HIER(7) 	   FreeBSD Miscellaneous Information Manual	       HIER(7)

NAME
     hier -- layout of file systems

DESCRIPTION
     A sketch of the file system hierarchy.

     /		root directory of the file system

     /bin/	user utilities fundamental to both single-user and multi-user
		environments

     /boot/	programs and configuration files used during operating system
		bootstrap

		defaults/  default bootstrapping configuration files; see
			   loader.conf(5)
		kernel/    pure kernel executable (the operating system loaded
			   into memory at boot time).
		modules/   third-party loadable kernel modules; see kldstat(8)

     /cdrom/	default mount point for CD-ROM drives (created by
		sysinstall(8))

     /compat/	normally a link to /usr/compat.  If not, then the /usr/compat
		comments apply (created by sysinstall(8))

     /dev/	device special files managed by devfs(5)

		fd/   file descriptor files; see fd(4)
		net/  network devices

     /dist/	mount point used by sysinstall(8)

     /etc/	system configuration files and scripts

		defaults/   default system configuration files; see rc(8)
		bluetooth/  bluetooth configuration files
		gnats/	    gnats configuration files; see send-pr(1)
		isdn/	    isdn4bsd configuration files; see isdnd(8)
		localtime   local timezone information; see ctime(3)
		mail/	    Sendmail control files
		mtree/	    mtree configuration files; see mtree(8)
		namedb/     named configuration files; see named(8)
		pam.d/	    configuration files for the Pluggable Authentica-
			    tion Modules (PAM) library
		periodic/   scripts that are run daily, weekly, and monthly,
			    via cron(8); see periodic(8)
		rc.d/	    System and daemon startup/control scripts; see
			    rc(8)
		security/   OpenBSM audit configuration files; see audit(8)
		ppp/	    ppp configuration files; see ppp(8)
		ssh/	    OpenSSH configuration files; see ssh(1)
		ssl/	    OpenSSL configuration files

     /lib/	critical system libraries needed for binaries in /bin and
		/sbin

		geom/  class-specific libraries for the geom(8) utility

     /libexec/	critical system utilities needed for binaries in /bin and
		/sbin

     /media/	contains subdirectories to be used as mount points for remov-
		able media such as CDs, USB drives, and floppy disks

     /mnt/	empty directory commonly used by system administrators as a
		temporary mount point

     /proc/	process file system; see procfs(5)

     /rescue/	statically linked programs for emergency recovery; see
		rescue(8)

     /root/	root's HOME directory

     /sbin/	system programs and administration utilities fundamental to
		both single-user and multi-user environments

     /tmp/	temporary files that are not guaranteed to persist across sys-
		tem reboots

     /usr/	contains the majority of user utilities and applications

		bin/	  common utilities, programming tools, and applica-
			  tions
		compat/   files needed to support binary compatibility with
			  other operating systems, such as Linux (created by
			  sysinstall(8))
		games/	  useful and semi-frivolous programs
		include/  standard C include files

			  altq/       C include files for alternate queueing
			  arpa/       C include files for Internet service
				      protocols
			  bsnmp/      C include files for the SNMP daemon
			  c++/	      C++ include files
			  cam/	      C include files for the Common Access
				      Methods Layer
				      scsi/	  The SCSI device on top of
						  CAM
			  dev/	      C include files for programming various
				      FreeBSD devices
				      ic/	  Various header files
						  describing driver- and bus-
						  independent hardware cir-
						  cuits
				      ofw/	  Open Firmware support
				      pbio/	  8255 PPI cards; see pbio(4)
				      ppbus/	  The parallel port bus; see
						  ppbus(4)
				      usb/	  The USB subsystem
				      utopia/	  Physical chip driver for ATM
						  interfaces; see utopia(4)
				      wi/	  The wi(4) WaveLAN driver
			  fs/
				      fdescfs/	  per-process file descriptors
						  file system
				      fifofs/	  IEEE Std 1003.1
						  (``POSIX.1'') FIFOs file
						  system
				      msdosfs/	  MS-DOS file system
				      ntfs/	  NTFS file system
				      nullfs/	  loopback file system
				      nwfs/	  NetWare file system
				      portalfs/   portal file system
				      procfs/	  process file system
				      smbfs/	  SMB/CIFS file system
				      udf/	  UDF file system
				      unionfs	  union file system
			  geom/       GEOM framework
				      concat/	  CONCAT GEOM class
				      gate/	  GATE GEOM class
				      mirror/	  MIRROR GEOM class
				      nop/	  NOP GEOM class
				      raid3/	  RAID3 GEOM class
				      stripe/	  STRIPE GEOM class

			  isc/	      ISC utility library libisc include files
			  isofs/
				      cd9660/	  iso9660 file system
			  libmilter/  C include files for libmilter, the
				      sendmail(8) mail filter API
			  machine/    machine-specific C include files
			  net/	      miscellaneous network C include files
			  netatalk/   Appletalk protocol
			  netatm/     ATM include files; see atm(8)
			  netinet/    C include files for Internet standard
				      protocols; see inet(4)
			  netinet6/   C include files for Internet protocol
				      version 6; see inet6(4)
			  netipsec/   kernel key-management service; see
				      ipsec(4)
			  netipx/     IPX/SPX protocol stacks
			  netnatm/    NATM include files; see natm(4)
				      api/	  include files for the sig-
						  nalling API
				      msg/	  include files that describe
						  signalling messages and
						  declare associated functions
				      saal/	  include files for the sig-
						  nalling AAL layer
				      sig/	  include files for the UNI
						  signalling protocol
			  netsmb/     SMB/CIFS requester
			  nfs/	      C include files for NFS (Network File
				      System)
			  objc/       Objective C include files
			  openssl/    OpenSSL (Cryptography/SSL toolkit) head-
				      ers
			  pccard/     PC-CARD controllers
			  protocols/  C include files for Berkeley service
				      protocols
			  readline/   get a line from a user, with editing;
				      see readline(3)
			  rpc/	      remote procedure calls; see rpc(3)
			  rpcsvc/     definition of RPC service structures;
				      see rpc(3)
			  security/   PAM; see pam(8)
			  sys/	      system C include files (kernel data
				      structures)
			  ufs/	      C include files for UFS (The U-word File
				      System)
				      ffs/	  Fast file system
				      ufs/	  UFS file system
			  vm/	      virtual memory; see vmstat(8)

		lib/	  shared and archive ar(1)-type libraries
			  aout/       a.out archive libraries
			  compat/     shared libraries for compatibility
				      aout/	  a.out backward compatibility
						  libraries
			  dtrace/     DTrace library scripts
			  engines/    OpenSSL (Cryptography/SSL toolkit)
				      dynamically loadable engines

		libdata/  miscellaneous utility data files
			  gcc/	      gcc(1) configuration data
			  ldscripts/  linker scripts; see ld(1)
			  lint/       various prebuilt lint libraries; see
				      lint(1)

		libexec/  system daemons & system utilities (executed by other
			  programs)
			  aout/       utilities to manipulate a.out executa-
				      bles
			  elf/	      utilities to manipulate ELF executables
			  lpr/	      utilities and filters for LP print sys-
				      tem; see lpr(1)
			  sendmail/   the sendmail(8) binary; see
				      mailwrapper(8)
			  sm.bin/     restricted shell for sendmail(8); see
				      smrsh(8)

		local/	  local executables, libraries, etc.  Also used as the
			  default destination for the FreeBSD ports framework.
			  Within local/, the general layout sketched out by
			  hier for /usr should be used.  Exceptions are the
			  man directory (directly under local/ rather than
			  under local/share/), ports documentation (in
			  share/doc/<port>/), and /usr/local/etc (mimics
			  /etc).
		obj/	  architecture-specific target tree produced by build-
			  ing the /usr/src tree
		ports/	  The FreeBSD ports collection (optional).
		sbin/	  system daemons & system utilities (executed by
			  users)
		share/	  architecture-independent files

			  calendar/  a variety of pre-fab calendar files; see
				     calendar(1)
			  dict/      word lists; see look(1)

				     freebsd	 FreeBSD-specific terms,
						 proper names, and jargon
				     words	 common words
				     web2	 words from Webster's 2nd
						 International
				     papers/	 reference databases; see
						 refer(1)

			  doc/	     miscellaneous documentation; source for
				     most of the printed BSD manuals (avail-
				     able from the USENIX association)
				     FAQ/	 Frequently Asked Questions
				     IPv6/	 implementation notes for IPv6
				     bind/	 documents pertaining to BIND
						 (the Berkeley Internet Name
						 Domain)
				     es/	 Spanish translations of docu-
						 ments in /usr/share/doc
				     handbook/	 FreeBSD Handbook
				     ja/	 Japanese translations of doc-
						 uments in /usr/share/doc
				     legal/	 License files for vendor sup-
						 plied firmwares
				     ncurses/	 HTML documents pertaining to
						 ncurses; see ncurses(3)
				     ntp/	 HTML documents pertaining to
						 the Network Time Protocol
				     papers/	 UNIX Papers
				     psd/	 UNIX Programmer's Supplemen-
						 tary Documents
				     ru/	 Russian translations of docu-
						 ments in /usr/share/doc
				     smm/	 UNIX System Manager's Manual
				     tutorials/  FreeBSD tutorials
				     usd/	 UNIX User's Supplementary
						 Documents
				     zh/	 Chinese translations of docu-
						 ments in /usr/share/doc

			  examples/  various examples for users and program-
				     mers
			  games/     ASCII text files used by various games
			  groff_font/
				     device description file for device name
			  info/      GNU Info hypertext system
			  isdn/      ISDN
			  locale/    localization files; see setlocale(3)
			  man/	     manual pages
			  me/	     macros for use with the me macro package;
				     see me(7)
			  misc/      miscellaneous system-wide ASCII text
				     files
				     fonts/	 ???
				     termcap	 terminal characteristics
						 database; see termcap(5)
			  mk/	     templates for make; see make(1)
			  nls/	     national language support files; see
				     mklocale(1)
			  security/  data files for security policies such as
				     mac_lomac(4)
			  sendmail/  sendmail(8) configuration files
			  skel/      example . (dot) files for new accounts
			  snmp/      MIBs, example files and tree definitions
				     for the SNMP daemon.
				     defs/	 Tree definition files for use
						 with gensnmptree(1)
				     mibs/	 MIB files
			  syscons/   files used by syscons; see syscons(4)
				     fonts/	console fonts; see
						vidcontrol(1) and vidfont(1)
				     keymaps/	console keyboard maps; see
						kbdcontrol(1) and kbdmap(1)
				     scrnmaps/	console screen maps
			  tabset/    tab description files for a variety of
				     terminals; used in the termcap file; see
				     termcap(5)
			  tmac/      text processing macros; see nroff(1) and
				     troff(1)
			  vi/	     localization support and utilities for
				     vi(1)
			  zoneinfo/  timezone configuration information; see
				     tzfile(5)
		src/	  BSD, third-party, and/or local source files

			  bin/	      source code for files in /bin
			  contrib/    source code for contributed software
			  crypto/     source code for contributed cryptography
				      software
			  etc/	      source code for files in /etc
			  games/      source code for files in /usr/games
			  gnu/	      Utilities covered by the GNU General
				      Public License
			  include/    source code for files in /usr/include
			  kerberos5/  build infrastructure for kerberos ver-
				      sion 5
			  lib/	      source code for files in /usr/lib
			  libexec/    source code for files in /usr/libexec
			  release/    files required to produce a FreeBSD
				      release
			  sbin/       source code for files in /sbin
			  secure/     build directory for files in
				      /usr/src/crypto
			  share/      source for files in /usr/share
			  sys/	      kernel source code
			  tools/      tools used for maintenance and testing
				      of FreeBSD
			  usr.bin/    source code for files in /usr/bin
			  usr.sbin/   source code for files in /usr/sbin

     /var/	multi-purpose log, temporary, transient, and spool files

		account/   system accounting files

			   acct        execution accounting file; see acct(5)

		at/	   timed command scheduling files; see at(1)
			   jobs/      directory containing job files
			   spool/     directory containing output spool files

		backups/   miscellaneous backup files
		crash/	   default directory to store kernel crash dumps; see
			   crash(8) and savecore(8)
		cron/	   files used by cron; see cron(8)
			   tabs/      crontab files; see crontab(5)

		db/	   miscellaneous automatically generated system-spe-
			   cific database files
		empty/	   empty directory for use by programs that need a
			   specifically empty directory.  Used for instance by
			   sshd(8) for privilege separation.
		games/	   miscellaneous game status and score files
		heimdal/   kerberos server databases; see kdc(8)
		log/	   miscellaneous system log files

			   wtmp        login/logout log; see wtmp(5)

		mail/	   user mailbox files
		msgs/	   system messages database; see msgs(1)
		preserve/  temporary home of files preserved after an acciden-
			   tal death of an editor; see ex(1)
		quotas/    file system quota information files
		run/	   system information files describing various info
			   about system since it was booted

			   named/      writable by the ``bind'' user; see
				       named(8)
			   ppp/        writable by the ``network'' group for
				       command connection sockets; see ppp(8)
			   utmp        database of current users; see utmp(5)

		rwho/	   rwho data files; see rwhod(8), rwho(1), and
			   ruptime(1)
		spool/	   miscellaneous printer and mail system spooling
			   directories

			   clientmqueue/
				       undelivered submission mail queue; see
				       sendmail(8)
			   ftp/        commonly ~ftp; the anonymous ftp root
				       directory
			   mqueue/     undelivered mail queue; see sendmail(8)
			   output/     line printer spooling directories

		tmp/	   temporary files that are kept between system
			   reboots
			   vi.recover/
				       the directory where recovery files are
				       stored
		yp/	   the NIS maps

NOTES
     This manual page documents the default FreeBSD file system layout, but
     the actual hierarchy on a given system is defined at the system adminis-
     trator's discretion.  A well-maintained installation will include a cus-
     tomized version of this document.

SEE ALSO
     apropos(1), find(1), finger(1), grep(1), ls(1), whatis(1), whereis(1),
     which(1), fd(4), devfs(5), fsck(8)

HISTORY
     A hier manual page appeared in Version 7 AT&T UNIX.