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Filesystem Hierarchy Standard

Abstract

This standard consists of a set of requirements and guidelines for file and directory placement under UNIX-like operating systems. The guidelines are intended to support interoperability of applications, system administration tools, development tools, and scripts as well as greater uniformity of documentation for these systems. All trademarks and copyrights are owned by their owners, unless specifically noted otherwise. Use of a term in this document should not be regarded as affecting the validity of any trademark or service mark.

Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of this standard provided the copyright and this permission notice are preserved on all copies.

Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified versions of this standard under the conditions for verbatim copying, provided also that the title page is labeled as modified including a reference to the original standard, provided that information on retrieving the original standard is included, and provided that the entire resulting derived work is distributed under the terms of a permission notice identical to this one.

Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations of this standard into another language, under the above conditions for modified versions, except that this permission notice may be stated in a translation approved by the copyright holder.

Table of Contents

• 1 Introduction
  • 1.1 Status of the Standard
  • 1.2 Organization of the Standard
  • 1.3 Conventions
  • 1.4 Background of the FHS
  • 1.5 Scope
  • 1.6 General Guidelines
  • 1.7 Intended Audience
  • 1.8 Conformance with this Document
• 2 The Filesystem
• 3 The Root Directory
  • 3.1 /bin : Essential user command binaries (for use by all users)
  • 3.2 /boot : Static files of the boot loader
  • 3.3 /dev : Device files
  • 3.4 /etc : Host-specific system configuration
    • 3.4.1 /etc/X11 : Configuration for the X Window System
    • 3.4.2 /etc/opt : Configuration files for /opt
  • 3.5 /home : User home directories (optional)
  • 3.6 /lib : Essential shared libraries and kernel modules
  • 3.7 /mnt : Mount point for temporarily mounted filesystems
  • 3.8 /opt : Add-on application software packages
  • 3.9 /root : Home directory for the root user (optional)
  • 3.10 /sbin : System binaries (binaries once kept in /etc)
  • 3.11 /tmp : Temporary files
• 4 The /usr Hierarchy
  • 4.1 /usr/X11R6 : X Window System, Version 11 Release 6
  • 4.2 /usr/bin : Most user commands
  • 4.3 /usr/include : Directory for standard include files.
  • 4.4 /usr/lib : Libraries for programming and packages
  • 4.5 /usr/local : Local hierarchy
  • 4.6 /usr/sbin : Non-essential standard system binaries
  • 4.7 /usr/share : Architecture-independent data
    • 4.7.1 /usr/share/dict : Word lists
    • 4.7.2 /usr/share/man : Manual pages
    • 4.7.3 /usr/share/misc : Miscellaneous architecture-independent data
  • 4.8 /usr/src : Source code
• 5 The /var Hierarchy
  • 5.1 /var/account : Process accounting logs (if supported)
  • 5.2 /var/cache : Application cache data
    • 5.2.1 /var/cache/fonts : Locally-generated fonts
    • 5.2.2 /var/cache/man : Locally-formatted manual pages (optional)
  • 5.3 /var/crash : System crash dumps (if supported)
  • 5.4 /var/games : Variable game data
  • 5.5 /var/lib : Variable state information
    • 5.5.1 /var/lib/<editor> : Editor backup files and state
    • 5.5.2 /var/lib/misc : Miscellaneous variable data
  • 5.6 /var/lock : Lock files
  • 5.7 /var/log : Log files and directories
  • 5.8 /var/mail : User mailbox files
  • 5.9 /var/opt : Variable data for /opt
  • 5.10 /var/run : Run-time variable data
  • 5.11 /var/spool : Application spool data
    • 5.11.1 /var/spool/lpd : Line-printer daemon print queues
    • 5.11.2 /var/spool/rwho : Rwhod files
  • 5.12 /var/tmp : Temporary files preserved between system reboots
  • 5.13 /var/yp : Network Information Service (NIS) database files
• 6 Operating System Specific Annex
  • 6.1 Linux
    • 6.1.1 / : Root directory
    • 6.1.2 /dev : Devices and special files
    • 6.1.3 /proc : Kernel and process information virtual filesystem
    • 6.1.4 /sbin : Essential system binaries
    • 6.1.5 /usr/include : Header files included by C programs
    • 6.1.6 /usr/src : Source code
    • 6.1.7 /var/spool/cron : cron and at jobs
• 7 Appendix
  • 7.1 The FHS mailing list
  • 7.2 Acknowledgments
  • 7.3 Contributors