File System Hierarchy Flashcards
/
The top-level directory is the root filesystem and contains all of the files required to boot the operating system before other filesystems are mounted as well as the files required to boot the other filesystems. After boot, all of the other filesystems are mounted at standard mount points as subdirectories of the root.
/bin
Contains essential command binaries.
/boot
Consists of the static bootloader, kernel executable, and files required to boot the Linux OS.
/dev
Contains device files to facilitate access to every hardware device attached to the system.
/etc
Local system configuration files. Configuration files for installed applications may be saved here as well.
/home
Each user on the system has a subdirectory here for storage.
/lib
Shared library files that are required for system boot.
/media
External removable media devices such as USB drives are mounted here.
/mnt
Temporary mount point for regular filesystems.
/opt
Optional files such as third-party tools can be saved here.
/root
The home directory for the root user.
/sbin
This directory contains executables used for system administration (binary system files).
/tmp
The operating system and many programs use this directory to store temporary files. This directory is generally cleared upon system boot and may be deleted at other times without any warning.
/usr
Contains executables, libraries, man files, etc.
/var
This directory contains variable data files such as log files, email in-boxes, web application related files, cron files, and more.
