The Filesystem Hierarchy Standard is a reference describing the conventions used for the layout of a UNIX system.
/ | The root directory under which the whole «FHS tree» is located. | |
/bin | This directory contains executable programs which are needed in single user mode and to bring the system up or repair it. | |
/boot | Contains static files for the boot loader (only files which are needed during the boot process). The map installer and configuration files should go to /sbin and /etc. The operating system kernel (for example initrd) must be located in either / or /boot. | |
/dev | Special or device files, usually referring to physical devices. | |
/run | /run and its subdirectories expose userspace sockets and files. See mknod (1). | |
/etc | Configuration files which are local to the machine (some site-wite configuration files may also be placed in/usr/etc). Some larger software packages, like X11, can have their own subdirectories below /etc, for example /etc/X11. | |
/etc/opt | Host-specific configuration files for add-on applications installed in /opt. | |
/home | «Home» directories for users. The entire path for a user whose name is username is located under /home/username and can be referred to in a shell with the tilde ~ or ~rene. | |
/lib | This directory should hold those shared libraries that are necessary to boot the system and to run the commands in the root filesystem. | |
/lib<qual> | These directories are variants of /lib on system which support more than one binary format requiring separate libraries. | |
/lib/modules | Loadable kernel modules. | |
/lost+found | lost items in the filesystem. These items are usually chunks of files mangled as a consequence of a faulty disk or a system crash. | |
/media | mount points for removable media such as CD and DVD disks or USB sticks. On systems where more than one device exists for mounting a certain type of media, mount directories can be created by appending a digit to the name of those available above starting with '0', but the unqualified name must also exist. | |
/mnt | holds mount points for temporarily mounted filesystems. In some distributions, /mnt contains subdirectories intended to be used as mount points for several temporary filesystems. | |
/opt | add-on packages that contain static files. | |
/proc | Mount point for the proc filesystem, which provides information about running processes and the kernel which exposes kernel settings, processes and other kernel information to userspace. (Compare with /sys) | |
/root | is usually the home directory for the root user. | |
/sbin | Like /bin, this directory holds commands needed to boot the system, but which are usually not executed by normal users. | |
/srv | contains site-specific data that is served by this system. Sub directories might be /srv/http or /srv/ftp. | |
/sys | mount point for the sysfs filesystem which exposes kernel devices, drivers and other kernel information to userspace (Compare /proc) | |
/tmp | contains temporary files which may be deleted without notice, usually at system boot up, but also by a regular job. Compare with /var/tmp. | |
/usr | should only contain sharable, read-only data, so that it can be mounted by various Linux installations. Thus, it is usually mounted from a separate partition. | |
/usr/bin | is the primary directory for executable programs which are not necessary for booting or repairing a system and run by »normal« users. | |
/usr/games | Binaries for games and educational programs. | |
/usr/include | Include files for the C compiler. | |
/usr/lib | Object libraries, including dynamic libraries, plus some executables which usually are not invoked directly. More complicated programs may have whole subdirectories there. | |
/usr/local | This is where programs which are local to the site typically go. | |
/usr/local/bin | Binaries for programs local to the site. (Apparently empty under arch linux). | |
/usr/sbin | Program binaries for system administration which are not essential for the boot process, for mounting /usr, or for system repair. | |
/usr/share | Subdirectories with specific application data, that can be shared among different architectures of the same OS. | |
/usr/share/dict | word lists used by spell checkers (for example /usr/share/dict/words is a list of english words). | |
/usr/share/zoneinfo | Files for timezone information (optional). | |
/var | Files which may change in size, such as spool and log files. | |
/var/cache | Data cached for programs. | |
/var/crash | System crash dumps. | |
/var/lib | Variable state information for programs. | |
/var/lock | contains lock files. | |
/var/log | log files. | |
/var/run | Run-time variable files, like files holding process identifiers (PIDs) and logged user information (utmp). | |
/var/tmp | Temporary files. Compare /tmp. | |
/usr/include/X11 | Include files for the C compiler and the X-Window system. | |
/usr/include/asm | Include files which declare some assembler functions. | |
/usr/include/linux | Information which may change from system release to system release. | |
Mount points
findmnt can be used to display the hierarchy of mounted filesystems, for example:
$ findmnt -oTARGET,SOURCE,FSTYPE
TARGET SOURCE FSTYPE
/ /dev/md2 ext4
├─/sys sysfs sysfs
│ ├─/sys/kernel/security securityfs securityfs
│ ├─/sys/fs/cgroup cgroup2 cgroup2
│ ├─/sys/fs/pstore pstore pstore
│ ├─/sys/firmware/efi/efivars efivarfs efivarfs
│ ├─/sys/fs/bpf bpf bpf
│ ├─/sys/kernel/debug debugfs debugfs
│ │ └─/sys/kernel/debug/tracing tracefs tracefs
│ ├─/sys/kernel/tracing tracefs tracefs
│ ├─/sys/kernel/config configfs configfs
│ ├─/sys/fs/fuse/connections fusectl fusectl
│ └─/sys/kernel/config configfs configfs
├─/proc proc proc
│ └─/proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc systemd-1 autofs
│ └─/proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc binfmt_misc binfmt_misc
├─/dev udev devtmpfs
│ ├─/dev/pts devpts devpts
│ ├─/dev/shm tmpfs tmpfs
│ ├─/dev/mqueue mqueue mqueue
│ └─/dev/hugepages hugetlbfs hugetlbfs
├─/run tmpfs tmpfs
│ ├─/run/lock tmpfs tmpfs
│ ├─/run/credentials/systemd-sysctl.service ramfs ramfs
│ ├─/run/credentials/systemd-sysusers.service ramfs ramfs
│ ├─/run/credentials/systemd-tmpfiles-setup-dev.service ramfs ramfs
│ ├─/run/credentials/systemd-tmpfiles-setup.service ramfs ramfs
│ └─/run/user/1000 tmpfs tmpfs
└─/boot /dev/md0 ext4
└─/boot/efi /dev/sdd1 vfat