Linux uses a tree oriented hierarchy, meaning it starts at one point and branches outward. This starting point is the
/(system root) directory.This particular hierarchy layout is based on the FHS (Filesystem Hierarchy Standard).
FHS - (Filesystem Hierarchy Standard)
- Maintained by the Linux Foundation and last updated on June 3rd, 2015.(as of 12-16-22)
- FHS provides UNIX-like operating systems with a set of file and directory requirements and guidelines.
Common directories that sit under / (system root).
/bin- Essential command binaries used by the user and system/boot- Stores data required for system boot/dev- Files that represent devices attached to the system/etc- Static configuration files(not binaries) for the system/home- Location for individual files of particular user/lib- Essential shared libraries and kernel modules(drivers)/media- Mount point for removable media/mnt- Mount point for mounting a filesystem temporarily/opt- Add-on application software packages/root- Home directory for the root user/run- Data relevant to running processes since boot/sbin- Essential system binaries/srv- Data for services provided by this system/tmp- Temporary files(reboot usually clears this directory)/usr- Second major hierarchy(binaries and data)/bin- Most executable commands/include- Header files for compiling programs written in C/lib- More libraries and data files/local- User installed software/sbin- Non-Essential binaries for sysadmin/share- Hierarchy for read-only architecture independent data files
/var- Hierarchy for variable data to sit in(logs, cache, software states)/cache- Cache data from applications/lib- Variable state information for applications and system/local- Variable data for /usr/local/lock- Lock files/log- Log files and directories/opt- Variable data for /opt/run- Runtime variables/spool- Application spool (queued) data/tmp- Temporary files preserved between system reboots
