Linux basics - Linux file system structure overview
Linux file system structure overview is an introduction to file system directory hierarchy in Linux system. A Linux beginner might get confuse between Linux file system structure and Linux filesystem type. Maybe you still remember during Linux hard disk partition process, we have to choose Linux filesystem type which includes ext2, ext3, reiserfs, etc. That's Linux filesystem type. What we are going to learn in this tutorial is Linux file system structure, a Linux directory structure that has been derived from Unix.
In Windows operating system, we have C:\ drive, and there are many directories under C:\, such as Documents and Settings, Program Files, etc. In Linux, we can think of / (root directory) as C drive in Windows. All file system directory or mount points in Linux are under / directory.
It maybe strange looking at Linux file system structure at first. There are many directories full of child directories and files. Some directories such as bin, sbin and lib can be found in several other directories too.
Calm down. Actually, Linux file system is not so complicated as you might think. I already mentioned about root directory (/) which contains all other directories in Linux system. Now let's see it for ourselves.
Please open Linux command line terminal. Change to / directory by typing 'cd /'. Type 'ls' to view the content.
This is a Slackware Linux file system structure:
luzar@slackware:~$ cd / luzar@slackware:/$ ls bin/ dev/ home/ lost+found/ mnt/ proc/ sbin/ sys/ usr/ boot/ etc/ lib/ media/ opt/ root/ srv/ tmp/ var/ luzar@slackware:/$ |
This is Ubuntu Linux file system directory:
luzar@ubuntu:/$ cd / luzar@ubuntu:/$ ls bin cdrom etc initrd lib media opt root srv tmp var boot dev home initrd.img lost+found mnt proc sbin sys usr vmlinuz luzar@ubuntu:/$ |
You can see 18 directories under / in Slackware Linux and we have 19 directories and three links under / in Ubuntu. We won't be looking at each directory details at the moment. For now let's just look at the directory structure. In Linux, we use ls command to lists or views directory content. To view long listing of the content, type 'ls -l' and Enter.
Example of Slackware Linux file system directory viewed using ls command long listing option:
luzar@slackware:/$ ls -l
total 72
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 2007-04-30 12:35 bin/
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 2008-09-06 08:40 boot/
drwxr-xr-x 17 root root 14220 2008-11-01 16:55 dev/
drwxr-xr-x 65 root root 4096 2008-11-01 16:54 etc/
drwxr-xr-x 4 root root 4096 2008-11-01 16:54 home/
drwxr-xr-x 5 root root 4096 2008-03-12 11:47 lib/
drwx------ 2 root root 16384 2008-09-06 08:19 lost+found/
drwxr-xr-x 16 root root 4096 2008-11-01 16:53 media/
drwxr-xr-x 11 root root 4096 2008-09-20 23:03 mnt/
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 2007-06-10 14:23 opt/
dr-xr-xr-x 107 root root 0 2008-11-02 00:52 proc/
drwxr-xr-x 11 root root 4096 2008-10-18 09:30 root/
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 2008-11-01 16:53 sbin/
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 2008-09-06 08:29 srv/
drwxr-xr-x 12 root root 0 2008-11-02 00:52 sys/
drwxrwxrwt 21 root root 4096 2008-11-01 16:56 tmp/
drwxr-xr-x 17 root root 4096 2006-11-09 04:10 usr/
drwxr-xr-x 17 root root 4096 2006-11-09 04:10 var/
luzar@slackware:/$
|
We can see details such as permissions, owner and date. Don't worry about any of these now. We are going to learn all of them later.
Example of Ubuntu Linux directory structure:
luzar@ubuntu:/$ ls -l
total 84
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 2008-11-20 03:41 bin
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4096 2008-11-06 02:47 boot
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 11 2008-10-20 10:44 cdrom -> media/cdrom
drwxr-xr-x 12 root root 13880 2008-12-03 21:46 dev
drwxr-xr-x 81 root root 4096 2008-12-03 22:15 etc
drwxr-xr-x 6 root root 4096 2008-10-24 00:07 home
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 2008-10-20 10:45 initrd
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 32 2008-10-20 10:46 initrd.img -> boot/initrd.img-2.6.24-19-server
drwxr-xr-x 13 root root 12288 2008-11-20 03:41 lib
drwx------ 2 root root 16384 2008-10-20 10:44 lost+found
drwxr-xr-x 4 root root 4096 2008-10-20 10:44 media
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4096 2008-11-03 03:01 mnt
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 2008-10-20 10:45 opt
dr-xr-xr-x 86 root root 0 2008-12-03 21:45 proc
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4096 2008-10-20 06:05 root
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 2008-11-20 03:41 sbin
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 2008-10-20 10:45 srv
drwxr-xr-x 12 root root 0 2008-12-03 21:45 sys
drwxrwxrwt 3 root root 4096 2008-12-03 21:46 tmp
drwxr-xr-x 10 root root 4096 2008-10-20 10:45 usr
drwxr-xr-x 14 root root 4096 2008-10-20 10:55 var
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 29 2008-10-20 10:46 vmlinuz -> boot/vmlinuz-2.6.24-19-server
luzar@ubuntu:/$
|
If we want to draw a directory tree or Linux directory structure of the Linux file system hierarchy, it looks like this:
Some file system and directories structure in one Linux distribution maybe different from other Linux distributions as you can see from Slackware and Ubuntu example above. Right now you don't have to remember all of those directories and what they do. Just remember a few important directories first such as:
- / - root of all directories in Linux file system structure.
- /home - Keeps Linux user account's home directory.
- /etc - keeps Linux server's configuration files and directories.
- /usr - keeps Linux system files.
- /var - keeps system log files.
- /bin - keeps binary files for user applications.
- /sbin - keeps static binary files for system programs.
The / (root) directory is the most important directory in Linux file system structure. As you can see from the example above, / is the root of all directories in Linux system. The / is the parent of Linux file system structure.
The /home directory keeps all Linux user account's home directory. Some Linux distributions keep FTP server home directory by default in /home directory. Make sure you provide big enough hard disk for /home directory. It's a good idea to set quota for each user account in /home directory.
The /etc directory keeps all servers and application system's configuration files. This directory perhaps the most visited directory if you are working in Linux command line terminal.
We've already seen the / directory structure in Linux file system. Next, we are going to view the /home directory. Below is the example of Slackware Linux /home directory:
jinlusuh@slackware:~$ ls /home/
ftp/ jinlusuh/ lost+found/
jinlusuh@slackware:~$
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The example above shows an ftp directory, a normal user's home directory (jinlusuh) and a lost+found directory when we listing the /home directory. The Slackware server above is a Squid proxy server. If you view the /home directory of an Email Server, the directory will be full with users' home directories. Basically, that's all /home directory in Linux means.
Perhaps the most important directory in Linux is the /etc directory. Let's see what we have in /etc directory. Here is an example of Linux directory structure of Ubuntu /etc directory:
luzar@ubuntu:~$ cd /etc luzar@ubuntu:/etc$ ls -d */ alternatives/ depmod.d/ modprobe.d/ rc6.d/ apache2/ dhcp3/ Muttrc.d/ rcS.d/ apm/ dictionaries-common/ mysql/ resolvconf/ apparmor/ dovecot/ network/ samba/ apparmor.d/ dpkg/ openoffice/ sane.d/ apt/ emacs/ opt/ security/ bash_completion.d/ event.d/ pam.d/ skel/ belocs/ fonts/ pcmcia/ snort/ bind/ foomatic/ perl/ ssh/ calendar/ groff/ php5/ ssl/ chatscripts/ grub.d/ postfix/ subversion/ console-setup/ hp/ ppp/ terminfo/ console-tools/ init.d/ prelude/ udev/ cron.d/ initramfs-tools/ profile.d/ ufw/ cron.daily/ iproute2/ python/ update-manager/ cron.hourly/ john/ python2.5/ vim/ cron.monthly/ ldap/ rc0.d/ w3m/ cron.weekly/ ld.so.conf.d/ rc1.d/ whereami/ cups/ libpaper.d/ rc2.d/ wpa_supplicant/ dbus-1/ logcheck/ rc3.d/ X11/ default/ logrotate.d/ rc4.d/ defoma/ lsb-base/ rc5.d/ luzar@ubuntu:/etc$ |
As mentioned before, the /etc directory holds configuration files of servers, applications, programming languages, network tools and many more. We can see from the example above, apache2, dhcp3, and samba are directory of the servers and calendar and emacs are applications directory.
When listing directory content in Linux system, other than directories, there are normal files, executable files and symbolic links. How to differentiate each of them?The subject in blue color is a directory. It always mark with a '/' as in the example above. Sometimes you'll find a subject in green, light blue and white color. The green subject (mark with *) is an executable file. The light blue subject (mark with @) is a symbolic link and the white subject is a file.
Type 'cd /etc/rc.d' and Enter. Type 'ls' to view the content.
luzar@slackware:/usr$ cd /etc/rc.d/ luzar@slackware:/etc/rc.d$ ls init.d/ rc.bluetooth rc.inet2* rc.pcmcia rc.wireless* rc.0@ rc.bluetooth.conf rc.inetd* rc.rpc rc.wireless.conf rc.4* rc.cups rc.ip_forward rc.samba rc.yp* rc.6* rc.dnsmasq rc.local* rc.saslauthd rc0.d/ rc.K* rc.font.new* rc.messagebus* rc.sendmail rc1.d/ rc.M* rc.fuse* rc.modules@ rc.serial rc2.d/ rc.S* rc.gpm* rc.modules-2.6.24.5* rc.snmpd rc3.d/ rc.acpid* rc.hald* rc.modules-2.6.24.5-smp* rc.sshd* rc4.d/ rc.alsa* rc.httpd rc.mysqld rc.syslog* rc5.d/ rc.atalk rc.inet1* rc.nfsd rc.sysvinit* rc6.d/ rc.bind rc.inet1.conf rc.ntpd rc.udev* luzar@slackware:/etc/rc.d$ |
Here is the screenshot:
These are example of files (white), symbolic link (light blue@) and executable files (green*). For your information, those files above are 'daemons'. You'll play with them a lot soon. So remember the location. Type 'pwd' to check your current working directory and change your directory back to '/' by issue the command 'cd /'.
luzar@slackware:/etc/rc.d$ pwd /etc/rc.d luzar@slackware:/etc/rc.d$ cd / luzar@slackware:/$ ls bin/ dev/ home/ lost+found/ mnt/ proc/ sbin/ sys/ usr/ boot/ etc/ lib/ media/ opt/ root/ srv/ tmp/ var/ luzar@slackware:/$ |
Now we are back to the / directory. Let's view other directories to see what actually is the Linux directory structure. Now, change directory to /usr directory. View the content with 'ls -l'.
luzar@slackware:/$ cd /usr luzar@slackware:/usr$ ls -l total 348 lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 5 2008-09-06 08:32 X11 -> X11R6/ drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 2008-09-06 08:32 X11R6/ drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 2008-09-06 08:21 X11R6.bak/ lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 8 2008-09-06 08:21 adm -> /var/adm/ drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 81920 2008-11-01 16:53 bin/ drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 1993-11-26 11:40 dict/ drwxr-xr-x 570 root root 20480 2008-05-01 08:10 doc/ drwxr-xr-x 4 root root 4096 2007-06-24 14:57 i486-slackware-linux/ drwxr-xr-x 249 root root 49152 2008-09-20 23:03 include/ drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 12288 2007-02-22 05:58 info/ drwxr-xr-x 103 root root 135168 2008-11-01 16:53 lib/ drwxr-xr-x 15 root root 4096 2008-01-10 01:39 libexec/ drwxr-xr-x 11 root root 4096 1994-03-16 09:50 local/ drwxr-xr-x 45 root root 4096 2006-11-09 04:10 man/ drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 12288 2008-11-01 16:53 sbin/ drwxr-xr-x 158 root root 4096 2008-04-14 13:28 share/ lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 2008-09-06 08:21 spool -> /var/spool/ drwxr-xr-x 4 root root 4096 2008-09-06 08:25 src/ lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 8 2008-09-06 08:21 tmp -> /var/tmp/ luzar@slackware:/usr$ |
In Slackware, this is the place where the Linux installation files are stored. You can type 'cd ..' to return to upper directory.
That's all for now.
How i can hide a file in
How i can hide a file in linux via commands
Name the file begin with a
Name the file begin with a dot (.).
Example:
mv file-to-hide .file-to-hide
where i can find
where i can find extra/httpd-vhost.conf ??
look in your /etc folder or
look in your /etc folder or use the command whereis httpd-vhost.conf
try using the comand whereis
try using the comand whereis httpd-vhost.conf or look in your /etc folder
You can find /extra/
You can find /extra/ directory in Slackware Linux installer dvd. Maybe the file you are looking for is in there. Have you try google?
The information provided
The information provided above is very useful for the linux beginner.I feel very interesting while reading the above article.If possible will you send me more details of above article?
Thanka & Regards,
shreekant c. tembhekar