A Filesystem's Guide

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== UNIX filesystems organisation background ==
  
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The main ideas to organize the files in the standard Unix filesystem are:
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* group files according to their life cycle.
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* visibility (convenience and access control).
 +
* historical constraints.
 +
 +
Therefore:
 +
* User data that should survive at all costs go to /home
 +
* Configuration files are precious and must be easy to reach, they go in /etc
 +
* Things that should not survive reboot go to /tmp
 +
* Things that physically come and go appear in /mnt (old style) or /media (new style)
 +
* Files that tend to grow too much unsupervised go to /var, so that they can only fill the partition containing this directory.
 +
* Pseudo files used to communicate with the kernel go to /proc (old style) or /sys (new style). Pseudo files used to communicate with other hardware devices go to /dev.
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* /boot can be used to keep the kernel file in a place the hardware can access easily
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* The remaining directories contain binaries. /lib is for shared libraries. The basic low-level UNIX toolbox is in /bin, the tools needed only by the administrator are in /sbin. Everything else go to /usr.
  
 
== The Om 2008.8 filesystem ==
 
== The Om 2008.8 filesystem ==
Line 24: Line 40:
 
The first difference to the standard Linux filesystem is the lack of /root directory. This directory is located under '''/home/root/'''.
 
The first difference to the standard Linux filesystem is the lack of /root directory. This directory is located under '''/home/root/'''.
  
−
Under '''/home/root/.evolution/''' one can find the config and data files for contacts, calender, memos and tasks created on the FreeRunner. This doesn't seem to be correct. See the discussion on [[Talk:A Filesystem's Guide|the talk page]].
+
The config and data files for contacts, calendar, memos and tasks are located under the ~/Applications and ~/Documents folders, cf. the [[Backup]] article.
  
 
The file '''/home/root/.ash_history''' is a history of commands for the standard shell (ash). If you use bash, it will create the file '''/home/root/.bash_history'''.
 
The file '''/home/root/.ash_history''' is a history of commands for the standard shell (ash). If you use bash, it will create the file '''/home/root/.bash_history'''.

Latest revision as of 10:04, 9 October 2008

Need improvement: This article or section needs improving. Feel free to add content.
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Contents

[edit] UNIX filesystems organisation background

The main ideas to organize the files in the standard Unix filesystem are:

  • group files according to their life cycle.
  • visibility (convenience and access control).
  • historical constraints.

Therefore:

  • User data that should survive at all costs go to /home
  • Configuration files are precious and must be easy to reach, they go in /etc
  • Things that should not survive reboot go to /tmp
  • Things that physically come and go appear in /mnt (old style) or /media (new style)
  • Files that tend to grow too much unsupervised go to /var, so that they can only fill the partition containing this directory.
  • Pseudo files used to communicate with the kernel go to /proc (old style) or /sys (new style). Pseudo files used to communicate with other hardware devices go to /dev.
  • /boot can be used to keep the kernel file in a place the hardware can access easily
  • The remaining directories contain binaries. /lib is for shared libraries. The basic low-level UNIX toolbox is in /bin, the tools needed only by the administrator are in /sbin. Everything else go to /usr.

[edit] The Om 2008.8 filesystem

The root filesystem consists the following directories:

  • bin
  • dev
  • home
  • media
  • proc
  • sys
  • usr
  • boot
  • etc
  • lib
  • mnt
  • sbin
  • tmp
  • var


The first difference to the standard Linux filesystem is the lack of /root directory. This directory is located under /home/root/.

The config and data files for contacts, calendar, memos and tasks are located under the ~/Applications and ~/Documents folders, cf. the Backup article.

The file /home/root/.ash_history is a history of commands for the standard shell (ash). If you use bash, it will create the file /home/root/.bash_history.

The inserted micro SD card is mounted under /media/card.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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Need improvement: This article or section needs improving. Feel free to add content.


The Om 2008.8 filesystem

The root filesystem consists the following directories:

  • bin
  • dev
  • home
  • media
  • proc
  • sys
  • usr
  • boot
  • etc
  • lib
  • mnt
  • sbin
  • tmp
  • var


The first difference to the standard Linux filesystem is the lack of /root directory. This directory is located under /home/root/.

Under /home/root/.evolution/ one can find the config and data files for contacts, calender, memos and tasks created on the FreeRunner. This doesn't seem to be correct. See the discussion on the talk page.

The file /home/root/.ash_history is a history of commands for the standard shell (ash). If you use bash, it will create the file /home/root/.bash_history.

The inserted micro SD card is mounted under /media/card.

See also

External links