This standard consists of a set of requirements and guidelines for file and directory
placement under UNIX-like operating systems.
The table below is only a quick reference guide to the standard, please refer to the
Filesystem Hierarchy Standard
website for a full explanation.
| /bin | Essential command binaries |
| /boot | Static files of the boot loader |
| /dev | Device files |
| /etc | Host-specific system configuration |
| /etc/X11 | Configuration for the X Windows System |
| /etc/opt | Configuration for /opt |
| /home | User home directories |
| /lib | Essential shared libraries and kernal modules |
| /lib/modules | Loadable kernal modules |
| /mnt | Mount point for mounting a filesystem temporarily |
| /opt | Add-on application sortware packages |
| /root | Home direcotory for the root user |
| /sbin | Essential system binaries |
| /tmp | Temporary files |
| /usr | Secondary hierarchy |
| /usr/X11R6 | X Windows System, version 11 release 6 |
| /usr/bin | Most user commands |
| /usr/games | Games and educational binaries |
| /usr/include | Header files included by C programs |
| /usr/include/X11 | Symlink to /usr/X11R6.include/X11 |
| /usr/include/bsd | BSD compatibility include files (if required) |
| /usr/include/g++ | GNU C++ include files |
| /usr/lib | Libraries |
| /usr/local | Local hierarchy (empty after main installation) |
| /usr/local/bin | Local binaries |
| /usr/local/games | Local game binaries |
| /usr/local/include | Local C header files |
| /usr/local/lib | Local libraries |
| /usr/local/sbin | Local system binaries |
| /usr/local/share | Local architecture-independant hierarchy |
| /usr/local/src | Local source code |
| /usr/sbin | Non-vital system binaries |
| /usr/share | Architecture-independant data |
| /usr/share/dict | Word lists |
| /usr/share/doc | Miscellaneous documentation |
| /usr/share/games | Static data files for /usr/games |
| /usr/share/info | GNU Info system's primary directory |
| /usr/share/locale | Locale information |
| /usr/share/man | Online manuals |
| /usr/share/man/man1 | User programs |
| /usr/share/man/man2 | System calls |
| /usr/share/man/man3 | Library calls |
| /usr/share/man/man4 | Special files |
| /usr/share/man/man5 | File formats |
| /usr/share/man/man6 | Games |
| /usr/share/man/man7 | Miscellaneous |
| /usr/share/man/man8 | System administration |
| /usr/share/nls | Native language support |
| /usr/share/misc | Miscellaneous architecture-independant data |
| /usr/share/terminfo | Directories for terminfo database |
| /usr/share/tmac | troff macros not distributed with groff |
| /usr/share/zoneinfo | Timezone information and configuration |
| /usr/src | Source code |
| /var | Variable data |
| /var/account | Process accounting logs (if supported) |
| /var/cache | Application cache data |
| /var/cache/fonts | Locally-generated fonts |
| /var/cache/man | Locally-formatted manual pages |
| /var/cache/www | WWW proxy or cache data |
| /var/crash | System crash dumps (if supported) |
| /var/games | Variable game data |
| /var/lib | Variable state information |
| /var/lib/misc | Miscellaneous state data |
| /var/lib/xdm | X display manager variable data |
| /var/lock | Lock files |
| /var/log | Log files and directories |
| /var/mail | User mailbox files |
| /var/opt | Variable data for /opt |
| /var/run | Data relevant to running processes |
| /var/spool | Application spool data |
| /var/spool/lpd | Printer spool directory |
| /var/spool/mqueue | Outgoing mail queue |
| /var/spool/news | News spool directory |
| /var/spool/rwho | Rwhod files |
| /var/spool/uucp | Spool directory for UUCP |
| /var/tmp | Temporary files preserved between system reboots |
| /var/yp | Network Information Service (NIS) database files |
