In Linux, all files and directories appear under the root directory /, even if they are stored on different physical or virtual devices.
| Directory | Description |
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Primary hierarchy root and root directory of the entire file system hierarchy. The root directory is the first or top-most directory in a hierarchy. |
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Essential command binaries that need to be available in single user mode; for all users, example: pwd, ping, cat, ls, cp. vi |
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dev is the location of special or device files. Examples: ttyXX - terminal /dev/cdrom - cd rom /dev/lpX - printer /dev/null - null device The majority of devices are either block or character devices; however other types of devices exist and can be created. In general, 'block devices' are devices that store or hold data, 'character devices' can be thought of as devices that transmit or transfer data. For example, diskette drives, hard drives and CD-ROM drives are all block devices while serial ports, mice and parallel printer ports are all character devices. |
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This directory contians users' home directories, containing saved files, personal settings, etc. Each user is assigned a specific directory that is accessible only to them and the system administrator. These are the user home directories, which can be found under '/home/$USER' (~/). |
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Directory for temporarily mounted filesystems. The /mnt directory and its subdirectories are intended for use as the temporary mount points for mounting storage devices, such as CDROMs, floppy disks and USB (universal serial bus) key drives. |
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Virtual filesystem providing process and kernel information as files. In Linux, corresponds to a procfs mount. |
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Run-time variable data: Information about the running system since last boot, e.g., currently logged-in users and running daemons. |
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Site-specific data which are served by the system. Sometimes used as webroot. |
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Temporary files to be preserved between reboots. |
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Host-specific system-wide configuration files The etcetera directory, as this directory historically held everything that did not belong elsewhere (however, the FHS restricts /etc to static configuration files and may not contain binaries). Since the publication of early documentation, the directory name has been re-explained in various ways. Recent interpretations include ackronyms such as "Editable Text Configuration" or "Extended Tool Chest". |
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Configuration files for add-on packages that are stored in /opt/. |
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Configuration files, such as catalogs, for software that processes SGML. |
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Configuration files for the X Window System, version 11. |
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Configuration files, such as catalogs, for software that processes XML. |
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Libraries essential for the binaries in /bin/ and /sbin/. |
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Alternate format essential libraries. Such directories are optional, but if they exist, they have some requirements. |
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Location for mount points for removable media such as CD-ROMs. |
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Virtual filesystem providing process and kernel information as files. In Linux, corresponds to a procfs mount. |
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Home directory for the root user. |
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Run-time variable data: Information about the running system since last boot, e.g., currently logged-in users and running daemons. |
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Essential system binaries, e.g., fsck, init, route, ifconfig. |
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Site-specific data which are served by the system. |
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Temporary files (see also /var/tmp). Often not preserved between system reboots, and may be severely size restricted. |
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Secondary hierarchy for read-only user data; contains the majority of (multi-)user utilities and applications. Stands for Unix System Resources, Not "User". /usr usually contains by far the largest share of data on a system. Hence, this is one of the most important directories in the system as it contains all the user binaries, their documentation, libraries, header files, etc.... X and its supporting libraries can be found here. User programs like telnet, ftp, etc.... are also placed here. |
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Non-essential command binaries (not needed in single user mode; for all users. |
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Standard include files. |
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Libraries for the binaries in /usr/bin/ and /usr/sbin/. |
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Alternate format libraries (optional). |
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Tertiary hierarchy for local data, specific to this host. Typically has further subdirectories, e.g., bin/, lib/, share/. |
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Non-essential system binaries, e.g., daemons for various network-services. |
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Architecture-independent (shared) data. |
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Source code, e.g., the kernel source code with its header files. |
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X Window System, Version 11, Release 6 (up to FHS-2.3, optional). |
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Variable files—files whose content is expected to continually change during normal operation of the system—such as logs, mail and printer spool files, and temporary e-mail files. If /var cannot be made a separate partition, it is often preferable to move /var out of the root partition and into the /usr partition. Web pages are generally stored under /var/www. Log files are found under /var/log. |
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Application cache data. Such data are locally generated as a result of time-consuming I/O or calculation. The application must be able to regenerate or restore the data. The cached files can be deleted without loss of data. |
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State information. Persistent data modified by programs as they run, e.g., databases, packaging system metadata, etc. |
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Lock files. Files keeping track of resources currently in use. |
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Log files. Various logs. |
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Users' mailboxes. |
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Variable data from add-on packages that are stored in /opt/. |
| Default document root location for Red Hat versions of apache |
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Run-time variable data. This directory contains system information data describing the system since it was booted. In FHS 3.0, /var/run is replaced by /run; a system should either continue to provide a /var/run directory, or provide a symbolic link from /var/run to /run, for backwards compatibility. |
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Spool for tasks waiting to be processed, e.g., print queues and outgoing mail queue. |
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Deprecated location for users' mailboxes. |
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Temporary files to be preserved between reboots. |
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Boot loader files, e.g., kernels, initrd. Files needed to boot system. |
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Host-specific system-wide configuration files. Generally contains static configuration files and not binaries. |
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Libraries essential for the binaries in /bin/ and /sbin/. |
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Mount points for removable media such as CD-ROMs |
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Optional application software packages. |
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Essential system binaries, e.g., fsck, init, route. |
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virtual filesystem |
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Secondary hierarchy for read-only user data; contains the majority of (multi-)user utilities and applications. |
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Non-essential command binaries used in the very early boot stage or ones that you need to have available in booting single-user mode. Example: cat, ls, etc. |
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Standard include files. |
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Program libraries for the binaries in /usr/bin/ and /usr/sbin/. |
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Alternate format libraries (optional). |
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Tertiary hierarchy for local data, specific to this host. Typically has further subdirectories, e.g., bin/, lib/, share/.[7] |
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Non-essential system binaries, e.g., daemons for various network-services. Examples: postfix, httpd, rotatelogs, vsftpd |
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Architecture-independent (shared) data. |
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Source code, e.g., the kernel source code with its header files. |
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X Window System, Version 11, Release 6 (up to FHS-2.3, optional). |