LINUX DIRECTORY

STRUCTURE

Hardware Requirements
Type of Installation

Disk Used

Personal Desktop ------------------------2.3 GB

Workstation --------------------------------3.0 GB
Server ----------------------------------------1.1 GB
Custom Installation -----------------------620 MB
Custom Installation, Everything ------6.9 GB

Memory:
Min. for text-mode ---------------64 MB
Min. for graphical ----------------256 MB

Properties of Linux
Linux Pros:

Linux is free
Linux can be downloaded in its entirety
from the Internet completely for free. No
registration fees, no costs per user, free
updates, and freely available source code
in case you want to change the behavior
of your system.

Properties of Linux
Linux Pros:

Linux is portable to any hardware

platform
A vendor who wants to sell a new type of
computer and who doesn't know what kind of
OS his new machine will run can take a Linux
kernel and make it work on his hardware,
because documentation related to this activity
is freely available.

Properties of Linux
Linux Pros:

Linux was made to keep on running

As with UNIX, a Linux system expects
to run without rebooting all the time.

Properties of Linux
Linux Pros:

Linux is secure and versatile

The security model used in Linux is
known to be robust and of proven
quality.

Properties of Linux
Linux Pros:

The Linux OS and most Linux applications have

very short debug-times
Because Linux has been developed and tested by
thousands of people, both errors and people to fix
them are usually found rather quickly.
It sometimes happens that there are only a couple
of hours between discovery and fixing of a bug.

Properties of Linux
Linux Pros:

Linux is scalable
From a Palmtop with 2 MB of memory to a
terabyte storage cluster with hundreds of
nodes: add or remove the appropriate
packages and Linux fits all. You don't need a
supercomputer anymore, because you can
use Linux to do big things using the building
blocks provided with the system.

In the Linux operating system, all filesystems

are contained within one directory hierarchy.

The root directory is the top level directory,

and all its subdirectories make up the
directory hierarchy.

This differs to other operating systems such

as MS-Windows which applies a separate
hierarchy for each device and partition.

Linux Directory Structure

The Linux Filesystem Hierarchy

Listed below are the directories contained
within the root filesystem.

/
The Linux filesystem has the root
directory at the top of the directory
tree.

Subdirectories of the root directory

/root
This is the home directory for the
super user (root).
This directory is not viewable from user
accounts.
The /root directory usually contains
system administration files.

Subdirectories of the root directory

/bin
Common programs, shared by the
system, the system administrator and
the users.
Programs within /bin are required for
system repairing.
Contains executable programs such as ls
and cp.

Subdirectories of the root directory

Some of the files located in the /bin directory
include:

Shell programs (bash, sh)

File manipulation programs (tar, echo,
vi, grep)
Process handling programs (kill, ps)

Subdirectories of the root directory

/boot
Stored in this directory are files that are required
for the Linux boot process.
Such files include vmlinuz, the Linux kernel file.
/dev
Contains device files required for interfacing with
hardware.
Devices in UNIX are either block or character
devices.
Examples of character devices are your keyboard,
mouse and serial port. Block devices can include the
floppy drive, CD-ROM drive and hard disk.

Subdirectories of the root directory

/sbin
Programs for use by the system and the
system administrator(root user)

Contains system maintenance programs,

examples of which are:
* ifconfig (interface configuration, use this
command to add or remove a network
interface)
* mkfs (make a filesystem on a partition)

Subdirectories of the root directory

/etc
Contains configuration files which are
local to the machine.
Programs store configuration files in this
directory and these files are referenced
when programs are run.
This directory contains data similar to
those in the Control Panel in Windows

Subdirectories of the root directory

/home
Contains user account directories.
Each user created by the system administrator will
have a subdirectory under /home with the name of
the account.
E.g. User account for Maria is created, her home
directory will be located in /home/maria. All her
personal files will reside in this directory.

/lib
Library files, includes files for all kinds of programs
needed by the system and the users.

Subdirectories of the root directory

/lost+found
When the filesystem cannot properly identify
files, the respective files are placed in this
directory.
If data appears to have been lost mysteriously, it
is a good idea to check in this directory.

/opt
Used for storing random data that has no
other logical destination.
Typically contains extra and third party software.

Subdirectories of the root directory

/proc
Provides information about running
processes and the kernel.
A directory is provided for each running
process.
The following commands will give you this
information:
$ cat /proc/cpuinfo - Display CPU information
of system
$ cat /proc/meminfo - Display RAM information
as well as swap space capacity and usage.

Subdirectories of the root directory

/usr
Used to store applications.
Programs, libraries, documentation etc. for all
user-related programs.
Some directories located within /usr include:
* /usr/doc - Documentation relating to the
installed software programs.
* /usr/bin - Executable programs that are not
required for booting or repairing the system.
* /usr/local/src - Source code for locally
installed applications.

Subdirectories of the root directory

/var
This directory contains files of variable
file storage.
Files in /var are dynamic and are
constantly being written to or changed.

Some directories located within /var include:

* /var/spool - files in the print queue
* /var/log - files containing logging
information
* /var/run - files containing the process ID's
for each current process.

Linux Directory Structure

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