The layout of the directory hierarchy — questions like “where does this file belong?” or “what is this directory for?”.
3
votes
3answers
90 views
Should /usr and /home be on different partitions?
In studying for the lcpi exam, I met the following statement.
If multiple disks are available it is good practice to also have the /usr and /home directories on different partitions. ...
1
vote
1answer
15 views
Is there any common meaning to a `collects` directory?
I'm under the impression that there are a bunch of directory names that have common semantics, like (in no particular order):
usr
tmp
src
lib
etc
share
opt
bin
sbin
var
data
include
There are ...
1
vote
1answer
34 views
Man folders and MANPATH
This thread What do the numbers in a man page mean? answers the question of the significance of the numbers between parentheses within a man page. My question is related.
I have a local installation ...
0
votes
1answer
59 views
Fedora OS structure change
I recently noticed that the structure of 16:
http://redhat.download.fedoraproject.org/pub/fedora/linux/releases/16/Fedora/x86_64/os/
is different from 17:
...
3
votes
2answers
54 views
Should I use symlinks in /usr/bin or use the PATH variable instead?
I was looking to download some tool and it said to update your PATH variable, but I thought /usr/bin was the "standard".
16
votes
4answers
405 views
Which folder should I write to for my intermediate files, as a dev?
I'm starting to write a few bash scripts for my project and they need some intermediate files or variables to be written.
I want to know which folders can I be sure of having access to when someone ...
1
vote
2answers
62 views
What is the “cost” of deeply nested folders in ext4?
I was running into performance problems with hundredthousands of files in single directories when I needed to do certain wildcard matches. From my applications point of view, a simple solution is to ...
0
votes
2answers
101 views
What is the best place to put php files above server root directory?
I am running a web application and I want to move a directory containing my php files above the server root directory. Where would be the best place to put them?
On my web server I rent from ...
2
votes
2answers
50 views
Linux multi-user system: Each user's home partition on its own Hard Drive
I've got a pogoplug running Arch Linux that I'm using for a NAS with rsync backing up my data over SSH. Right now, I'm the only one using it, but I'd like to add my roommate as well. She has her own ...
2
votes
1answer
52 views
Where are Python dist-packages stored in FreeBSD?
I am trying to find this path on FreeBSD but it is not working: /usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages
This same path is working on Ubuntu.
Can please some tell me where I can find Python ...
2
votes
1answer
240 views
Difference between lib, lib32, lib64, libx32, and libexec
My 64 bit Ubuntu 13.04 system has the following directories in /:
lib
lib32
lib64
libx32
libexec
In the /usr directory there is:
lib
lib32
libx32
libexec
This seemed like something that could be ...
5
votes
4answers
243 views
Can I share /usr/local between multiple Linux distributions?
I tried Ubuntu 12.04 and based on my understanding I made the following partitions:
2GB Swap (I have 2GB of RAM)
1GB /boot, since I'll be installing different kernel versions (I'm starting kernel ...
1
vote
1answer
135 views
use `/run/shm` (formerly `/dev/shm`) as a temp directory
Is it good practice to create a directory in /run/shm (formerly /dev/shm) and use that like a temp directory for an application?
Background: I am writing black box tests for a program which does a ...
0
votes
0answers
70 views
How to safely remove hard-link to home folder?
In a folder owned by my user /sites/Website there is a dir named ~.
When I cd to this directory, I am redirected to ~/, my home folder.
At first I thought this was a symbolic link, but doing ls ...
1
vote
1answer
54 views
Download files and create same file structure as the source
I have a config file which consists of list of URIs I want to download. For example,
http://xyz.abc.com/Dir1/Dir3/sds.exe
http://xyz.abc.com/Dir2/Dir4/jhjs.exe
http://xyz.abc.com/Dir1/itr.exe
...
3
votes
1answer
82 views
Why do the nfs4 tutorials recommend to bind mount sub directories
All NFS4 tutorials I have encountered so far recommend bind mounting real directories into the export root. Is this a technical necessity? If I had a directory that's only meant to be exported, is it ...
34
votes
8answers
770 views
What's the most appropriate directory where to place files shared between users?
Or: where can I put files belonging to a group?
Suppose there are two users on a Unix system: joe and sarah. They are both members of the movies-enthusiast group. Where should I put their movie ...
0
votes
2answers
166 views
increasing a logical volume
I need to increase the logical volume of the var directory, the maximum size of var right now is 10GB, I need to make it 50GB. I have a Centos 6 server.
The output of df -h is:
Filesystem ...
3
votes
1answer
115 views
Where should user configuration files go? [duplicate]
If I look at my home directory there are a large number of dot files. If I am creating a new program that needs a user configuration file, is there any guidance where to put it? I could imagine ...
0
votes
1answer
43 views
Changing the defult directory structure
If I start a new distro (e.g. LFS):
How can I change the directory structure?
What should I expect after it's ready? (probably can't install most of the packages without modification, right?
But, ...
3
votes
3answers
106 views
Where are userspace programs supposed to save their logs?
I am writing a script that I want to run without privileges. I want the errors that the script encounters to be logged to some log file. I do not not have privileges to write one to /var/log. And I do ...
1
vote
2answers
236 views
Why can I only run a .sh file from the parent directory, not the child directory
I am a Linux noob. I noticed that this does not work:
/tomcatDirectory/bin $ startup.sh //command not found
but this does work
/tomcatDirectory $ bin/startup.sh
I am used to Windows. It seems ...
0
votes
0answers
338 views
/media, /mnt, /run and automounting
As of Fedora15, a new directory under root was introduced. A couple of quotes:
i.e. /var is "persistant runtime data" and /run
is "volatile runtime data", and /etc is "persistant system config
...
2
votes
1answer
118 views
What is Darwin's 'private' directory for?
Darwin has a private directory that I don't see in the Unix documentation I've found. Is that a Mac-specific directory? What is it for? Is it preserved between system upgrades?
5
votes
1answer
89 views
Can I exclude /run from my backup scheme?
I have written a rsync-based system backup for my Linux system. The aim is to be able to redeploy the system entirely from the saves, so I don't only backup homedirs. I have excluded a few top-level ...
-1
votes
1answer
82 views
How to know what will execute at startup/bootup?
I would like what scripts will run at start, without needing to "restart and see what happens", is there any way to know what 'services' are ready to run?
Shoud I check every single file in
ls ...
1
vote
1answer
106 views
What is the “~/” directory?
I'm trying to locate where some files are stored and I can easily browse to them via ssh by going to "cd ~/foldername", however, I have no idea what directory "~/" actually is.
When I browse around ...
4
votes
2answers
290 views
What are the advantages of the Unix file system structure
If I install an application in Linux for example Debian/Gnu Linux, the files of the applications are copied to many different directories in the file system.
Some scripts goes into /usr/share .. ...
2
votes
2answers
168 views
How to determine whether a linux filesystem belongs to a running system or not
I need to write a program that receives a block device as input, like /dev/sda1, and has to perform a set of operations depending on if the filesystem inside are currently running or not.
We'll ...
4
votes
5answers
222 views
Which is better for installed applications: /usr/bin or user's home directory?
It's not entirely clear to me whether it would be better to install a GUI application in /usr/bin or my home directory. I've read through this article and this one, but it doesn't really talk about ...
2
votes
1answer
156 views
How to utilize XDG directories and paths in Bash?
I wonder how to access not only the variables defined in ~/.config/user-dirs.dirs with xdg-user-dir, e.g. "$(xdg-user-dir VIDEOS)", but also the following standard variables:
...
4
votes
2answers
137 views
What is the 't' folder?
I'm mainly a Windows guy, programming C#, but I often do use technologies that were intended for Linux machines like git, MySQL, perl scripts, memcached, php, etc... And therefore I am exposed to ...
3
votes
4answers
527 views
How to visualize directory tree structures?
I know I can use tree to show the nested content of a directory. Alas, its output is hardly beautiful as I want to include it in a documentation. So eye-candy is a requirement.
So I was wondering if ...
0
votes
1answer
138 views
Install GCC at a custom location without machine prefix
When installing GCC, libraries, header files and some executables are placed in directories similar to /usr/lib/gcc/i686-pc-linux-gnu/4.5.4/ and /usr/libexec/gcc/i686-pc-linux-gnu/4.5.4/.
I'm ...
16
votes
0answers
476 views
How did the system settings directory on UNIX come to be named /etc? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
What does etc stand for?
And why isn't it named /cnf or /syscf or /cfg? No one I have ever asked has been able to tell me, not that I have access to any of the minds ...
0
votes
1answer
29 views
Convention for primary app deployment dir structure on a Unix-like app server
The client I am working for deploys their application to a directory they created at the root level. While acknowledging it is a matter of local preference, I am unsure if this is in accordance with ...
2
votes
1answer
154 views
How to move the /var/www directory to a USB HDD?
I have a default OpenBSD 5.1 install. How Can I enabled httpd, OK.
QUESTION: How can I use the
/dev/sd0a on /mnt/usbhdd type ffs (local, nodev)
instead of the default "/var/www" directory? What ...
2
votes
2answers
109 views
Do best-practices indicate that usage of /var should be restricted to sudoers
I wrote a package, and would like to use /var to persist some data. The data I'm storing would perhaps even be thought of as an addition for /var/db.
The pattern I observe is that files in /var/db, ...
0
votes
1answer
91 views
Where to locate “sockets”
I am new to this, so sorry if its obvious. I am running a Debian server and installing the likes of UWSGI, NGinx etc on there. The configurations keep talking about pointing to "sockets".
In the ...
3
votes
3answers
203 views
Why do I get 3048 MB from a 64 MB flash memory?
I have a Linux based STB (set-top-box) and it features a 64 MB flash memory and 256 MB of RAM. I wanted to take a backup of some of my settings before I flash it with another image, but I wasn't sure ...
25
votes
7answers
4k views
Why is the root directory on a web server put by default in “/var/www”?
Tuxfiles says the following about the Linux directory structure:
/var:
This directory contains variable data that changes constantly when the system is running.
FHS on /var says the ...
2
votes
0answers
72 views
What is the equivalent of /usr/share/misc on Solaris?
The Linux Filesystem Hierarchy Standard has the following to say:
This directory contains miscellaneous architecture-independent files which don't require a separate subdirectory under /usr/share.
...
0
votes
1answer
633 views
Home folder structure in Ubuntu 12.04.1?
Long story short, i just accidentally deleted my entire home folder. Thankfully it seems like the hidden files are still there.
I'm not sure, but aren't all of the folders within the home folder ...
2
votes
1answer
307 views
Where to install applications
I'm a long-time Windows user in the middle of a multi-year personal migration to Linux-based development. On Windows when I installed an application it got put in the Program Files folder and I'd ...
4
votes
1answer
75 views
Transform directory structure
I have the following folder structure
root folder
|-al2
|- GER.zip
|- ENG.zip
|-ww
|- GER.zip
|- ENG.zip
and so on. The folder names are random strings.
I want to sort the files in ...
4
votes
2answers
500 views
Why can't I navigate into my Documents directory?
I'm in bash and running F17 as su. My pwd is
/home/user
and when I ls I see
Desktop Documents Downloads Music Pictures Public Templates Videos
However, I'm unable to cd into any of these. My ...
3
votes
1answer
214 views
How does the Linux file structure work?
I see the different folders bin, dev, mnt, proc, srv, sys, etc.
What are the properties of all these different folders? What are there purposes? Are there files in some of them that I should not ...
10
votes
2answers
316 views
Why do so many programs live in PATH?
One thing that puzzles me about desktop Linux, at least, is that just about everything is in my PATH. By everything, I mean every desktop application, including things like gnome-character-map and ...
1
vote
1answer
95 views
Linking “..” do somewhere other than parent directory and other strange fs beharviors
Can the entry ".." become linked to someplace other than the parent directory? Is it possible to cause "tar" to create this weird behavior?
Scenario: I have a pre-built compiler to a embeded system, ...
0
votes
1answer
594 views
Looping over directory entries in bash and saving to an array
(See update at the foot of the question).
This is a followup question to "Make directory copies using
find".
This question involved manipulating a bunch of directories, This got
too complicated to ...
