in both sin‐
gle-user and multi-user environments
/stand/ programs used in a standalone environment
/sys symbolic link to the operating system source
/tmp/ temporary files, usually a mfs(8) memory-based filesystem (the
contents of /tmp are usually NOT preserved across a system
reboot)
/usr/ contains the majority of the system utilities and files
X11 X11 files
bin/ X11 binaries
include/ X11 include files
lib/ X11 libraries
bin/ common utilities, programming tools, and applica‐
tions
contrib/ packages maintained by groups other than Berkeley
bin/ contributed binaries
include/ contributed include files
libexec/ contributed daemons
libdata/ contributed data files
games/ the important stuff
include/ standard C include files
X11/ include files for X11 window system
arpa/ include files for Internet service pro‐
tocols
g++/ include files for the C++ compiler
kerberosIV/ include files for kerberos authentica‐
tion package; see kerberos(1)
machine/ machine specific include files
net/ miscellaneous network include files
netccitt/ CCITT networking include files
netinet/ include files for Internet standard
protocols; see inet(4)
netiso/ include files for ISO standard proto‐
cols; see iso(4)
netns/ include files for XNS standard proto‐
cols; see ns(4)
nfs/ include files for NFS (Network File
System)
pascal/ include files for pc(1)
protocols/ include files for Berkeley service pro‐
tocols
rpc/ include files for Sun Microsystem's RPC
package
sys/ kernel include files
ufs/ include files for UFS
xnscourier/ include files for XNS package
lib/ system C library archives; see ar(1)
uucp/ UUCP binaries and scripts (historically
placed; to be moved)
libdata/ miscellaneous utility data files
libexec/ system daemons and system utilities (executed by
other programs)
local/ local executables, libraries, etc.
bin/ local binaries
include/ local include files
libexec/ local daemons
libdata/ local data files
obj/ architecture-specific target tree produced by build‐
ing the /usr/src tree; normally a symbolic link or
mounted filesystem
old/ programs from past lives of 4BSD which may disappear
in future releases
bin/ old binaries
include/ old include files
libexec/ old daemons
libdata/ old data files
sbin/ system daemons and system utilities (normally exe‐
cuted by the super-user)
share/ architecture-independent text files
calendar/ a variety of calendar files; see
calendar(1)
dict/ word lists; see look(1) and spell(1)
words common words
web2 words of Webster's 2nd Interna‐
tional
papers/ reference databases; see
refer(1)
special/ custom word lists; see spell(1)
doc/ miscellaneous documentation; source for
most of the printed 4BSD manuals (avail‐
able from the USENIX association)
games/ text files used by various games
man/ formatted manual pages
me/ macros for use with the me(7) macro pack‐
age
misc/ miscellaneous system-wide text files
termcap terminal characteristics data‐
base; see termcap(5)
mk/ include files for make(1)
ms/ macros for use with the ms(7) macro pack‐
age
skel/ sample initialization files for new user
accounts
tabset/ tab description files for a variety of
terminals, used in the termcap file; see
termcap(5)
tmac/ text processing macros; see nroff(1) and
troff(1)
zoneinfo/ timezone configuration information; see
tzfile(5)
usr.bin/ source for utilities/files in /usr/bin
usr.sbin/
source for utilities/files in /usr/sbin
/usr/src/ 4BSD and local source files
bin/ source for utilities/files in /bin
contrib/ source for utilities/files in /usr/contrib
etc/ source (usually example files) for files in /etc
games/ source for utilities/files in /usr/games
include/ source for files in /usr/include
kerberosIV/ source for Kerberos version IV utilities and
libraries
lib/ source for libraries in /usr/lib
libexec/ source for utilities/files in /usr/libexec
local/ source for utilities/files in /usr/local
old/ source for utilities/files in /usr/old
sbin/ source for utilities/files in /sbin
share/ source for files in /usr/share
doc/
papers/ source for various Berkeley tech‐
nical papers
psd/ source for Programmer's Supplemen‐
tary Documents
smm/ source for System Manager's Manual
usd/ source for User's Supplementary
Documents
sys/ kernel source files
compile/ kernel compilation directory
conf/ architecture independent configura‐
tion directory
deprecated/ deprecated kernel functionality
dev/ architecture independent device sup‐
port
hp/ general support for Hewlett-Packard
architectures
hp300/ support for the Hewlett-Packard
9000/300 68000-based workstations
i386/ support for the Intel 386/486 work‐
stations
isofs/ support for ISO filesystems
cd9660/ support for the ISO-9660
filesystem
kern/ support for the high kernel (system
calls)
libkern/ C library routines used in the ker‐
nel
luna68k/ Omron Luna 68000-based workstations
mips/ general support for MIPS architec‐
tures
miscfs/ miscellaneous file systems
net/ miscellaneous networking support
netccitt/ CCITT networking support
netinet/ TCP/IP networking support
netiso/ ISO networking support
netns/ XNS networking support
news3400/ Sony News MIPS-based workstations
nfs/ NFS support
pmax/ DECstation 3100 and 5000 MIPS-based
workstations
scripts/ kernel debugging scripts
sparc/ Sparcstation I & II SPARC-based
workstations
stand/ kernel standalone support
sys/ kernel (and system) include files
tahoe/ Computer Consoles Inc. Tahoe archi‐
tecture (obsolete)
tests/ kernel testing
ufs/ local filesystem support
ffs/ the Berkeley Fast File System
lfs/ the log-structured file system
mfs/ the in-memory file system
ufs/ shared UNIX file system sup‐
port
vax/ Digital Equipment Corp. VAX archi‐
tecture (obsolete)
vm/ virtual memory support
/var/ multi-purpose log, temporary, transient, and spool files
account/ system accounting files
acct execution accounting file; see acct(5)
at/ timed command scheduling files; see at(1)
backups/ miscellaneous backup files, largely of files found
in /etc
crash/ system crash dumps; see savecore(8)
db/ miscellaneous automatically generated system-spe‐
cific database files
games/ miscellaneous game status and log files
log/ miscellaneous system log files
amd.* amd(8) logs
daily.out output of the last run of the
/etc/daily script
ftp.* ftp(1) logs
kerberos.* kerberos(1) logs
lastlog system last time logged in log; see
utmp(5)
lpd-errs.* printer daemon error logs; see lpd(8)
maillog.* sendmail(8) log files
messages.* general system information log
monthly.out output of the last run of the
/etc/monthly script
secure sensitive security information log
sendmail.st sendmail(8) statistics
timed.* timed(8) logs
weekly.out output of the last run of the
/etc/weekly script
wtmp login/logout log; see utmp(5)
mail/ user system mailboxes
msgs/ system messages; see msgs(1)
preserve/ temporary home of files preserved after an acciden‐
tal death of ex(1) or vi(1)
quotas/ filesystem quota information
run/ system information files, rebuilt after each reboot
utmp database of current users; see utmp(5)
rwho/ rwho data files; see rwhod(8), rwho(1), and
ruptime(1)
spool/ miscellaneous printer and mail system spooling
directories
ftp/ commonly “~ftp”, the anonymous ftp
root directory; see ftpd(8)
mqueue/ undelivered mail queue; see
sendmail(8)
news/ Network news archival and spooling
directories
output/ printer spooling directories
secretmail/ secretmail spool directory; see
xget(1)
uucp/ uucp spool directory
uucppublic/ commonly “~uucp”, the uucp public tem‐
porary directory; see uucp(1)
tmp/ temporary files that are not discarded between sys‐
tem reboots
vi.recover/ recovery directory for nvi(1)
/vmunix the executable for the operating system
SEE ALSOapropos(1), ls(1), whatis(1), whereis(1), which(1),
HISTORY
A hier manual page appeared in Version 7 AT&T UNIX.
BSD June 1, 1994 BSD