xref: /freebsd/share/man/man7/hier.7 (revision 4e8d558c) 
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28.\"	@(#)hier.7	8.1 (Berkeley) 6/5/93
29.\" $FreeBSD$
30.\"
31.Dd June 10, 2023
32.Dt HIER 7
33.Os
34.Sh NAME
35.Nm hier
36.Nd layout of file systems
37.Sh SYNOPSIS
38An overview of the file system hierarchy.
39.Sh DESCRIPTION
40.Bl -tag -width "/libexec/"
41.It Pa /
42root directory
43.It Pa /bin/
44user utilities that are fundamental to single-user and multi-user modes
45.It Pa /boot/
46programs and configuration files used during bootstrap of the operating system
47.Pp
48.Bl -tag -width "nvmecontrol/" -compact
49.It Pa defaults/
50default bootstrap configuration files; see
51.Xr loader.conf 5
52.It Pa dtb/
53compiled flattened device tree (FDT) files; see
54.Xr fdt 4
55and
56.Xr dtc 1
57.It Pa efi/
58mount point for the EFI System Partition (ESP) on UEFI systems
59.It Pa firmware/
60loadable kernel modules containing binary firmware, for hardware to which
61firmware must be downloaded
62.It Pa kernel/
63pure kernel executable (the operating system loaded into memory at boot time)
64and kernel modules
65.It Pa modules/
66third-party loadable kernel modules, such as those associated with
67.Xr ports 7
68.It Pa overlays/
69compiled flattened device tree (FDT) overlays; see
70.Xr fdt 4
71and
72.Xr dtc 1
73.It Pa zfs/
74.Xr zfs 8
75pool cache files
76.El
77.It Pa /compat/
78normally a link to
79.Pa /usr/compat .
80If not, then the
81.Pa /usr/compat
82comments apply
83.It Pa /dev/
84the normal mount point for
85.Xr devfs 5
86.Pp
87.Bl -tag -width "nvmecontrol/" -compact
88.It Pa fd/
89file descriptor files; see
90.Xr fd 4
91.El
92.It Pa /etc/
93system configuration files and scripts
94.Pp
95.Bl -tag -width "nvmecontrol/" -compact
96.It Pa bluetooth/
97bluetooth configuration files
98.It Pa defaults/
99default system configuration files; see
100.Xr rc 8
101.It Pa localtime
102local timezone information; see
103.Xr ctime 3
104.It Pa mail/
105.Xr sendmail 8
106control files
107.It Pa mtree/
108.Xr mtree 8
109configuration files
110.It Pa pam.d/
111configuration files for the Pluggable Authentication Modules (PAM) library; see
112.Xr pam 3
113.It Pa periodic/
114scripts that are run daily, weekly, or monthly by
115.Xr cron 8 ;
116see
117.Xr periodic 8
118.It Pa ppp/
119PPP configuration files; see
120.Xr ppp 8
121.It Pa rc.d/
122system and daemon startup/control scripts; see
123.Xr rc 8
124.It Pa security/
125OpenBSM audit configuration files; see
126.Xr audit 8
127.It Pa ssh/
128OpenSSH configuration files; see
129.Xr ssh 1
130.It Pa ssl/
131OpenSSL configuration files
132.El
133.It Pa /home/
134users' home directories; whilst the layout is not standardized, the typical home for an interactive user
135.Dv beastie
136would be
137.Pa /home/beastie/
138.It Pa /lib/
139system libraries that are critical to binaries in
140.Pa /bin
141and
142.Pa /sbin
143.Pp
144.Bl -tag -width "nvmecontrol/" -compact
145.It Pa casper/
146service-specific
147.Xr libcasper 3
148Capsicum support libraries
149.It Pa geom/
150class-specific libraries for the
151.Xr geom 8
152utility
153.It Pa nvmecontrol/
154vendor-specific libraries to extend the
155.Xr nvmecontrol 8
156utility
157.El
158.It Pa /libexec/
159system utilities that are critical to binaries in
160.Pa /bin
161and
162.Pa /sbin
163.It Pa /media/
164contains subdirectories that are mount points for removable media such as
165USB drives, CDs and DVDs
166.It Pa /mnt/
167empty directory commonly used by system administrators as a temporary mount
168point
169.It Pa /net/
170automounted NFS shares; see
171.Xr auto_master 5
172.It Pa /nonexistent/
173a non-existent directory; conventionally, a home directory for special user
174accounts that do not require a home directory.  See also
175.Pa /var/empty/
176.It Pa /proc/
177process file system; see
178.Xr procfs 5
179.It Pa /rescue/
180statically-linked programs for emergency recovery; see
181.Xr rescue 8
182.It Pa /root/
183home directory of the root user
184.It Pa /sbin/
185system programs and administration utilities that are fundamental to
186single-user and multi-user modes
187.It Pa /tmp/
188temporary files that may be removed by
189.Xr rc 8 ;
190see the
191.It Va clear_tmp_enable
192variable of
193.Xr rc.conf 5
194.It Pa /usr/
195contains the majority of user utilities and applications
196.Pp
197.Bl -tag -width "freebsd-dist/" -compact
198.It Pa bin/
199common utilities, programming tools, and applications
200.It Pa compat/
201files needed to support binary compatibility with other operating systems; see
202.Xr linux 4
203.It Pa freebsd-dist/
204distribution files
205.Pq like base.txz ; see
206.Xr release 7
207and
208.Xr bsdinstall 8
209.It Pa include/
210standard C include files
211.It Pa lib/
212shared and archive
213.Xr ar 1 Ns -type
214libraries
215.Pp
216.Bl -tag -width Fl -compact
217.It Pa compat/
218shared libraries for compatibility
219.It Pa debug/
220standalone debug data for the kernel and base system libraries and binaries
221.It Pa dtrace/
222DTrace library scripts
223.It Pa engines/
224OpenSSL (Cryptography/SSL toolkit) dynamically loadable engines
225.El
226.Pp
227.It Pa libdata/
228miscellaneous utility data files
229.Pp
230.Bl -tag -width Fl -compact
231.It Pa gcc/
232GCC configuration data
233.It Pa ldscripts/
234linker scripts; see
235.Xr ld 1
236.It Pa pkgconfig/
237.Xr pc 5 Pq Pa ports/devel/pkgconf
238files; collections of compiler flags, linker flags, and other information
239relevant to library use
240.El
241.Pp
242.It Pa libexec/
243system daemons and system utilities that are executed by other programs
244.Pp
245.Bl -tag -width Fl -compact
246.It Pa aout/
247utilities to manipulate a.out executables
248.It Pa elf/
249utilities to manipulate ELF executables
250.It Pa lpr/
251utilities and filters for LP print system; see
252.Xr lpr 1
253.It Pa sendmail/
254the
255.Xr sendmail 8
256binary; see
257.Xr mailwrapper 8
258.It Pa sm.bin/
259restricted shell for
260.Xr sendmail 8 ;
261see
262.Xr smrsh 8
263.El
264.Pp
265.It Pa local/
266local executables, libraries, etc.
267Also used as the default destination for the
268.Xr ports 7
269framework.
270Within
271.Pa local/ ,
272the general layout sketched out by
273.Nm
274for
275.Pa /usr
276should be used.
277Exceptions are the ports documentation
278.Po in
279.Pa share/doc/<port>/ Ns Pc ,
280and
281.Pa /usr/local/etc
282.Po mimics
283.Pa /etc Ns Pc .
284.It Pa obj/
285architecture-specific target tree produced by building
286.Fx
287from source; see
288.Xr build 7
289.It Pa ports/
290.Fx
291ports collection; see
292.Xr ports 7
293.It Pa sbin/
294system daemons and system utilities that are executed by users
295.It Pa share/
296architecture-independent files
297.Pp
298.Bl -tag -width Fl -compact
299.It Pa calendar/
300system-wide calendar files; see
301.Xr calendar 1
302.It Pa dict/
303word lists; see
304.Xr look 1
305.Pp
306.Bl -tag -width Fl -compact
307.It Pa freebsd
308.Fx Ns -specific
309terms, proper names, and jargon
310.It Pa web2
311words from Webster's Second International
312.El
313.Pp
314.It Pa doc/
315miscellaneous documentation
316.It Pa examples/
317various examples for users and programmers
318.It Pa firmware/
319firmware images loaded by userland programs
320.It Pa games/
321used by various games
322.It Pa keys/
323known trusted and revoked keys
324.Pp
325.Bl -tag -width Fl -compact
326.It Pa pkg/
327fingerprints for
328.Xr pkg 7
329and
330.Xr pkg 8
331.El
332.Pp
333.It Pa locale/
334localization files; see
335.Xr setlocale 3
336.It Pa man/
337manual pages
338.It Pa misc/
339miscellaneous system-wide files
340.Pp
341.Bl -tag -width Fl -compact
342.It Pa termcap
343terminal characteristics database; see
344.Xr termcap 5
345.El
346.Pp
347.It Pa mk/
348templates for make; see
349.Xr make 1
350.It Pa nls/
351national language support files
352.It Pa security/
353data files for security policies such as
354.Xr mac_lomac 4
355.It Pa sendmail/
356.Xr sendmail 8
357configuration files
358.It Pa skel/
359example
360.Pa .\&
361(dot) files for new accounts
362.It Pa snmp/
363MIBs, example files and tree definitions for the SNMP daemon
364.Pp
365.Bl -tag -width Fl -compact
366.It Pa defs/
367tree definition files for use with
368.Xr gensnmptree 1
369.It Pa mibs/
370MIB files
371.El
372.Pp
373.It Pa syscons/
374.Xr syscons 4
375files
376.Pp
377.Bl -tag -width Fl -compact
378.It Pa fonts/
379console fonts; see
380.Xr vidcontrol 1
381and
382.Xr vidfont 1
383.It Pa keymaps/
384console keyboard maps; see
385.Xr kbdcontrol 1
386and
387.Xr kbdmap 1
388.It Pa scrnmaps/
389console screen maps
390.El
391.Pp
392.It Pa sysroot/
393files necessary for the -sysroot compiler/linker argument to build non-native
394binaries
395.Pp
396.Bl -tag -width Fl -compact
397.It Pa VERSION/
398files for
399.Fx
400release VERSION.
401By convention,
402.Dq VERSION
403matches
404.Xr uname 1
405.Fl r .
406.Pp
407.Bl -tag -width Fl -compact
408.It Pa MACHINE.MACHINE_ARCH/
409represent the binary ABI for these files.
410.Dq MACHINE
411matches
412.Xr uname 1
413.Fl m .
414.Dq MACHINE_ARCH
415matches
416.Xr uname 1
417.Fl p .
418.El
419.El
420.Pp
421.It Pa tabset/
422tab description files for a variety of terminals; used in the termcap file;
423see
424.Xr termcap 5
425.It Pa vi/
426localization support and utilities for
427.Xr vi 1
428.It Pa vt/
429.Xr vt 4
430files
431.Pp
432.Bl -tag -width Fl -compact
433.It Pa fonts/
434console fonts; see
435.Xr vidcontrol 1
436and
437.Xr vidfont 1
438.It Pa keymaps/
439console keyboard maps; see
440.Xr kbdcontrol 1
441and
442.Xr kbdmap 1
443.\" .It Pa scrnmaps/
444.\" console screen maps
445.El
446.Pp
447.It Pa zoneinfo/
448timezone configuration information; see
449.Xr tzfile 5
450.El
451.Pp
452.It Pa src/
453.Fx
454source code; see
455.Xr development 7 .
456The layout of the source tree is described by the top-level
457.Pa README.md
458file.
459.Pp
460.It Pa tests/
461the
462.Fx
463test suite; see
464.Xr tests 7
465.El
466.It Pa /var/
467log, temporary, transient, and spool files
468.Pp
469.Bl -tag -width "preserve/" -compact
470.It Pa account/
471system accounting files
472.Pp
473.Bl -tag -width Fl -compact
474.It Pa acct
475execution accounting file; see
476.Xr acct 5
477.El
478.Pp
479.It Pa at/
480timed command scheduling files; see
481.Xr at 1
482.Pp
483.Bl -tag -width Fl -compact
484.It Pa jobs/
485job files
486.It Pa spool/
487output spool files
488.El
489.Pp
490.It Pa backups/
491miscellaneous backup files
492.It Pa cache/
493miscellaneous cache files
494.Pp
495.Bl -tag -width Fl -compact
496.It Pa pkg/
497cached packages for
498.Xr pkg 8
499.El
500.Pp
501.It Pa crash/
502default directory for kernel crash dumps; see
503.Xr crash 8
504and
505.Xr savecore 8
506.It Pa cron/
507.Xr cron 8
508files
509.Pp
510.Bl -tag -width Fl -compact
511.It Pa tabs/
512.Xr crontab 5
513files
514.El
515.Pp
516.It Pa db/
517miscellaneous automatically-generated system-specific database files
518.Pp
519.Bl -tag -width "freebsd-update/" -compact
520.It Pa freebsd-update/
521temporary files and downloads for
522.Xr freebsd-update 8
523.El
524.Pp
525.It Pa empty/
526for use by programs that require an empty directory.
527Uses include privilege separation by
528.Xr sshd 8
529.It Pa games/
530miscellaneous game status and score files
531.It Pa heimdal/
532Kerberos server databases; see
533.Xr kdc 8
534.It Pa log/
535miscellaneous system log files
536.Pp
537.Bl -tag -width "utx.lastlogin" -compact
538.It Pa utx.lastlogin
539last login log; see
540.Xr getutxent 3
541.It Pa utx.log
542login/logout log; see
543.Xr getutxent 3
544.El
545.Pp
546.It Pa mail/
547user mailbox files
548.It Pa msgs/
549system messages database; see
550.Xr msgs 1
551.It Pa preserve/
552unused, present for historical reasons
553.It Pa quotas/
554file system quota information files
555.It Pa run/
556files containing information about the operating system since it was booted
557.Pp
558.Bl -tag -width Fl -compact
559.It Pa bhyve/
560.Xr bhyve 8
561virtual machine
562.Xr unix 4 Ns -domain sockets
563.It Pa ppp/
564writable by the
565.Dq network
566group for command connection sockets; see
567.Xr ppp 8
568.It Pa utx.active
569database of current users; see
570.Xr getutxent 3
571.El
572.Pp
573.It Pa rwho/
574rwho data files; see
575.Xr rwhod 8 ,
576.Xr rwho 1 ,
577and
578.Xr ruptime 1
579.It Pa spool/
580miscellaneous printer and mail system spooling directories
581.Pp
582.Bl -tag -width "clientmqueue/" -compact
583.It Pa clientmqueue/
584undelivered submission mail queue; see
585.Xr sendmail 8
586.It Pa ftp/
587ftp root directory; see
588.Xr ftpd 8
589.It Pa mqueue/
590undelivered mail queue; see
591.Xr sendmail 8
592.It Pa output/
593line printer spooling directories
594.El
595.Pp
596.It Pa tmp/
597temporary files that are not removed by
598.Xr rc 8
599.Pp
600.Bl -tag -width "vi.recover/" -compact
601.It Pa vi.recover/
602.Xr vi 1
603recovery files
604.El
605.Pp
606.It Pa yp/
607the NIS maps; see
608.Xr yp 8
609.El
610.El
611.Sh NOTES
612This manual page documents the default
613.Fx
614file system layout.
615The actual hierarchy on a given system is defined at the system
616administrator's discretion.
617A well-maintained installation will include a customized version of
618this document.
619.Sh SEE ALSO
620.Xr apropos 1 ,
621.Xr find 1 ,
622.Xr grep 1 ,
623.Xr ls 1 ,
624.Xr whereis 1 ,
625.Xr which 1
626.Sh HISTORY
627A
628.Nm
629manual page appeared in
630.At v7 .
631