Unix filesystem: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 00:10, 11 June 2012

Revision as of 00:26, 11 June 2012

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:<code>/mnt</code>

|Stands for "mount". Contains filesystem mount points. These are used, for example, if the system uses multiple hard disks or hard disk partitions. It is also often used for remote filesystems, CD-ROM/DVD drives, and so on.

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:<code>/lib</code>

|Contains system libraries, and some critical files such as [[loadable kernel module|kernel modules]] or [[device driver]]s.

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:<code>/root</code>

|The home directory for the [[superuser]] "root" - that is, the system administrator. This account's home directory is usually on the initial filesystem, (and hence not in /home (which may be a mount point for another filesystem) in case specific maintenance needs to be performed, during which other filesystems are not available. Such a case could occur, for example, if a hard disk drive suffers physical failures and cannot be properly mounted.

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:<code>/tmp</code>

|A place for temporary files. Many Unices clear this directory upon start upstartup.

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:<code>/usr</code>

|Originally the directory holding user home directories, its use has changed. It now holds executables, libraries, and shared resources that are not system critical, like the [[X Window System]], [[KDE]], [[Perl]], etc. (The name "Unix System Resources" is a ''post hoc'' [[backronym]]{{citation needed|date=December 2010}}.) However, on some [[Unix]] systems, some user accounts may still have a home directory that is a direct subdirectory of /usr, such as the default as in [[Minix]]. (on modern systems, these user accounts are often related to server or system use, and not directly used by a person)

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::<code>/usr/include</code>

|Stores the development headers used throughout the system. [[Header filesfile]]s are mostly used by the <code>#include</code> directive in [[C programming language]], which historically is how the name of this directory was chosen.

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:<code>/var</code>

|A short for "variable." A place for files that may change often - especially in size, for example e-mail sent to users on the system, or process-ID [[lock file]]s.

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::<code>/var/mail</code>

|The place where all the incoming mails are stored. Users (other than <code>root</code>) can access their own mail only. Often, this directory is a [[symbolic link]] to <code>/var/spool/mail</code>.

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