hier(7)
- NetBSD Manual Pages
HIER(7) NetBSD Miscellaneous Information Manual HIER(7)
NAME
hier -- layout of filesystems
DESCRIPTION
An outline of the filesystem hierarchy.
Naming is very important. The UNIX System relies on filename conventions
for much of its power as a system. The following file system layout
describes generally where things are and what they are, with references
to other man pages for more detailed documentation.
Not all files will be in every system.
/ root directory of the system
/COPYRIGHT
system copyright notice, most often put on CD-ROM distribu-
tions.
/[a-z]/ user filesystems
/altroot/ alternate root filesystem, in case of disaster
/bin/ utilities used in both single and multi-user environments
/boot* second-stage boot loader(s) for some platforms; see
installboot(8)
/dev/ block, character and other special device files
MAKEDEV script for creating device files; see makedev(8)
console the computer's console device
drum system swap space; see drum(4)
fd/ file descriptor files; see fd(4)
klog kernel logging device; see syslog(3)
kmem kernel virtual memory device; see mem(4)
log UNIX domain datagram log socket; see syslogd(8)
mem kernel physical memory device; see mem(4)
null the null device; see null(4)
stderr
stdin
stdout file descriptor files; see fd(4)
tty process' controlling terminal device; see tty(4)
zero the zero device; see zero(4)
/etc/ system configuration files and scripts
amd* configuration files for amd(8)
changelist files backed up by the security script
crontab schedule used by the cron(8) daemon
csh.cshrc
csh.login
csh.logout system-wide scripts for csh(1)
daily script run each day by cron(8)
daily.conf configuration file for daily; see daily.conf(5)
defaults/ default configuration files read by various
/etc/*.conf files
disktab disk description file, see disktab(5)
dm.conf dungeon master configuration; see dm.conf(5)
dumpdates dump history; see dump(8)
exports filesystem export information; see mountd(8)
fstab filesystem information; see fstab(5) and
mount(8)
ftpusers users denied ftp(1) access; see ftpd(8)
ftpwelcome ftp(1) initial message; see ftpd(8)
gettytab terminal configuration database; see
gettytab(5)
group group permissions file; see group(5)
hosts host name database backup for named(8); see
hosts(5)
hosts.equiv trusted machines with equivalent user ID's
hosts.lpd trusted machines with printing privileges
inetd.conf Internet server configuration file; see
inetd(8)
kerberosV/ configuration files for the kerberos version V;
see kerberos(8)
localtime local timezone information; see ctime(3)
mail/ configuration files for sendmail(8)
aliases* name alias files
sendmail.* sendmail(8) configuration informa-
tion
mail.rc system-wide initialization script for mail(1)
man.conf configuration file for man(1); see man.conf(5)
master.passwd Main password file, readable only by root; see
passwd(5)
mk.conf optional file containing make(1) variables,
read by pkgsrc and the system sources.
monthly script run each month by cron(8)
monthly.conf configuration file for monthly; see
monthly.conf(5)
motd system message of the day
mtree/ mtree configuration files; see mtree(8)
named.*
namedb/ named configuration files and databases; see
named(8)
netgroup network groups; see netgroup(5)
netstart network startup script
networks network name data base; see networks(5)
passwd World readable password file generated from
master.passwd; see passwd(5), pwd_mkdb(8)
phones remote host phone number data base; see
phones(5)
printcap system printer configuration; see printcap(5)
protocols protocol name database; see protocols(5)
pwd.db database form of passwd file; see pwd_mkdb(8)
rc master system startup script invoked by
init(8); see rc(8)
rc.conf configuration file for system startup and shut-
down scripts; see rc.conf(5)
rc.d/ directory containing per-subsystem startup and
shutdown scripts; see rc(8)
rc.local locally editable system startup script
rc.shutdown master system shutdown script invoked by
shutdown(8); see rc(8)
remote remote host description file; see remote(5)
security daily (in)security script run by cron(8)
security.conf configuration file for security; see
security.conf(5)
services service name data base; see services(5)
shells list of permitted shells; see shells(5)
sliphome/ SLIP login/logout scripts; see sliplogin(8)
spwd.db database form of master.passwd file; see
pwd_mkdb(8)
syslog.conf syslogd(8) configuration file; see
syslog.conf(5)
termcap terminal type database; see termcap(3)
ttys terminal initialization information; see
ttys(5)
uucp/ UUCP configuration files; see uucp(1) and
uucico(8).
weekly script run each week by cron(8)
weekly.conf configuration file for weekly; see
weekly.conf(5)
/home/ mount point for the automounter; see amd(8)
/lib/ dynamic linked libraries used by dynamic linked programs (such
as those in /bin/ and /sbin/) that cannot rely upon /usr/lib/
being available.
/libexec/ system utilities (such as the dynamic linker) required by pro-
grams and libraries that cannot rely upon /usr/libexec/ being
available.
/mnt/ empty directory commonly used by system administrators as a
temporary mount point
/netbsd pure kernel executable (the operating system loaded into mem-
ory at boot time).
/rescue/ statically linked rescue tools, for use in system recovery
/root/ home directory for the super-user
.cshrc super-user start-up file
.login super-user start-up file
.profile super-user start-up file
.rhosts super-user id mapping between machines
/sbin/ system programs and administration utilities used in both sin-
gle-user and multi-user environments
/stand/ programs used in a standalone environment
/tmp/ temporary files, usually a mfs(8) memory-based filesystem (the
contents of /tmp are usually not preserved across a system
reboot)
/usr/ contains the majority of the system utilities and files
X11R6/ X11 files
bin/ X11 binaries
include/ X11 include files
lib/ X11 libraries
bin/ common utilities, programming tools, and applica-
tions
games/ the important stuff
include/ standard C include files
arpa/ include files for Internet service pro-
tocols
atf/ include files for the Automated Testing
Framework; see atf(1)
g++/ include files for the C++ compiler
machine/ machine specific include files
net/
netatalk/ C include files for AppleTalk protocols
miscellaneous network include files; see
atalk(4)
netinet/ include files for Internet standard pro-
tocols; see inet(4)
netinet6/ include files for Internet protocol ver-
sion 6; see inet6(4)
netiso/ include files for ISO standard proto-
cols; see iso(4)
netkey/ include files for secret key management,
used for security protocols; see
ipsec(4)
netnatm/ C include files for native mode ATM
nfs/ C include files for NFS (Network File
System)
protocols/ C include files for Berkeley service
protocols
sys/ system C include files (kernel data
structures)
ufs/ C include files for UFS (The U-word File
System)
lib/ archive, profiled, position independent archive, and
shared libraries
libdata/ miscellaneous utility data files
libexec/ system daemons & system utilities (executed by other
programs)
uucp/ UUCP binaries and scripts (historically
placed; to be moved)
lkm/ loadable kernel modules
mdec/ boot blocks, etc.
obj/ architecture-specific target tree produced by build-
ing the /usr/src tree; normally a symbolic link or
mounted filesystem
pkg/ packages maintained by groups other than the NetBSD
Project.
bin/ contributed binaries
include/ contributed include files
lib/ contributed libraries
libdata/ contributed data files
libexec/ contributed daemons
sbin/ contributed system utilities
pkgsrc/ build descriptions ("packages") for the NetBSD pack-
ages system.
distfiles/ Where unchanged source archives are
fetched to/stored
packages/ Where compiled binary packages are
stored
There are also several other subdirectories which
contain packages of a certain category, e.g.,
archivers, graphics, ...
sbin/ system daemons and system utilities (normally exe-
cuted by the super-user)
share/ architecture-independent text files
calendar/ a variety of calendar files; see
calendar(1)
dict/ word lists; see look(1) and spell(1)
words common words
web2 words of Webster's 2nd Interna-
tional
papers/ reference databases; see
refer(1)
special/ custom word lists; see spell(1)
doc/ miscellaneous documentation; source for
most of the printed 4.3BSD manuals
(available from the USENIX association)
games/ text files used by various games
i18n/ internationalization databases; see
iconv(3)
lkm/ documentation on the loadable kernel mod-
ules interface
locale/ locale databases and gettext message cat-
alogs; see setlocale(3) and gettext(3)
man/ formatted manual pages
me/ macros for use with the me(7) macro pack-
age
misc/ miscellaneous system-wide text files
termcap terminal characteristics data-
base; see termcap(5)
mk/ include files for make(1)
ms/ macros for use with the ms(7) macro pack-
age
nls/ message catalogs; see catgets(3)
skel/ sample initialization files for new user
accounts
tabset/ tab description files for a variety of
terminals, used in the termcap file; see
termcap(5)
tmac/ text processing macros; see nroff(1) and
troff(1)
zoneinfo/ timezone configuration information; see
tzfile(5)
tests/ test programs; see atf-run(1) for information on how
to run them
/usr/src/ NetBSD and local source files
bin/ source for utilities/files in /bin
common/ sources shared between kernel and userland
crypto/ cryptographic source, which may have import or
export restrictions
dist/ third-party `virgin' source code, referenced by
other parts of the source tree
distrib/ tools and data-files for making distributions
doc/ documentation about the source tree (i.e., about
the tree, not about how to use the built software.)
etc/ source (usually example files) for files in /etc
external/ source for programs from external third parties
(where NetBSD is the not the primary maintainer),
grouped by license, and then products per license
bsd/ BSD (or equivalent) licensed software, possi-
bly with the ``advertising clause''
games/ source for utilities/files in /usr/games
gnu/ source for programs covered by the GNU license (or
similar)
include/ source for files in /usr/include
lib/ source for libraries in /usr/lib
libexec/ source for utilities/files in /usr/libexec
regress/ various regression tests
rescue/ source/makefiles for /rescue
sbin/ source for utilities/files in /sbin
share/ source for files in /usr/share
doc/
papers/ source for various Berkeley techni-
cal papers
psd/ source for Programmer's Supplemen-
tary Documents
smm/ source for System Manager's Manual
usd/ source for User's Supplementary Doc-
uments
sys/ kernel source files
arch/ architecture-specific support
acorn26/ Acorn Archimedes, A-
series and R-series
systems
acorn32/ Acorn RiscPC/A7000 and
VLSI RC7500
algor/ Algorithmics Ltd. MIPS
evaluations boards
alpha/ Digital/Compaq Alpha
amd64/ Computers with x86_64
capable CPUs
amiga/ Commodore Amiga and
MacroSystem DraCo
amigappc/ PowerPC based Amiga
boards
arc/ MIPS-based machines
following the Advanced
RISC Computing spec
arm/ ARM processor general
support
atari/ Atari TT030, Falcon and
Hades
bebox/ Be Inc. BeBox
cats/ Chalice Technology's
CATS and Intel's
EBSA-285 evaluation
boards
cesfic/ CES FIC8234 VME proces-
sor board
cobalt/ Cobalt Networks' MIPS-
based Microserver
dreamcast/ Sega Dreamcast game
console
evbarm/ ARM based evaluation
boards
evbmips/ MIPS based evaluation
boards
evbppc/ PowerPC based evalua-
tion boards and appli-
ances
evbsh3/ SH3/SH4 based evalua-
tion boards
ews4800mips/ NEC's MIPS based
EWS4800 workstations
hp300/ Hewlett-Packard
9000/300 and 400
680x0-based worksta-
tions
hp700/ Hewlett-Packard
9000/700 HPPA based
workstations
hpcarm/ StrongARM based WinCE
PDA machines
hpcmips/ MIPS based WinCE PDA
machines
hpcsh/ Hitachi SH3/4 based
WinCE PDA machines
hppa/ HPPA processor general
support
i386/ 80x86-based IBM PCs and
clones
ibmnws/ IBM Network Station
1000
iyonix/ Castle Technology's
Iyonix ARM based PCs
luna68k/ Omron Tateishi Elec-
tric's 680x0-based LUNA
workstations
m68k/ 680x0 processor general
support
mac68k/ Apple Macintosh with
68k CPU
macppc/ Apple Power Macintosh
and clones
mips/ MIPS processor general
support
mipsco/ MIPS Computer Systems
Inc. family of worksta-
tions and servers
mmeye/ Brains Inc. SH3 based
mmEye multimedia server
mvme68k/ Motorola MVME
680x0-based SBCs
mvmeppc/ Motorola PowerPC VME
SBCs
netwinder/ StrongARM based
NetWinder machines
news68k/ Sony's 680x0-based NEWS
workstations
newsmips/ Sony's MIPS-based NEWS
workstations
next68k/ NeXT 68k "black" hard-
ware
ofppc/ Open Firmware PowerPC
workstations
playstation2/ SONY PlayStation 2
pmax/ Digital MIPS-based DEC-
stations and DECsystems
powerpc/ PowerPC processor sup-
port
prep/ PReP (PowerPC Reference
Platform) and CHRP
machines
sandpoint/ Motorola Sandpoint ref-
erence platform
sbmips/ Broadcom/SiByte evalua-
tion boards
sgimips/ Silicon Graphics' MIPS-
based workstations
sh3/ SH3/SH4 processor gen-
eral support
shark/ Digital DNARD ("Shark")
sparc/ Sun Microsystems SPARC
(32-bit) and UltraSPARC
(in 32-bit mode)
sparc64/ Sun Microsystems Ultra-
SPARC (in native 64-bit
mode)
sun2/ Sun Microsystems
68010-based Sun 2
architecture
sun3/ Sun Microsystems
68020/68030-based Sun
3/3x architecture
sun68k/ 680x0-based Sun archi-
tecture general support
vax/ Digital VAX
x68k/ Sharp X680x0
680x0-based worksta-
tions
x86/ General support for
PC/AT compatibles with
ia32 or x86_64 CPUs
xen/ The Xen virtual machine
monitor
zaurus/ Sharp C3x00 Arm based
PDA
compat/ kernel compatibility modules directory
common/ common compatibility rou-
tines, old 4BSD and NetBSD
routines.
freebsd/ support for FreeBSD bina-
ries; see compat_freebsd(8)
hpux/ support for 68000 HP-UX
binaries
ibcs2/ support for Intel Binary
binaries
linux/ support for Linux binaries;
see compat_linux(8)
m68k4k/ support for 4KB page 68000
binaries
netbsd32/ support for NetBSD 32-bit
binaries on 64 bit plat-
forms with compatible CPU
families
osf1/ support for Digital UNIX
(formerly OSF/1) binaries
ossaudio/ support for OSS audio
pecoff/ support for Win32 binaries;
see compat_pecoff(8)
sunos/ support for SunOS 4.x bina-
ries; see compat_sunos(8)
svr4/ support for System V
Release 4 binaries; see
compat_svr4(8)
ultrix/ support for ULTRIX binaries
vax1k/ support for older VAX bina-
ries that started on a 1 KB
boundary
conf/ architecture independent configuration
directory
crypto/ cryptographic kernel source, which may
have import or export restrictions
ddb/ in kernel debugger
dev/ architecture independent device sup-
port
fs/ miscellaneous file systems
adosfs/ AmigaDOS file-system sup-
port; see mount_ados(8)
cd9660/ support for the ISO-9660
filesystem; see
mount_cd9660(8)
filecorefs/ support for the Acorn
RISC OS filecore filesys-
tem; see
mount_filecore(8)
msdosfs/ MS-DOS file system; see
mount_msdos(8)
ntfs/ NTFS filesystem support;
see mount_ntfs(8)
ptyfs/ pseudo-terminal device
filesystem; see
mount_ptyfs(8)
smbfs/ SMB/CIFS filesystem sup-
port; see mount_smbfs(8)
union/ union file system; see
mount_union(8)
gdbscripts/ support for accessing kernel struc-
tures from within the debugger gdb(1).
ipkdb/ support for kernel debugging over the
network
kern/ support for the high kernel (system
calls)
lib/ kernel libraries
libkern/ C library routines used in
the kernel
libsa/ machine independent stand
alone kernel library
libz/ compression library
lkm/ loadable kernel modules
compat/ LKM support compatibility
modules; currently
unsupported.
netinet/ LKM support networking
modules
if_ipl/ LKM for IP-Fil-
ter
vfs/ LKM support for file sys-
tems.
miscfs/ miscellaneous file systems
deadfs/ kernel only dead file system
fdesc/ file descriptor file system;
see mount_fdesc(8)
fifofs/ POSIX FIFO support
genfs/ kernel only generic file sys-
tem
kernfs/ kernel namespace file system;
see mount_kernfs(8)
nullfs/ loop back file system; see
mount_null(8)
overlay/
overlay file system; see
mount_overlay(8)
portal/ portal file system; see
mount_portal(8)
procfs/ process file system; see
mount_procfs(8)
specfs/ kernel only special file sys-
tem
syncfs/ kernel trickle sync algorithm
umapfs/ user and group re-mapping
file system; see
mount_umap(8)
net/ miscellaneous networking support
netatalk/ AppleTalk networking support
netinet/ IP networking support
netinet6/ IPv6 networking support
netiso/ ISO networking support
netkey/ Key database for IPsec networking sup-
port
netnatm/ ATM networking support
nfs/ NFS support
stand/ kernel standalone support
sys/ kernel (and system) include files
ufs/ local filesystem support
ffs/ the Berkeley Fast File System
lfs/ the log-structured file system
mfs/ the in-memory file system
ufs/ shared UNIX file system support
uvm/ UVM virtual memory system
tests/ source for test programs in /usr/tests
usr.bin/ source for utilities/files in /usr/bin
usr.sbin/ source for utilities/files in /usr/sbin
/var/ multi-purpose log, temporary, transient, and spool files
account/ system accounting files
acct execution accounting file; see acct(5)
at/ timed command scheduling files; see at(1)
backups/ miscellaneous backup files, largely of files found
in /etc
chroot/ home directories of applications which are run in a
chroot(8) ``cage''.
crash/ system crash dumps; see savecore(8)
cron/ scheduled commands configuration files; see cron(8)
db/ miscellaneous automatically generated system-spe-
cific database files, and persistent files used in
the maintenance of third party software.
pkg default location for metadata related
to third party software packages. See
pkg_install(1) for more details of the
NetBSD Packages Collection, or pkgsrc.
games/ miscellaneous game status and log files
heimdal/ Kerberos 5 KDC database; see kdc(8)
log/ miscellaneous system log files
amd.* amd(8) logs
daily.out output of the last run of the
/etc/daily script
ftp.* ftp(1) logs
kerberos.* kerberos(8) logs
lastlog system last time logged in log; see
utmp(5)
lpd-errs.* printer daemon error logs; see lpd(8)
maillog.* sendmail(8) log files
messages.* general system information log
monthly.out output of the last run of the
/etc/monthly script
secure sensitive security information log
sendmail.st sendmail(8) statistics
timed.* timed(8) logs
weekly.out output of the last run of the
/etc/weekly script
wtmp login/logout log; see utmp(5)
mail/ user system mailboxes
msgs/ system messages; see msgs(1)
preserve/ temporary home of files preserved after an acciden-
tal death of ex(1) or vi(1)
quotas/ filesystem quota information
run/ system information files, rebuilt after each reboot
utmp database of current users; see utmp(5)
rwho/ rwho data files; see rwhod(8), rwho(1), and
ruptime(1)
spool/ miscellaneous printer and mail system spooling
directories
ftp/ commonly ``~ftp'', the anonymous ftp
root directory; see ftpd(8)
mqueue/ sendmail mail queue; see sendmail(8)
news/ Network news archival and spooling
directories
output/ printer spooling directories
postfix/ postfix mail queue; see postfix(1)
uucp/ uucp spool directory
uucppublic/ commonly ``~uucp'', the uucp public
temporary directory; see uucp(1)
tmp/ temporary files that are not discarded between sys-
tem reboots
vi.recover/ recovery directory for new vi(1)
yp/ Databases and configuration for the NIS (YP) sys-
tem; see nis(8).
SEE ALSO
apropos(1), ls(1), whatis(1), whereis(1), which(1)
HISTORY
A hier manual page appeared in Version 7 AT&T UNIX.
NetBSD 5.0 May 22, 2008 NetBSD 5.0
Powered by man-cgi (2024-03-20).
Maintained for NetBSD
by Kimmo Suominen.
Based on man-cgi by Panagiotis Christias.