Directory Structure
Welcome to  Directory Structure.
|
Introduction
The Ghost/FreeBSD directory hierarchy is fundamental to obtaining an overall understanding of the system. The most important directory is root or, “/”. This directory is the first one mounted at boot time and it contains the base system necessary to prepare the operating system for multi-user operation. The root directory also contains mount points for other file systems that are mounted during the transition to multi-user operation.
Source: FreeBSD Handbook Chapter: 3.5. Directory Structure
A mount point is a directory where additional file systems can be connected to a parent file system. This is further described in FreeBSD Handbook Section 3.6, “Disk Organization”.
See also Standard Mount Points.
Directory Structure
At the first step we have to copy the Directory Structure from FreeBSD Handbook chapter: 3.5. Directory Structure in the following table. We use also hier(7). From here we will get deeper.
| Directory | Description |
|---|---|
| / | Root directory of the file system. |
| /bin/ | User utilities fundamental to both single-user and multi-user environments. |
| /boot/ | Programs and configuration files used during operating system bootstrap. |
| /boot/defaults/ | Default boot configuration files. Refer to loader.conf(5) for details. |
| /cdrom/ | default mount point for CD-ROM drives |
| /compat/ | normally a link to /usr/compat. If not, then the /usr/compat
comments apply |
| /dev/ | Device nodes. Refer to intro(4) for details. |
| /etc/ | System configuration files and scripts. |
| /etc/defaults/ | Default system configuration files. Refer to rc(8) for details. |
| /etc/mail/ | Configuration files for mail transport agents such as sendmail(8). |
| /etc/periodic/ | Scripts that run daily, weekly, and monthly, via cron(8). Refer to periodic(8) for details. |
| /etc/ppp/ | ppp(8) configuration files. |
| /lib/ | critical system libraries needed for binaries in /bin and /sbin |
| /libexec/ | critical system utilities needed for binaries in /bin and /sbin |
| /media/ | contains subdirectories to be used as mount points for removable media such as CDs, USB drives, and floppy disks |
| /mnt/ | Empty directory commonly used by system administrators as a temporary mount point. |
| /net/ | automounted NFS shares; see auto_master(5) |
| /proc/ | Process file system. Refer to procfs(5), mount_procfs(8) for details. |
| /rescue/ | Statically linked programs for emergency recovery as described in rescue(8). |
| /root/ | Home directory for the root account. |
| /sbin/ | System programs and administration utilities fundamental to both single-user and multi-user environments. |
| /tmp/ | Temporary files which are usually not preserved across a system reboot. A memory-based file system is often mounted at /tmp. This can be automated using the tmpmfs-related variables of rc.conf(5) or with an entry in /etc/fstab; refer to mdmfs(8) for details. |
| /usr/ | The majority of user utilities and applications. |
| /usr/bin/ | Common utilities, programming tools, and applications. |
| /usr/include/ | Standard C include files. |
| /usr/lib/ | Archive libraries. |
| /usr/libdata/ | Miscellaneous utility data files. |
| /usr/libexec/ | System daemons and system utilities executed by other programs. |
| /usr/local/ | Local executables and libraries. Also used as the default destination for the FreeBSD ports framework. Within /usr/local, the general layout sketched out by hier(7) for /usr should be used. Exceptions are the man directory, which is directly under /usr/local rather than under /usr/local/share, and the ports documentation is in share/doc/port. |
| /usr/obj/ | Architecture-specific target tree produced by building the /usr/src tree. |
| /usr/ports/ | The FreeBSD Ports Collection (optional). |
| /usr/sbin/ | System daemons and system utilities executed by users. |
| /usr/share/ | Architecture-independent files. |
| /usr/src/ | BSD and/or local source files. |
| /var/ | Multi-purpose log, temporary, transient, and spool files. A memory-based file system is sometimes mounted at /var. This can be automated using the varmfs-related variables in rc.conf(5) or with an entry in /etc/fstab; refer to mdmfs(8) for details. |
| /var/log/ | Miscellaneous system log files. |
| /var/mail/ | User mailbox files. |
| /var/spool/ | Miscellaneous printer and mail system spooling directories. |
| /var/tmp/ | Temporary files which are usually preserved across a system reboot, unless /var is a memory-based file system. |
| /var/yp/ | NIS maps. |
