HIER(7) BSD Miscellaneous Information Manual HIER(7)NAMEhier — layout of filesystems
DESCRIPTION
An outline of the filesystem hierarchy.
Naming is very important. The UNIX System relies on filename conventions
for much of its power as a system. The following file system layout
describes generally where things are and what they are, with references
to other man pages for more detailed documentation.
Not all files will be in every system.
/ root directory of the system
/COPYRIGHT
system copyright notice, most often put on CD-ROM distribu‐
tions.
/[a-z]/ user filesystems
/altroot/ alternate root filesystem, in case of disaster
/bin/ utilities used in both single and multi-user environments
/boot* second-stage boot loader(s) for some platforms; see
installboot(8)
/cdrom/ empty directory commonly used by system administrators as a
temporary mount point for CD devices for ISO-9660 file systems
/dev/ block, character and other special device files
MAKEDEV script for creating device files; see makedev(8)
console the computer's console device
drum system swap space; see drum(4)
fd/ file descriptor files; see fd(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)
null the null device; see null(4)
pts/ mount point for the pseudo-terminal device file sys‐
tem; see mount_ptyfs(8)
stderr
stdin
stdout file descriptor files; see fd(4)
tty process' controlling terminal device; see tty(4)
zero the zero device; see zero(4)
/etc/ system configuration files and scripts
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)
daily.conf configuration file for daily; see daily.conf(5)
defaults/ default configuration files read by various
/etc/*.conf files
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(5)
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)
kerberosV/ configuration files for the kerberos version V;
see kerberos(8)
localtime local timezone information; see ctime(3)
mail/ configuration files for sendmail(8)
aliases* name alias files
sendmail.* sendmail(8) configuration informa‐
tion
mail.rc system-wide initialization script for mail(1)
man.conf configuration file for man(1); see man.conf(5)
master.passwd Main password file, readable only by root; see
passwd(5)
mk.conf optional file containing make(1) variables,
read by pkgsrc and the system sources.
monthly script run each month by cron(8)
monthly.conf configuration file for monthly; see
monthly.conf(5)
motd system message of the day
mtree/ mtree configuration files; see mtree(8)
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)
passwd World readable password file generated from
master.passwd; see passwd(5), pwd_mkdb(8)
phones remote host phone number data base; see
phones(5)
printcap system printer configuration; see printcap(5)
protocols protocol name database; see protocols(5)
pwd.db database form of passwd file; see pwd_mkdb(8)
rc master system startup script invoked by
init(8); see rc(8)
rc.conf configuration file for system startup and shut‐
down scripts; see rc.conf(5)
rc.d/ directory containing per-subsystem startup and
shutdown scripts; see rc(8)
rc.local locally editable system startup script
rc.shutdown master system shutdown script invoked by
shutdown(8); see rc(8)
remote remote host description file; see remote(5)
security daily (in)security script run by cron(8)
security.conf configuration file for security; see
security.conf(5)
services service name data base; see services(5)
shells list of permitted shells; see shells(5)
sliphome/ SLIP login/logout scripts; see sliplogin(8)
spwd.db database form of master.passwd file; see
pwd_mkdb(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)
weekly.conf configuration file for weekly; see
weekly.conf(5)
/home/ mount point for the automounter; see amd(8)
/kern/ mount point for the kern file system; see mount_kernfs(8)
/lib/ dynamic linked libraries used by dynamic linked programs (such
as those in /bin/ and /sbin/) that cannot rely upon /usr/lib/
being available.
/libexec/ system utilities (such as the dynamic linker) required by pro‐
grams and libraries that cannot rely upon /usr/libexec/ being
available.
/mnt/ empty directory commonly used by system administrators as a
temporary mount point
/netbsd pure kernel executable (the operating system loaded into mem‐
ory at boot time).
/proc/ mount point for the process file system; see mount_procfs(8)
/rescue/ statically linked rescue tools, for use in system recovery
/root/ home directory for the super-user
.cshrc super-user start-up file
.login super-user start-up file
.profile super-user start-up file
.rhosts super-user id mapping between machines
/sbin/ system programs and administration utilities used in both sin‐
gle-user and multi-user environments
/stand/ programs used in a standalone environment
/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
X11R6/ X11 files
X11R7/ X11 files
bin/ X11 binaries
include/ X11 include files
lib/ X11 libraries
bin/ common utilities, programming tools, and applica‐
tions
games/ the important stuff
include/ standard C include files
arpa/ include files for Internet service pro‐
tocols
atf/ include files for the Automated Testing
Framework; see atf(7)
g++/ include files for the C++ compiler
machine/ machine specific include files
net/
netatalk/ C include files for AppleTalk protocols
miscellaneous network include files; see
atalk(4)
netinet/ include files for Internet standard pro‐
tocols; see inet(4)
netinet6/ include files for Internet protocol ver‐
sion 6; see inet6(4)
netiso/ include files for ISO standard proto‐
cols; see iso(4)
netkey/ include files for secret key management,
used for security protocols; see
ipsec(4)
netnatm/ C include files for native mode ATM
nfs/ C include files for NFS (Network File
System)
protocols/ C include files for Berkeley service
protocols
sys/ system C include files (kernel data
structures)
ufs/ C include files for UFS (The U-word File
System)
lib/ archive, profiled, position independent archive, and
shared libraries
lua/
5.1/ Lua 5.1 modules
libdata/ miscellaneous utility data files
libexec/ system daemons & system utilities (executed by other
programs)
mdec/ boot blocks, etc.
obj/ architecture-specific target tree produced by build‐
ing the /usr/src tree; normally a symbolic link or
mounted filesystem
pkg/ packages maintained by groups other than the NetBSD
Project.
bin/ contributed binaries
include/ contributed include files
lib/ contributed libraries
libdata/ contributed data files
libexec/ contributed daemons
sbin/ contributed system utilities
pkgsrc/ build descriptions ("packages") for the NetBSD pack‐
ages system.
distfiles/ Where unchanged source archives are
fetched to/stored
packages/ Where compiled binary packages are
stored
There are also several other subdirectories which
contain packages of a certain category, e.g.,
archivers, graphics, ...
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 4.3BSD manuals
(available from the USENIX association)
games/ text files used by various games
i18n/ internationalization databases; see
iconv(3)
locale/ locale databases and gettext message cat‐
alogs; see setlocale(3) and gettext(3)
man/ formatted manual pages
me/ macros for use with the me(7) macro pack‐
age
misc/ miscellaneous system-wide text files
<<<<<<< hier.7
termcap =======
terminfo >>>>>>> 1.101 ter‐
minal characteris‐
tics database; see
<<<<<<< hier.7
termcap(5) =======
terminfo(5)
terminfo.cdb database form of
terminfo file; see
tic(1) >>>>>>>
1.101
mk/ include files for make(1)
ms/ macros for use with the ms(7)
macro package
nls/ message catalogs; see catgets(3)
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 informa‐
tion; see tzfile(5)
tests/ test programs; see atf-run(1) for infor‐
mation on how to run them
/usr/src/
NetBSD and local source files
bin/ source for utilities/files in /bin
common/ sources shared between kernel and user‐
land
crypto/ cryptographic source, which may have
import or export restrictions
dist/ third-party ‘virgin’ source code, refer‐
enced by other parts of the source tree
(deprecated, use external/ instead)
distrib/ tools and data-files for making distribu‐
tions
doc/ documentation about the source tree
(i.e., about the tree, not about how to
use the built software.)
etc/ source (usually example files) for files
in /etc
external/ source for programs from external third
parties (where NetBSD is the not the pri‐
mary maintainer), grouped by license, and
then products per license
apache2/ Apache 2.0 license.
bsd/ BSD (or equivalent)
licensed software, pos‐
sibly with the
“advertising clause”.
cddl/ Common Development and
Distribution License
(the Sun license which
is based on the Mozilla
Public License version
1.1).
gpl2/ GNU Public License,
version 2 (or earlier).
gpl3/ GNU Public License,
version 3.
historical/ Lucent's old license.
ibm-public/ IBM's public license.
intel-fw-eula/ Intel firmware license
with redistribution
restricted to OEM.
intel-fw-public/ Intel firmware license
permitting redistribu‐
tion with terms similar
to BSD licensed soft‐
ware.
intel-public/ Intel license permit‐
ting redistribution
with terms similar to
BSD licensed software.
mit/ MIT (X11) style
license.
zlib/ BSD-like zlib license.
games/ source for utilities/files in /usr/games
gnu/ source for programs covered by the GNU
license (or similar) (deprecated; use
external/gpl2/ or external/gpl3/ as
appropriate)
include/ source for files in /usr/include
lib/ source for libraries in /usr/lib
libexec/ source for utilities/files in
/usr/libexec
regress/ various regression tests
rescue/ source/makefiles for /rescue
sbin/ source for utilities/files in /sbin
share/ source for files in /usr/share
doc/
papers/ source for various Berke‐
ley technical papers
psd/ source for Programmer's
Supplementary Documents
smm/ source for System Man‐
ager's Manual
usd/ source for User's Supple‐
mentary Documents
sys/ kernel source files
arch/ architecture-specific sup‐
port
acorn26/ Acorn
Archimedes, A-
series and R-
series systems
acorn32/ Acorn
RiscPC/A7000
and VLSI
RC7500
algor/ Algorithmics
Ltd. MIPS
evaluations
boards
alpha/ Digital/Compaq
Alpha
amd64/ Computers with
x86_64 capable
CPUs
amiga/ Commodore
Amiga and
MacroSystem
DraCo
amigappc/ PowerPC based
Amiga boards
arc/ MIPS-based
machines fol‐
lowing the
Advanced RISC
Computing spec
arm/ ARM processor
general sup‐
port
atari/ Atari TT030,
Falcon and
Hades
bebox/ Be Inc. BeBox
cats/ Chalice Tech‐
nology's CATS
and Intel's
EBSA-285 eval‐
uation boards
cesfic/ CES FIC8234
VME processor
board
cobalt/ Cobalt Net‐
works' MIPS-
based
Microserver
dreamcast/ Sega Dreamcast
game console
emips/ Machines based
on Extensible
MIPS
evbarm/ ARM based
evaluation
boards
evbmips/ MIPS based
evaluation
boards
evbppc/ PowerPC based
evaluation
boards and
appliances
evbsh3/ SH3/SH4 based
evaluation
boards
ews4800mips/ NEC's MIPS
based EWS4800
workstations
hp300/ Hewlett-
Packard
9000/300 and
400
680x0-based
workstations
hp700/ Hewlett-
Packard
9000/700 HPPA
based worksta‐
tions
hpcarm/ StrongARM
based WinCE
PDA machines
hpcmips/ MIPS based
WinCE PDA
machines
hpcsh/ Hitachi SH3/4
based WinCE
PDA machines
hppa/ HPPA processor
general sup‐
port
i386/ 80x86-based
IBM PCs and
clones
ibmnws/ IBM Network
Station 1000
iyonix/ Castle Tech‐
nology's
Iyonix ARM
based PCs
luna68k/ Omron Tateishi
Electric's
680x0-based
LUNA worksta‐
tions
m68k/ 680x0 proces‐
sor general
support
mac68k/ Apple Macin‐
tosh with 68k
CPU
macppc/ Apple Power
Macintosh and
clones
mips/ MIPS processor
general sup‐
port
mipsco/ MIPS Computer
Systems Inc.
family of
workstations
and servers
mmeye/ Brains Inc.
SH3 based
mmEye multime‐
dia server
mvme68k/ Motorola MVME
680x0-based
SBCs
mvmeppc/ Motorola Pow‐
erPC VME SBCs
netwinder/ StrongARM
based
NetWinder
machines
news68k/ Sony's
680x0-based
NEWS worksta‐
tions
newsmips/ Sony's MIPS-
based NEWS
workstations
next68k/ NeXT 68k
"black" hard‐
ware
ofppc/ Open Firmware
PowerPC work‐
stations
pmax/ Digital MIPS-
based DECsta‐
tions and DEC‐
systems
powerpc/ PowerPC pro‐
cessor support
prep/ PReP (PowerPC
Reference
Platform) and
CHRP machines
sandpoint/ Motorola Sand‐
point refer‐
ence platform
sbmips/ Broad‐
com/SiByte
evaluation
boards
sgimips/ Silicon Graph‐
ics' MIPS-
based worksta‐
tions
sh3/ SH3/SH4 pro‐
cessor general
support
shark/ Digital DNARD
("Shark")
sparc/ Sun Microsys‐
tems SPARC
(32-bit) and
UltraSPARC (in
32-bit mode)
sparc64/ Sun Microsys‐
tems Ultra‐
SPARC (in
native 64-bit
mode)
sun2/ Sun Microsys‐
tems
68010-based
Sun 2 archi‐
tecture
sun3/ Sun Microsys‐
tems
68020/68030-based
Sun 3/3x
architecture
sun68k/ 680x0-based
Sun architec‐
ture general
support
vax/ Digital VAX
x68k/ Sharp X680x0
680x0-based
workstations
x86/ General sup‐
port for PC/AT
compatibles
with ia32 or
x86_64 CPUs
xen/ The Xen vir‐
tual machine
monitor
zaurus/ Sharp C3x00
Arm based PDA
compat/ kernel compatibility modules
directory
common/ common compati‐
bility routines,
old 4BSD and
NetBSD routines.
freebsd/ support for
FreeBSD binaries;
see
compat_freebsd(8)
hpux/ support for 68000
HP-UX binaries
ibcs2/ support for Intel
Binary binaries
linux/ support for Linux
binaries; see
compat_linux(8)
m68k4k/ support for 4KB
page 68000 bina‐
ries
netbsd32/ support for
NetBSD 32-bit
binaries on 64
bit platforms
with compatible
CPU families
osf1/ support for
Digital UNIX
(formerly OSF/1)
binaries
ossaudio/ support for OSS
audio
sunos/ support for SunOS
4.x binaries; see
compat_sunos(8)
svr4/ support for Sys‐
tem V Release 4
binaries; see
compat_svr4(8)
ultrix/ support for
ULTRIX binaries
vax1k/ support for older
VAX binaries that
started on a 1 KB
boundary
conf/ architecture independent
configuration directory
crypto/ cryptographic kernel source,
which may have import or
export restrictions
ddb/ in kernel debugger
dev/ architecture independent
device support
fs/ miscellaneous file systems
adosfs/ AmigaDOS file-
system support;
see
mount_ados(8)
cd9660/ support for the
ISO-9660
filesystem; see
mount_cd9660(8)
filecorefs/ support for the
Acorn RISC OS
filecore
filesystem; see
mount_filecore(8)
msdosfs/ MS-DOS file
system; see
mount_msdos(8)
ntfs/ NTFS filesystem
support; see
mount_ntfs(8)
ptyfs/ pseudo-terminal
device filesys‐
tem; see
mount_ptyfs(8)
smbfs/ SMB/CIFS
filesystem sup‐
port; see
mount_smbfs(8)
union/ union file sys‐
tem; see
mount_union(8)
gdbscripts/ support for accessing kernel
structures from within the
debugger gdb(1).
ipkdb/ support for kernel debugging
over the network
kern/ support for the high kernel
(system calls)
lib/ kernel libraries
libkern/ C library routines
used in the kernel
libsa/ machine indepen‐
dent stand alone
kernel library
libz/ compression
library
miscfs/ miscellaneous file systems
deadfs/ kernel only dead
file system
fdesc/ file descriptor
file system; see
mount_fdesc(8)
fifofs/ POSIX FIFO support
genfs/ kernel only generic
file system
kernfs/ kernel namespace
file system; see
mount_kernfs(8)
nullfs/ loop back file sys‐
tem; see
mount_null(8)
overlay/
overlay file sys‐
tem; see
mount_overlay(8)
procfs/ process file sys‐
tem; see
mount_procfs(8)
specfs/ kernel only special
file system
syncfs/ kernel trickle sync
algorithm
umapfs/ user and group re-
mapping file sys‐
tem; see
mount_umap(8)
net/ miscellaneous networking
support
netatalk/ AppleTalk networking support
netinet/ IP networking support
netinet6/ IPv6 networking support
netiso/ ISO networking support
netkey/ Key database for IPsec net‐
working support
netnatm/ ATM networking support
nfs/ NFS support
stand/ kernel standalone support
sys/ kernel (and system) include
files
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 sys‐
tem support
uvm/ UVM virtual memory system
tests/ source for test programs in /usr/tests
usr.bin/ source for utilities/files in /usr/bin
usr.sbin/ source for utilities/files in /usr/sbin
/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
chroot/ home directories of applications which
are run in a chroot(8) “cage”.
crash/ system crash dumps; see savecore(8)
cron/ scheduled commands configuration files;
see cron(8)
db/ miscellaneous automatically generated
system-specific database files, and per‐
sistent files used in the maintenance of
third party software.
pkg default location for meta‐
data related to third party
software packages. See
pkg_add(1) for more details
of the NetBSD Packages Col‐
lection, or pkgsrc.
games/ miscellaneous game status and log files
heimdal/ Kerberos 5 KDC database; see kdc(8)
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(8) 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 informa‐
tion 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 accidental 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 anony‐
mous ftp root directory; see
ftpd(8)
mqueue/ sendmail mail queue; see
sendmail(8)
news/ Network news archival and
spooling directories
output/ printer spooling directories
postfix/ postfix mail queue; see
postfix(1)
uucp/ uucp spool directory
uucppublic/ commonly “~uucp”, the uucp
public temporary directory;
see uucp(1)
tmp/ temporary files that are not discarded
between system reboots
vi.recover/ recovery directory for new
vi(1)
yp/ Databases and configuration for the NIS
(YP) system; see nis(8).
SEE ALSOapropos(1), ls(1), whatis(1), whereis(1), which(1), paths(3)HISTORY
A hier manual page appeared in Version 7 AT&T UNIX.
BSD June 3, 2012 BSD
