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Questions tagged [fhs]

Filesystem Hierarchy Standard

Filesystem Hierarchy Standard - Version 2.3

This standard consists of a set of requirements and guidelines for file and directory placement under UNIX-like operating systems. The guidelines are intended to support interoperability of applications, system administration tools, development tools, and scripts as well as greater uniformity of documentation for these systems.
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What is the difference between /opt and /usr/local?

According to the Filesystem Hierarchy Standard, /opt is for "the installation of add-on application software packages". /usr/local is "for use by the system administrator when installing software locally". These use cases seem pretty similar. …
Patches
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What is the difference between /tmp and /var/tmp?

On most FHS systems, there is a /tmp folder as well as a /var/tmp folder. What is the functional difference between the two?
Wesley
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What does the .d stand for in directory names?

I know many directories with .d in their name: init.d yum.repos.d conf.d Does it mean directory? If yes, from what does this disambiguate? UPDATE: I've had many interesting answers about what the .d means, but the title of my question was not well…
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Where should a local executable be placed?

I have an executable for the perforce version control client (p4). I can't place it in /opt/local because I don't have root privileges. Is there a standard location where it needs to be placed under $HOME? Does the File System Hierarchy have a…
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Where should I put software I compile myself?

I need to compile some software on my Fedora machine. Where's the best place to put it so not to interfere with the packaged software?
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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 files? /home/{joe,sarah}/movies are not appropriate…
user16538
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Difference between /bin and /usr/bin

I read this up on this website and it doesn't make sense. http://rcsg-gsir.imsb-dsgi.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/documents/basic/node32.html When UNIX was first written, /bin and /usr/bin physically resided on two different disks: /bin being on a smaller…
whoami
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What is the purpose of /usr/libexec?

Executables are stored in /usr/libexec on Unix-like systems. The FHS says (section 4.7. /usr/libexec : Binaries run by other programs (optional)": /usr/libexec includes internal binaries that are not intended to be executed directly by users or…
Melab
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What's the difference between /tmp and /run?

According to FHS-3.0, /tmp is for temporary files and /run is for run-time variable data. Data in /run must be deleted at next boot, which is not required for /tmp, but still programs must not assume that the data in /tmp will be available at the…
Dirk Herrmann
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Is the slash (/) part of the name of the Linux root directory?

Is the slash (/) really part of the name of the Linux root directory? Or is it just a symbol for it? What about /etc and so on? Update Suppose /dev/sda2 is the block device of a Linux root directory. $ sudo debugfs /dev/sda2 debugfs 1.44.1…
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Permissions/ownership of /usr/local/bin

From what I understand, the right place to put your own scripts is /usr/local/bin (for instance a script I use to back up some files). I notice that this folder is currently (by default) owned by root, and my normal user has no access to it. I am…
please delete me
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What is the /boot partition really for?

I'm reading a relatively old text on Linux partitions and file systems (the LPIC 1 Certification Bible). It says: Some versions of the Linux boot loaders cannot access a kernel that is outside the first 1024 cylinders on a disk. By putting the…
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where is `cd` located?

In a bash sub shell I get the following error when running cd sudo: cd: command not found This is expected because I don't have a path. Usually to work around this I just provide the full path like so: (/usr/local/bin/foo) Much to my surprise, cd…
spuder
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What is the "/usr/local/src" folder meant for?

I wanted to put my work files (code) in /usr/local/src, but I think it's already a folder that has some other semantic meaning. What is that? Should I put source code there, or is there a better place? Edit - I am the sole user and admin of the…
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What are the alternatives to the FHS?

I'm a long time Linux user for over 15 years but one thing I hate with a passion is the mandated directory structure. I don't like that /usr/bin is the dumping ground for binaries or libs in /usr/lib, /usr/lib32, /usr/libx32, /lib, /lib32 etc...…
Björn Lindqvist
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