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Unix tradition

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  • 26-09-2008 1:15am
    #1
    Cantab.
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,444 ✭✭✭


    What do 'bin', 'etc', 'var', 'lib', 'proc', 'sbin', 'dev', etc. mean?

    Where should I install programs?


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    #2
    ethernet
    Registered Users Posts: 3,568 ✭✭✭ethernet


    Let the package manager worry about that! Even if you do install from source, you rarely need to alter the defaults.

    I'll *try* and explain! :D

    • bin is the place for some binaries that all users can use
    • etc is home to many configuration files
    • var is home to printer spooling, log files and other stuff
    • lib is where most libraries live
    • proc provides system info to other parts of the system
    • sbin is where programs only the root user/a user with sudo access can execute
    • dev contains devices (/dev/sda1 is the first SATA drive, for example)

    Needless to say, there are a lot better explanations than this online.


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    #3
    An Fear Aniar
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,377 ✭✭✭An Fear Aniar


    Nice simple explanation here (which I should read myself):

    http://www.freeos.com/articles/3102/

    Some pretty pictures of it here:

    Google Image


    .


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    #4
    Cantab.
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,444 ✭✭✭Cantab.


    An Fear Aniar wrote: »
    Nice simple explanation here (which I should read myself):

    http://www.freeos.com/articles/3102/

    Some pretty pictures of it here:

    Google Image


    .

    Thanks for that.

    I found it very hard to search for this kind of stuff on google.

    If you type "var bin etc proc..." into google, you just get a load of pages with unix addresses...


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    #5
    smeg_for_brains
    Closed Accounts Posts: 25 ✭smeg_for_brains


    You may also want to check out:
    http://tldp.org/LDP/intro-linux/html/sect_03_01.html

    which is a page from an online guide. When you are finished with this page, go to the bottom and click on "home" to go to the contents page of this Linux Guide


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    #6
    KAGY
    Registered Users Posts: 1,091 ✭✭✭KAGY


    You forgot to mention /usr; it took me ages to find out that it is an acronym for unix system resources not "user". This is the place a lot of programs install to.
    If you are just setting up your system google for info on what partitions to make. One of the best advice I got was to keep your home folder in a different partition. That way you can do a clean update by formatting the rest of the file system.
    If you are going to use a database like postgresql you might want to but /var on it's own partition too.


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    #7
    karlr42
    Closed Accounts Posts: 580 ✭✭✭karlr42


    KAGY wrote: »
    You forgot to mention /usr; it took me ages to find out that it is an acronym for unix system resources not "user".
    Had no idea of that, thank you.


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    #8
    An Fear Aniar
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,377 ✭✭✭An Fear Aniar


    KAGY wrote: »
    You forgot to mention /usr; it took me ages to find out that it is an acronym for unix system resources not "user". This is the place a lot of programs install to.

    Was not aware of that either.

    I also found out just recently, if you play a Youtube video, it stores a copy in /tmp until you close down your browser. It's a handy way to grab downloads, just copy them out of /tmp.


    .


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    #9
    Cantab.
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,444 ✭✭✭Cantab.


    Came across this great article on delicious:

    http://tuxradar.com/content/take-linux-filesystem-tour/


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    #10
    Orion
    Closed Accounts Posts: 12,807 ✭✭✭✭Orion


    An Fear Aniar wrote: »
    I also found out just recently, if you play a Youtube video, it stores a copy in /tmp until you close down your browser. It's a handy way to grab downloads, just copy them out of /tmp.
    .

    That's a handy one alright. I've used it too.

    and +1 to KAGY's suggestion - put /home on its own partition. When I first built a linux system I didn't - next time I did. Now I can change my distro/reinstall from scratch without losing any data.


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