HIER(7) BSD Reference Manual HIER(7)
NAME
hier - layout of filesystems
DESCRIPTION
A sketch of the filesystem hierarchy.
/ root directory of the filesystem
/boot executable that loads /bsd; /boot is loaded by the block 0 boot-
strap
/bsd pure kernel executable (the operating system loaded into memory
at boot time by /boot)
/bin/ user utilities fundamental to both single-user and multi-user
environments
/dev/ block and character device files
MAKEDEV script for creating device files; see MAKEDEV(8)
fd/ file descriptor files; see fd(4)
/etc/ system configuration files and scripts
aliases sendmail aliases file; see sendmail(8)
crontab system crontab file; automatically run by cron(8)
fstab filesystem table
group group member file
localtime local timezone information; see ctime(3)
master.passwd master password file; see vipw(8)
netstart run at system startup time to bring up the net-
work
sendmail.cf sendmail configuration file; see sendmail(8)
kerberosIV/ configuration files for the kerberos version IV;
see kerberos(1)
mtree/ mtree configuration files; see mtree(1)
namedb/ named configuration files; see named(8)
uucp/ UUCP configuration files
/mnt/ empty directory commonly used by system administrators as a tem-
porary mount point
/root/ home directory for root account
/sbin/ system programs and administration utilities fundamental to both
single-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 re-
boot)
/usr/ contains the majority of user utilities and applications
bin/ common utilities, programming tools, and applications
contrib/ large packages contributed by outside parties
games/ useful and semi-frivolous programs
include/ standard C and C++ include files
arpa/ C include files for Internet service pro-
tocols
g++/ C++ include files for g++
iso9660/ C include files for ISO9660 filesystem
kerberosIV/ C include files for kerberos authentica-
tion package; see kerberos(1)
machine/ machine specific C include files
net/ misc network C include files
netccitt C include files for CCITT protocols; HDLC
and X.25
netimp/ C include files for IMP protocols; see
imp(4)
netinet/ C include files for Internet standard
protocols; see inet(4)
netiso/ C include files for ISO standard proto-
cols; see iso(4)
netns/ C include files for XNS standard proto-
cols; see ns(4)
nfs/ C include files for NFS (Network File
System)
protocols/ C include files for Berkeley service pro-
tocols
rpc/ C include files for RPC protocols
sys/ system C include files (kernel data
structures)
ufs/ C include files for UFS (The U-word File
System)
vm/ C include files for the virtual memory
system
lib/ archive libraries
libdata/ misc. utility data files
libexec/ system daemons & system utilities (executed by other
programs)
local/ local executables, libraries, etc.
bootstraps/
bootstrap files; see disklabel(8) and disksetup(8)
obj/ architecture-specific target tree produced by building
the /usr/src tree
old/ programs from past lives of BSD which may disappear in
future releases
sbin/ system daemons & system utilities (executed by users)
share/ architecture-independent ascii text files
calendar/ a variety of pre-fab calendar files; see
calendar(1)
dict/ word lists; see look(1)
words common words
web2 words from Webster's 2nd Inter-
national
papers/ reference databases; see re-
fer(1)
special/ custom word lists; see spell(1)
doc/ misc documentation; src for most of the
printed 4.3BSD manuals (available from the
USENIX association)
bsdi/ documentation specific to BSDI
games/ ascii text files used by various games
man/ manual pages
me/ macros for use with the me macro package
misc/ misc system-wide ascii text files
termcap terminal characteristics
database; see termcap(5)
mk/ templates for make; see make(1)
ms/ macros for use with the ms macro package
skel/ example . (dot) files for new accounts
tabset/ tab description files for a variety of ter-
minals; used in the termcap file; see term-
cap(5)
tmac/ text processing macros; see nroff(1) and
troff(1)
zoneinfo/ timezone configuration information; see tz-
file(5)
src/ distributed and/or local source files
bin/ src for files in /bin
contrib/ src for files in /usr/contrib
domestic/ src for encryption and kerberos version
IV; domestic sources only
etc/ src for files in /etc
games/ src for files in /usr/games
include/ src for files in /usr/include
lib/ src for files in /usr/lib
libexec/ src for files in /usr/libexec
local/ src for files in /usr/local
old/ src for files in /usr/old
sbin/ src for files in /sbin
share/ src for files in /usr/share
sys/ kernel src files
usr.bin/ src for files in /usr/bin
usr.sbin/ src for files in /usr/sbin
var/ src for various /var files
X11/ src for X11R5 server, libraries and
clients
X11/ X11R5 window system files
bin/ X11 window system client executables
include/ C include files for X11 window system
lib/ X11 window system archive libraries
man/ X11 window system man pages
/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/ misc. backup files
db/ misc. automatically generated system-specific
database files
games/ misc. game status and log files
log/ misc. system log files
wtmp login/logout log; see wtmp(5)
mail/ user mailbox files
preserve/ temporary home of files preserved after an accidental
death of an editor; see ex(1)
quotas/ filesystem quota information files
run/ system information files describing various info
about system since it was booted
utmp database of current users; see utmp(5)
rwho/ rwho data files; see rwhod(8), rwho(1), and rup-
time(1)
spool/ misc. printer and mail system spooling directories
at/ at(1) spool directory
ftp/ commonly ~ftp; the anonymous ftp root di-
rectory
lpd/ line printer spool
mqueue/ undelivered mail queue; see sendmail(8)
output/ line printer spooling directories
secretmail/
secretmail spool directory; see xget(1)
uucp/ uucp spool directory
uucppublic/
commonly ~uucp; public uucp temporary di-
rectory
tmp/ temporary files that are kept between system reboots
SEE ALSO
ls(1), apropos(1), whatis(1), whereis(1), finger(1), which(1),
find(1), locate(1), grep(1), fsck(8)
HISTORY
A hier manual page appeared in Version 7 AT&T UNIX.
BSDI BSD/386 March 27, 1993 4