Important Directories and Files Flashcards
(23 cards)
/dev
It is for holding device files
/etc
Pronounced EHT-see, it is a directory to hold core system configuration files like user password, device and graphic drivers and networking setup files
/home
It contains the personal directories for the system’s normal, non-root users
/lib
A directory for containing shared STATIC libraries used by executables
/proc
A directory that provides system statistics and information on running processes and kernel parameters through a directory and file interface
/sys
Directory that contains a virtual file system that exports kernel parameters and information on various subsystems and hardware devices currently installed.
/sbin
A directory for holding SYSTEM executables for system management and usually don’t work unless running as root
i.e. It is the system only version of /bin
/tmp
Directory for holding temporary files.
It is often wiped clean in between reboots by many distros so not recommended to put anything we care for.
It SHARES SPACE WITH CRITICAL DIRS LIKE / SO BE CAREFUL WITH SPACE MANAGEMENT
/usr
Pronounced “user”; it is a directory for holding the bulk of Linux system files and shares the same directory structure hierarchy as / (like /usr/bin and /usr/lib)
The reason for these nested files to not be in the directories for / are mostly for historic reasons where space on / was usually low
/var
A directory for storing runtime information such as system logging, user tracking and caches.
/var/tmp exists but it does NOT get wiped on boot
/boot
Directory for holding files needed for the initial stage of the Linux boot process
/media
An attachment point for removable devices such as USB flash drives and external hard drives
/opt
Directory for storing third party software.
Not used by most Linux distros anymore
/usr/include
Directory that holds header files used by the C compiler
/usr/info
Directory that contains GNU info manuals
/usr/local
A directory for installing administrator executables and files and has the same directory structure hierarchy as / and /usr
/usr/man
Directory for storing man pages
/usr/share
Directory used for sharing files with other UNIX machines that can work without any loss of functionality.
Used originally for sharing important files between networked machines when hard drive space was rare.
/vmlinuz or /boot/vmlinuz
The file that contains the entire Linux kernel that is loaded on boot.
/lib/modules
Directory for storing loadable kernel modules
/bin
Contains executables like “ls” or “cp” including most of the basic UNIX commands
/etc/passwd
A file for configuring user passwords
/etc/sudoers
A file for granting permissions and root access to users as well as setting up group aliases
