1.\" Copyright (c) 1990, 1993 2.\" The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved. 3.\" 4.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without 5.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions 6.\" are met: 7.\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright 8.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer. 9.\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright 10.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the 11.\" documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution. 12.\" 3. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors 13.\" may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software 14.\" without specific prior written permission. 15.\" 16.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND 17.\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE 18.\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE 19.\" ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE 20.\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL 21.\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS 22.\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) 23.\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT 24.\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY 25.\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF 26.\" SUCH DAMAGE. 27.\" 28.\" @(#)hier.7 8.1 (Berkeley) 6/5/93 29.\" $FreeBSD: src/share/man/man7/hier.7,v 1.29.2.17 2003/01/13 21:43:50 ceri Exp $ 30.\" 31.Dd October 10, 2014 32.Dt HIER 7 33.Os 34.Sh NAME 35.Nm hier 36.Nd layout of filesystems 37.Sh DESCRIPTION 38A sketch of the filesystem hierarchy. 39.Bl -tag -width ".Pa /modules/" 40.It Pa / 41root directory of the filesystem 42.It Pa /bin/ 43user utilities fundamental to both single-user and multi-user environments 44.It Pa /boot/ 45programs and configuration files used during operating system bootstrap 46.Pp 47.Bl -tag -width ".Pa defaults/" -compact 48.It Pa defaults/ 49default bootstrapping configuration files; see 50.Xr loader.conf 5 51.It Pa kernel/ 52pure kernel executable (the operating system loaded into memory 53at boot time) and loadable kernel modules; 54see 55.Xr kldstat 8 56.El 57.It Pa /compat/ 58files related to compatibility layers 59.Pp 60.Bl -tag -width ".Pa ndis/" -compact 61.It Pa ndis/ 62firmware for 63.Xr ndis 4 64drivers 65.El 66.It Pa /dev/ 67block and character device files 68.Pp 69.Bl -tag -width ".Pa fd/" -compact 70.It Pa fd/ 71file descriptor files; 72see 73.Xr \&fd 4 74.El 75.It Pa /etc/ 76system configuration files and scripts 77.Pp 78.Bl -tag -width ".Pa bluetooth/" -compact 79.It Pa bluetooth/ 80bluetooth configuration files 81.It Pa defaults/ 82default system configuration files; 83see 84.Xr rc 8 85.It Pa dma/ 86.Xr dma 8 87configuration files 88.It Pa localtime 89local timezone information; 90see 91.Xr ctime 3 92.It Pa mail/ 93Sendmail control files 94.It Pa mtree/ 95mtree configuration files; 96see 97.Xr mtree 8 98.It Pa pam.d/ 99configuration files for the Pluggable Authentication Modules (PAM) 100library 101.It Pa periodic/ 102scripts that are run daily, weekly, and monthly, via 103.Xr cron 8 ; 104see 105.Xr periodic 8 106.It Pa ppp/ 107ppp configuration files; 108see 109.Xr ppp 8 110.It Pa rc.d/ 111System and daemon startup/control scripts; 112see 113.Xr rc 8 114.It Pa ssh/ 115OpenSSH configuration files; 116see 117.Xr ssh 1 118.It Pa ssl/ 119OpenSSL configuration files 120.It Pa upgrade/ 121Files relevant to system upgrades 122.It Pa uucp/ 123uucp configuration files; 124see 125.Xr uucp 1 126.El 127.It Pa /home/ 128HOME directories of non-root users 129.It Pa /mnt/ 130empty directory commonly used by 131system administrators as a temporary mount point 132.It Pa /pfs/ 133pseudo file system directory (on 134.Xr hammer 5 135root file systems) 136.It Pa /proc/ 137process file system; 138see 139.Xr procfs 5 , 140.Xr mount_procfs 8 141.It Pa /root/ 142root's HOME directory 143.It Pa /sbin/ 144system programs and administration utilities 145fundamental to both single-user and multi-user environments 146.It Pa /sys/ 147the kernel's source code (usually a symbolic link to 148.Pa /usr/src/sys ) 149.It Pa /tmp/ 150temporary files that are not guaranteed to persist across system reboots 151.It Pa /usr/ 152contains the majority of user utilities and applications 153.Pp 154.Bl -tag -width ".Pa libdata/" -compact 155.It Pa bin/ 156common utilities, programming tools, and applications 157.It Pa dports/ 158The 159.Dx 160.Xr dports 7 161collection (optional). 162.It Pa games/ 163useful and semi-frivolous programs 164.It Pa include/ 165standard C include files 166.Pp 167.Bl -tag -width ".Pa libmilter/" -compact 168.It Pa arpa/ 169C include files for Internet service protocols 170.It Pa c++/ 171C++ include files 172.It Pa cam/ 173C include files for the Common Access Methods Layer 174.Pp 175.Bl -tag -width ".Pa scsi/" -compact 176.It Pa scsi/ 177The SCSI device on top of CAM 178.El 179.Pp 180.It Pa dev/ 181C include files for programming various 182.Dx 183devices 184.It Pa emulation/ 185Include Files for various emulation layers 186.It Pa fs/ 187.Pp 188.Bl -tag -width ".Pa smbfs/" -compact 189.It Pa smbfs/ 190SMB/CIFS filesystem 191.El 192.Pp 193.It Pa isofs/ 194.Pp 195.Bl -tag -width ".Pa cd9660/" -compact 196.It Pa cd9660/ 197iso9660 filesystem 198.El 199.Pp 200.It Pa libmilter/ 201C include files for libmilter, 202the sendmail mail filter API 203.It Pa libprop/ 204C include files for libprop 205.It Pa machine/ 206machine-specific C include files 207.It Pa msdosfs/ 208MS-DOS file system 209.It Pa net/ 210misc network C include files 211.It Pa netinet/ 212C include files for Internet standard protocols; 213see 214.Xr inet 4 215.It Pa netinet6/ 216C include files for Internet protocol version 6; 217see 218.Xr inet6 4 219.It Pa netkey/ 220kernel key-management service 221.It Pa netsmb/ 222SMB/CIFS requester 223.It Pa nfs/ 224C include files for NFS (Network File System) 225.It Pa openssl/ 226OpenSSL (Cryptography/SSL toolkit) headers 227.It Pa pcap/ 228Packet Capture (libpcap) headers; 229see 230.Xr pcap 3 231.It Pa pccard/ 232PC-CARD controllers 233.It Pa protocols/ 234C include files for Berkeley service protocols 235.It Pa readline/ 236get a line from a user, with editing; 237see 238.Xr readline 3 239.It Pa rpc/ 240remote procedure calls; 241see 242.Xr rpc 3 243.It Pa rpcsvc/ 244definition of RPC service structures; see 245.Xr rpc 3 246.It Pa security/ 247PAM; see 248.Xr pam 8 249.It Pa sys/ 250system C include files (kernel data structures) 251.It Pa ufs/ 252C include files for UFS (The U-word File System) 253.Pp 254.Bl -tag -width ".Pa ffs/" -compact 255.It Pa ffs/ 256Fast filesystem 257.It Pa mfs/ 258memory file system; 259see 260.Xr mount_mfs 8 261.It Pa ufs/ 262UFS filesystem 263.El 264.Pp 265.It Pa vm/ 266virtual memory; 267see 268.Xr vmstat 8 269.El 270.Pp 271.It Pa lib/ 272archive libraries 273.Pp 274.Bl -tag -width ".Pa compat/" -compact 275.It Pa aout/ 276a.out archive libraries 277.It Pa compat/ 278shared libraries for compatibility 279.Pp 280.Bl -tag -width ".Pa aout/" -compact 281.It Pa aout/ 282a.out backward compatibility libraries 283.El 284.It Pa engines/ 285OpenSSL dynamic engines 286.El 287.Pp 288.It Pa libdata/ 289misc. utility data files 290.It Pa libexec/ 291system daemons & system utilities (executed by other programs) 292.Pp 293.Bl -tag -width ".Pa binutils222/" -compact 294.It Pa binutils222/ 295.Pp 296.Bl -tag -width ".Pa ldscripts/" -compact 297.It Pa ldscripts/ 298linker scripts; 299see 300.Xr ld 1 301.El 302.Pp 303.It Pa binutils224/ 304.Pp 305.Bl -tag -width ".Pa ldscripts/" -compact 306.It Pa ldscripts/ 307linker scripts; 308see 309.Xr ld 1 310.El 311.Pp 312.It Pa lpr/ 313utilities and filters for LP print system; 314see 315.Xr lpr 1 316.It Pa sendmail/ 317the sendmail binary; 318see 319.Xr mailwrapper 8 320and 321.Xr sendmail 8 322.It Pa sm.bin/ 323restricted shell for sendmail; 324see 325.Xr smrsh 8 326.It Pa uucp/ 327uucp utilities; 328see 329.Xr uucp 1 330.El 331.Pp 332.It Pa local/ 333local executables, libraries, etc. 334Also used as the default destination for the 335.Dx 336.Xr dports 7 337framework. 338Within 339.Pa local/ , 340the general layout sketched out by 341.Nm 342for 343.Pa /usr 344should be used. 345Exceptions are the 346.Pa man 347directory 348.Po directly under 349.Pa local/ 350rather than under 351.Pa local/share/ Ns Pc , 352ports documentation 353.Po in 354.Pa share/doc/<port>/ Ns Pc , 355and 356.Pa /usr/local/etc 357.Po mimics 358.Pa /etc Ns Pc . 359.It Pa obj/ 360architecture-specific target tree produced by building the 361.Pa /usr/src 362tree 363.It Pa sbin/ 364system daemons & system utilities (executed by users) 365.It Pa share/ 366architecture-independent files 367.Pp 368.Bl -tag -width ".Pa groff_font/" -compact 369.It Pa calendar/ 370a variety of pre-fab calendar files; 371see 372.Xr calendar 1 373.It Pa dict/ 374word lists; 375see 376.Xr look 1 377.Pp 378.Bl -tag -width ".Pa papers/" -compact 379.It Pa web2 380words from Webster's 2nd International 381.It Pa words 382common words 383.It Pa papers/ 384reference databases; 385see 386.Xr refer 1 387.El 388.Pp 389.It Pa doc/ 390miscellaneous documentation 391.Pp 392.Bl -tag -width ".Pa legal/" -compact 393.It Pa legal/ 394License files for vendor supplied firmware 395.El 396.Pp 397.It Pa examples/ 398various examples for users and programmers 399.It Pa games/ 400ASCII text files used by various games 401.It Pa groff_font/ 402device description file for device name 403.It Pa i18n/ 404internationalization databases; see 405.Xr iconv 3 406.It Pa info/ 407GNU Info hypertext system 408.It Pa libg++/ 409libg++'s genclass prototype/template class files 410.It Pa locale/ 411localization files; 412see 413.Xr setlocale 3 414.It Pa man/ 415manual pages 416.It Pa me/ 417macros for use with the me macro package; 418see 419.Xr me 7 420.It Pa misc/ 421misc system-wide ASCII text files 422.Pp 423.Bl -tag -width ".Pa termcap" -compact 424.It Pa termcap 425terminal characteristics database; 426see 427.Xr termcap 5 428.El 429.Pp 430.It Pa mk/ 431templates for make; 432see 433.Xr make 1 434.It Pa nls/ 435national language support files; 436see 437.Xr mklocale 1 438.It Pa openssl/ 439.Pp 440.Bl -tag -width ".Pa man/" -compact 441.It Pa man/ 442OpenSSL manual pages 443.El 444.Pp 445.It Pa sendmail/ 446sendmail configuration files; 447see 448.Xr sendmail 8 449.It Pa skel/ 450example . (dot) files for new accounts 451.It Pa syscons/ 452files used by 453.Xr syscons 4 454.Pp 455.Bl -tag -width ".Pa scrnmaps/" -compact 456.It Pa fonts/ 457console fonts; 458see 459.Xr vidcontrol 1 460and 461.Xr vidfont 1 462.It Pa keymaps/ 463console keyboard maps; 464see 465.Xr kbdcontrol 1 466and 467.Xr kbdmap 1 468.It Pa scrnmaps/ 469console screen maps 470.El 471.Pp 472.It Pa tabset/ 473tab description files for a variety of terminals; used in 474the termcap file; 475see 476.Xr termcap 5 477.It Pa terminfo/ 478compiled 479.Xr terminfo 5 480database files 481.It Pa tmac/ 482text processing macros; 483see 484.Xr nroff 1 485and 486.Xr troff 1 487.It Pa vi/ 488localization support and utilities for 489.Xr vi 1 490.It Pa zoneinfo/ 491timezone configuration information; 492see 493.Xr tzfile 5 494.El 495.Pp 496.It Pa src/ 497.Bx , 498third-party, and/or local source files 499.Pp 500.Bl -tag -width ".Pa nrelease/" -compact 501.It Pa bin/ 502source code for files in 503.Pa /bin 504.It Pa contrib/ 505source code for contributed software 506.It Pa crypto/ 507source code for contributed cryptography software 508.It Pa etc/ 509source code for files in 510.Pa /etc 511.It Pa games/ 512source code for files in 513.Pa /usr/games 514.It Pa gnu/ 515Utilities covered by the GNU General Public License 516.It Pa include/ 517source code for files in 518.Pa /usr/include 519.It Pa lib/ 520source code for files in 521.Pa /usr/lib 522.It Pa libexec/ 523source code for files in 524.Pa /usr/libexec 525.It Pa nrelease/ 526files required to produce a 527.Dx 528release 529.It Pa sbin/ 530source code for files in 531.Pa /sbin 532.It Pa secure/ 533build directory for files in 534.Pa /usr/src/crypto 535.It Pa share/ 536source for files in 537.Pa /usr/share 538.It Pa sys/ 539kernel source code 540.It Pa tools/ 541tools used for maintenance and testing of 542.Dx 543.It Pa usr.bin/ 544source code for files in 545.Pa /usr/bin 546.It Pa usr.sbin/ 547source code for files in 548.Pa /usr/sbin 549.El 550.El 551.It Pa /var/ 552multi-purpose log, temporary, transient, and spool files 553.Pp 554.Bl -tag -width ".Pa preserve/" -compact 555.It Pa account/ 556system accounting files 557.Pp 558.Bl -tag -width ".Pa acct" -compact 559.It Pa acct 560execution accounting file; 561see 562.Xr acct 5 563.El 564.Pp 565.It Pa at/ 566timed command scheduling files; 567see 568.Xr \&at 1 569.Pp 570.Bl -tag -width ".Pa spool/" -compact 571.It Pa jobs/ 572directory containing job files 573.It Pa spool/ 574directory containing output spool files 575.El 576.Pp 577.It Pa backups/ 578misc. backup files 579.It Pa crash/ 580default directory to store kernel crash dumps; see 581.Xr crash 8 582and 583.Xr savecore 8 584.It Pa cron/ 585files used by cron; 586see 587.Xr cron 8 588.Pp 589.Bl -tag -width ".Pa tabs/" -compact 590.It Pa tabs/ 591crontab files; 592see 593.Xr crontab 5 594.El 595.Pp 596.It Pa db/ 597misc. automatically generated system-specific database files 598.It Pa empty/ 599empty directory used by 600.Xr sshd 8 601for privilege separation 602.It Pa games/ 603misc. game status and score files 604.It Pa hammer/ 605per PFS (pseudo file system) snapshots directory for 606.Xr hammer 5 607file systems 608.It Pa log/ 609misc. system log files 610.Pp 611.Bl -tag -width ".Pa wtmp" -compact 612.It Pa wtmp 613login/logout log; 614see 615.Xr wtmp 5 616.El 617.Pp 618.It Pa mail/ 619user mailbox files 620.It Pa msgs/ 621system messages database; 622see 623.Xr msgs 1 624.It Pa preserve/ 625temporary home of files preserved after an accidental death 626of an editor; 627see 628.Xr \&ex 1 629.It Pa quotas/ 630filesystem quota information files 631.It Pa run/ 632system information files describing various info about 633system since it was booted 634.Pp 635.Bl -tag -width ".Pa ppp/" -compact 636.It Pa ppp/ 637writable by the 638.Dq network 639group for command connection sockets; see 640.Xr ppp 8 641.It Pa utmp 642database of current users; 643see 644.Xr utmp 5 645.It Pa sem/ 646rendez-vous files for posix named semaphores; 647see 648.Xr sem_open 3 649.El 650.Pp 651.It Pa rwho/ 652rwho data files; 653see 654.Xr rwhod 8 , 655.Xr rwho 1 , 656and 657.Xr ruptime 1 658.It Pa spool/ 659misc. printer and mail system spooling directories 660.Pp 661.Bl -tag -width ".Pa clientmqueue/" -compact 662.It Pa clientmqueue/ 663undelivered submission mail queue; 664see 665.Xr sendmail 8 666.It Pa dma/ 667undelivered mail queue; 668see 669.Xr dma 8 670.It Pa ftp/ 671commonly 672.Pa ~ftp ; 673the anonymous ftp root directory 674.It Pa mqueue/ 675undelivered mail queue; 676see 677.Xr sendmail 8 678.It Pa output/ 679line printer spooling directories 680.It Pa uucp/ 681uucp spool directory 682.It Pa uucppublic/ 683commonly 684.Pa ~uucp ; 685public uucp temporary directory 686.El 687.Pp 688.It Pa tmp/ 689temporary files that are kept between system reboots 690.Pp 691.Bl -tag -width ".Pa vi.recover/" -compact 692.It Pa vi.recover/ 693the directory where recovery files are stored 694.El 695.Pp 696.It Pa yp/ 697the NIS maps 698.El 699.El 700.Sh NOTES 701This manual page documents the default 702.Dx 703filesystem layout, but 704the actual hierarchy on a given system is defined at the system 705administrator's discretion. 706A well-maintained installation will include a customized version of 707this document. 708.Sh SEE ALSO 709.Xr apropos 1 , 710.Xr find 1 , 711.Xr finger 1 , 712.Xr grep 1 , 713.Xr ls 1 , 714.Xr whatis 1 , 715.Xr whereis 1 , 716.Xr which 1 , 717.Xr fsck 8 718.Sh HISTORY 719A 720.Nm 721manual page appeared in 722.At v7 . 723