.\" Copyright (c) 1990, 1993 .\" The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved. .\" .\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without .\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions .\" are met: .\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright .\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer. .\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright .\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the .\" documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution. .\" 3. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors .\" may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software .\" without specific prior written permission. .\" .\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND .\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE .\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE .\" ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE .\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL .\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS .\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) .\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT .\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY .\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF .\" SUCH DAMAGE. .\" .\" @(#)hier.7 8.1 (Berkeley) 6/5/93 .\" $FreeBSD: src/share/man/man7/hier.7,v 1.29.2.17 2003/01/13 21:43:50 ceri Exp $ .\" .Dd March 9, 2019 .Dt HIER 7 .Os .Sh NAME .Nm hier .Nd layout of filesystems .Sh DESCRIPTION A sketch of the filesystem hierarchy. .Bl -tag -width ".Pa /modules/" .It Pa / root directory of the filesystem .It Pa /bin/ user utilities fundamental to both single-user and multi-user environments .It Pa /boot/ programs and configuration files used during operating system bootstrap .Pp .Bl -tag -width ".Pa modules.local/" -compact .It Pa defaults/ default bootstrapping configuration files; see .Xr loader.conf 5 .It Pa kernel/ pure kernel executable (the operating system loaded into memory at boot time) and loadable kernel modules; see .Xr kldstat 8 .It Pa modules.local/ local loadable kernel modules and wrapped external firmware images; see .Xr firmware 9 .El .It Pa /compat/ files related to compatibility layers .Pp .Bl -tag -width ".Pa ndis/" -compact .It Pa ndis/ firmware for .Xr ndis 4 drivers .El .It Pa /dev/ block and character device files .Pp .Bl -tag -width ".Pa fd/" -compact .It Pa fd/ file descriptor files; see .Xr \&fd 4 .El .It Pa /etc/ system configuration files and scripts .Pp .Bl -tag -width ".Pa bluetooth/" -compact .It Pa autofs/ shell scripts to implement special maps and directory services via .Xr autofs 5 .It Pa bluetooth/ bluetooth configuration files .It Pa defaults/ default system configuration files; see .Xr rc 8 .It Pa devd/ hardware specific .Xr devd 8 configuration files .It Pa dma/ .Xr dma 8 configuration files .It Pa localtime local timezone information; see .Xr ctime 3 .It Pa mail/ Sendmail control files .It Pa mtree/ mtree configuration files; see .Xr mtree 8 .It Pa pam.d/ configuration files for the Pluggable Authentication Modules (PAM) library .It Pa periodic/ scripts that are run daily, weekly, and monthly, via .Xr cron 8 ; see .Xr periodic 8 .It Pa ppp/ ppp configuration files; see .Xr ppp 8 .It Pa rc.d/ System and daemon startup/control scripts; see .Xr rc 8 .It Pa ssh/ OpenSSH configuration files; see .Xr ssh 1 .It Pa ssl/ LibreSSL configuration files .It Pa upgrade/ Files relevant to system upgrades .El .It Pa /home/ HOME directories of non-root users .It Pa /lib/ critical system libraries needed for binaries in .Pa /bin and .Pa /sbin .It Pa /libexec/ critical system utilities needed for binaries in .Pa /bin and .Pa /sbin .It Pa /mnt/ empty directory commonly used by system administrators as a temporary mount point .It Pa /net/ automounted NFS shares; see .Xr auto_master 5 .It Pa /pfs/ pseudo file system directory (on .Xr hammer 5 root file systems) .It Pa /proc/ process file system; see .Xr procfs 5 , .Xr mount_procfs 8 .It Pa /rescue/ statically linked rescue tools, see .Xr initrd 7 .It Pa /root/ root's HOME directory .It Pa /sbin/ system programs and administration utilities fundamental to both single-user and multi-user environments .It Pa /sys/ the kernel's source code (usually a symbolic link to .Pa /usr/src/sys ) .It Pa /tmp/ temporary files that are not guaranteed to persist across system reboots .It Pa /usr/ contains the majority of user utilities and applications .Pp .Bl -tag -width ".Pa libdata/" -compact .It Pa bin/ common utilities, programming tools, and applications .It Pa dports/ The .Dx .Xr dports 7 collection (optional). .It Pa games/ useful and semi-frivolous programs .It Pa include/ standard C include files .Pp .Bl -tag -width ".Pa protocols/" -compact .It Pa arpa/ C include files for Internet service protocols .It Pa c++/ C++ include files .It Pa cam/ C include files for the Common Access Methods Layer .Pp .Bl -tag -width ".Pa scsi/" -compact .It Pa scsi/ The SCSI device on top of CAM .El .Pp .It Pa compat/ C include files for compatibility with code ported from other operating systems .It Pa dev/ C include files for programming various .Dx devices .It Pa fs/ .Pp .Bl -tag -width ".Pa autofs/" -compact .It Pa autofs/ automounter filesystem .It Pa smbfs/ SMB/CIFS filesystem .El .Pp .It Pa isofs/ .Pp .Bl -tag -width ".Pa cd9660/" -compact .It Pa cd9660/ iso9660 filesystem .El .Pp .It Pa libprop/ C include files for libprop .It Pa machine/ machine-specific C include files .It Pa msdosfs/ MS-DOS file system .It Pa net/ misc network C include files .It Pa netinet/ C include files for Internet standard protocols; see .Xr inet 4 .It Pa netinet6/ C include files for Internet protocol version 6; see .Xr inet6 4 .It Pa netsmb/ SMB/CIFS requester .It Pa nfs/ C include files for NFS (Network File System) .It Pa pcap/ Packet Capture (libpcap) headers; see .Xr pcap 3 .It Pa pccard/ PC-CARD controllers .It Pa protocols/ C include files for Berkeley service protocols .It Pa readline/ get a line from a user, with editing; see .Xr readline 3 .It Pa rpc/ remote procedure calls; see .Xr rpc 3 .It Pa rpcsvc/ definition of RPC service structures; see .Xr rpc 3 .It Pa security/ PAM; see .Xr pam 3 .It Pa sys/ system C include files (kernel data structures) .It Pa ufs/ C include files for UFS (The U-word File System) .Pp .Bl -tag -width ".Pa ffs/" -compact .It Pa ffs/ Fast filesystem .It Pa mfs/ memory file system; see .Xr mount_mfs 8 .It Pa ufs/ UFS filesystem .El .Pp .It Pa vm/ virtual memory; see .Xr vmstat 8 .El .Pp .It Pa lib/ archive libraries .It Pa libdata/ misc. utility data files .It Pa libexec/ system daemons & system utilities (executed by other programs) .Pp .Bl -tag -width ".Pa binutils225/" -compact .It Pa binutils225/ .Pp .Bl -tag -width ".Pa bfd-plugins/" -compact .It Pa bfd-plugins/ linker plugins .It Pa ldscripts/ linker scripts; see .Xr ld 1 .El .Pp .It Pa binutils227/ .Pp .Bl -tag -width ".Pa bfd-plugins/" -compact .It Pa bfd-plugins/ linker plugins .It Pa ldscripts/ linker scripts; see .Xr ld 1 .El .Pp .It Pa lpr/ utilities and filters for LP print system; see .Xr lpr 1 .El .Pp .It Pa local/ local executables, libraries, etc. Also used as the default destination for the .Dx .Xr dports 7 framework. Within .Pa local/ , the general layout sketched out by .Nm for .Pa /usr should be used. Exceptions are the .Pa man directory .Po directly under .Pa local/ rather than under .Pa local/share/ Ns Pc , ports documentation .Po in .Pa share/doc// Ns Pc , and .Pa /usr/local/etc .Po mimics .Pa /etc Ns Pc . .It Pa obj/ architecture-specific target tree produced by building the .Pa /usr/src tree .It Pa sbin/ system daemons & system utilities (executed by users) .It Pa share/ architecture-independent files .Pp .Bl -tag -width ".Pa installer/" -compact .It Pa calendar/ a variety of pre-fab calendar files; see .Xr calendar 1 .It Pa dict/ word lists; see .Xr look 1 .Pp .Bl -tag -width ".Pa papers/" -compact .It Pa web2 words from Webster's 2nd International .It Pa words common words .It Pa papers/ reference databases; see .Xr refer 1 .El .Pp .It Pa doc/ miscellaneous documentation .Pp .Bl -tag -width ".Pa legal/" -compact .It Pa legal/ License files for vendor supplied firmware .El .Pp .It Pa examples/ various examples for users and programmers .It Pa games/ ASCII text files used by various games .It Pa i18n/ internationalization databases; see .Xr iconv 3 .It Pa info/ GNU Info hypertext system .It Pa libg++/ libg++'s genclass prototype/template class files .It Pa locale/ localization files; see .Xr setlocale 3 .It Pa man/ manual pages .It Pa misc/ misc system-wide ASCII text files .Pp .Bl -tag -width ".Pa termcap" -compact .It Pa termcap terminal characteristics database; see .Xr termcap 5 .El .Pp .It Pa mk/ templates for make; see .Xr make 1 .It Pa nls/ national language support files; see .Xr nls 7 .It Pa sendmail/ sendmail configuration files; see .Xr sendmail 8 .It Pa skel/ example . (dot) files for new accounts .It Pa syscons/ files used by .Xr syscons 4 .Pp .Bl -tag -width ".Pa scrnmaps/" -compact .It Pa fonts/ console fonts; see .Xr vidcontrol 1 and .Xr vidfont 1 .It Pa keymaps/ console keyboard maps; see .Xr kbdcontrol 1 and .Xr kbdmap 1 .It Pa scrnmaps/ console screen maps .El .Pp .It Pa tabset/ tab description files for a variety of terminals; used in the termcap file; see .Xr termcap 5 .It Pa terminfo/ compiled .Xr terminfo 5 database files .It Pa vi/ localization support and utilities for .Xr vi 1 .It Pa zoneinfo/ timezone configuration information; see .Xr tzfile 5 .El .Pp .It Pa src/ .Bx , third-party, and/or local source files .Pp .Bl -tag -width ".Pa nrelease/" -compact .It Pa bin/ source code for files in .Pa /bin .It Pa contrib/ source code for contributed software .It Pa crypto/ source code for contributed cryptography software .It Pa etc/ source code for files in .Pa /etc .It Pa games/ source code for files in .Pa /usr/games .It Pa gnu/ Utilities covered by the GNU General Public License .It Pa include/ source code for files in .Pa /usr/include .It Pa lib/ source code for files in .Pa /usr/lib .It Pa libexec/ source code for files in .Pa /usr/libexec .It Pa nrelease/ files required to produce a .Dx release .It Pa sbin/ source code for files in .Pa /sbin .It Pa share/ source for files in .Pa /usr/share .It Pa sys/ kernel source code .It Pa tools/ tools used for maintenance and testing of .Dx .It Pa usr.bin/ source code for files in .Pa /usr/bin .It Pa usr.sbin/ source code for files in .Pa /usr/sbin .El .El .It Pa /var/ multi-purpose log, temporary, transient, and spool files .Pp .Bl -tag -width ".Pa preserve/" -compact .It Pa account/ system accounting files .Pp .Bl -tag -width ".Pa acct" -compact .It Pa acct execution accounting file; see .Xr acct 5 .El .Pp .It Pa at/ timed command scheduling files; see .Xr \&at 1 .Pp .Bl -tag -width ".Pa spool/" -compact .It Pa jobs/ directory containing job files .It Pa spool/ directory containing output spool files .El .Pp .It Pa backups/ misc. backup files .It Pa crash/ default directory to store kernel crash dumps; see .Xr crash 8 and .Xr savecore 8 .It Pa cron/ files used by cron; see .Xr cron 8 .Pp .Bl -tag -width ".Pa tabs/" -compact .It Pa tabs/ crontab files; see .Xr crontab 5 .El .Pp .It Pa db/ misc. automatically generated system-specific database files .It Pa empty/ empty directory used by .Xr sshd 8 for privilege separation .It Pa games/ misc. game status and score files .It Pa hammer/ per PFS (pseudo file system) snapshots directory for .Xr hammer 5 file systems .It Pa log/ misc. system log files .Pp .Bl -tag -width ".Pa wtmp" -compact .It Pa wtmp login/logout log; see .Xr wtmp 5 .El .Pp .It Pa mail/ user mailbox files .It Pa msgs/ system messages database; see .Xr msgs 1 .It Pa preserve/ temporary home of files preserved after an accidental death of an editor; see .Xr \&ex 1 .It Pa quotas/ filesystem quota information files .It Pa run/ system information files describing various info about system since it was booted .Pp .Bl -tag -width ".Pa resolvconf/" -compact .It Pa dhcpcd/ for storing files by .Xr dhcpcd 8 hooks .It Pa ppp/ writable by the .Dq network group for command connection sockets; see .Xr ppp 8 .It Pa resolvconf/ state directory for .Xr resolvconf 8 .It Pa utmp database of current users; see .Xr utmp 5 .It Pa sem/ rendez-vous files for posix named semaphores; see .Xr sem_open 3 .El .Pp .It Pa rwho/ rwho data files; see .Xr rwhod 8 , .Xr rwho 1 , and .Xr ruptime 1 .It Pa spool/ misc. printer and mail system spooling directories .Pp .Bl -tag -width ".Pa clientmqueue/" -compact .It Pa clientmqueue/ undelivered submission mail queue; see .Xr sendmail 8 .It Pa dma/ undelivered mail queue; see .Xr dma 8 .It Pa ftp/ commonly .Pa ~ftp ; the anonymous ftp root directory .It Pa mqueue/ undelivered mail queue; see .Xr sendmail 8 .It Pa output/ line printer spooling directories .El .Pp .It Pa tmp/ temporary files that are kept between system reboots .Pp .Bl -tag -width ".Pa vi.recover/" -compact .It Pa vi.recover/ the directory where recovery files are stored .El .Pp .It Pa yp/ the NIS maps .El .El .Sh NOTES This manual page documents the default .Dx filesystem layout, but the actual hierarchy on a given system is defined at the system administrator's discretion. A well-maintained installation will include a customized version of this document. .Sh SEE ALSO .Xr apropos 1 , .Xr find 1 , .Xr finger 1 , .Xr grep 1 , .Xr ls 1 , .Xr whatis 1 , .Xr whereis 1 , .Xr which 1 , .Xr fsck 8 .Sh HISTORY A .Nm manual page appeared in .At v7 .