HIER(7)             NetBSD Miscellaneous Information Manual            HIER(7)

NAME
     hier -- layout of filesystems

DESCRIPTION
     An outline of the filesystem hierarchy.

     Naming is very important.  The UNIX System relies on filename conventions
     for much of its power as a system.  The following file system layout
     describes generally where things are and what they are, with references
     to other man pages for more detailed documentation.

     Not all files will be in every system.

     /          root directory of the system

     /COPYRIGHT
                system copyright notice, most often put on CD-ROM distribu-
                tions.

     /[a-z]/    user filesystems

     /altroot/  alternate root filesystem, in case of disaster

     /bin/      utilities used in both single and multi-user environments

     /boot*     second-stage boot loader(s) for some platforms; see
                installboot(8)

     /dev/      block, character and other special device files

                MAKEDEV  script for creating device files; see makedev(8)
                console  the computer's console device
                drum     system swap space; see drum(4)
                fd/      file descriptor files; see fd(4)
                klog     kernel logging device; see syslog(3)
                kmem     kernel virtual memory device; see mem(4)
                log      UNIX domain datagram log socket; see syslogd(8)
                mem      kernel physical memory device; see mem(4)
                null     the null device; see null(4)
                stderr
                stdin
                stdout   file descriptor files; see fd(4)
                tty      process' controlling terminal device; see tty(4)
                zero     the zero device; see zero(4)

     /etc/      system configuration files and scripts

                amd*           configuration files for amd(8)
                changelist     files backed up by the security script
                crontab        schedule used by the cron(8) daemon
                csh.cshrc
                csh.login
                csh.logout     system-wide scripts for csh(1)
                daily          script run each day by cron(8)
                daily.conf     configuration file for daily; see daily.conf(5)
                defaults/      default configuration files read by various
                               /etc/*.conf files
                disktab        disk description file, see disktab(5)
                dm.conf        dungeon master configuration; see dm.conf(5)
                dumpdates      dump history; see dump(8)
                exports        filesystem export information; see mountd(8)
                fstab          filesystem information; see fstab(5) and
                               mount(8)
                ftpusers       users denied ftp(1) access; see ftpd(8)
                ftpwelcome     ftp(1) initial message; see ftpd(8)
                gettytab       terminal configuration database; see
                               gettytab(5)
                group          group permissions file; see group(5)
                hosts          host name database backup for named(8); see
                               hosts(5)
                hosts.equiv    trusted machines with equivalent user ID's
                hosts.lpd      trusted machines with printing privileges
                inetd.conf     Internet server configuration file; see
                               inetd(8)
                kerberosV/     configuration files for the kerberos version V;
                               see kerberos(8)
                localtime      local timezone information; see ctime(3)
                mail/          configuration files for sendmail(8)

                               aliases*    name alias files
                               sendmail.*  sendmail(8) configuration informa-
                                           tion
                mail.rc        system-wide initialization script for mail(1)
                man.conf       configuration file for man(1); see man.conf(5)
                master.passwd  Main password file, readable only by root; see
                               passwd(5)
                mk.conf        optional file containing make(1) variables,
                               read by pkgsrc and the system sources.
                monthly        script run each month by cron(8)
                monthly.conf   configuration file for monthly; see
                               monthly.conf(5)
                motd           system message of the day
                mtree/         mtree configuration files; see mtree(8)
                named.*
                namedb/        named configuration files and databases; see
                               named(8)
                netgroup       network groups; see netgroup(5)
                netstart       network startup script
                networks       network name data base; see networks(5)
                passwd         World readable password file generated from
                               master.passwd; see passwd(5), pwd_mkdb(8)
                phones         remote host phone number data base; see
                               phones(5)
                printcap       system printer configuration; see printcap(5)
                protocols      protocol name database; see protocols(5)
                pwd.db         database form of passwd file; see pwd_mkdb(8)
                rc             master system startup script invoked by
                               init(8); see rc(8)
                rc.conf        configuration file for system startup and shut-
                               down scripts; see rc.conf(5)
                rc.d/          directory containing per-subsystem startup and
                               shutdown scripts; see rc(8)
                rc.local       locally editable system startup script
                rc.shutdown    master system shutdown script invoked by
                               shutdown(8); see rc(8)
                remote         remote host description file; see remote(5)
                security       daily (in)security script run by cron(8)
                security.conf  configuration file for security; see
                               security.conf(5)
                services       service name data base; see services(5)
                shells         list of permitted shells; see shells(5)
                sliphome/      SLIP login/logout scripts; see sliplogin(8)
                spwd.db        database form of master.passwd file; see
                               pwd_mkdb(8)
                syslog.conf    syslogd(8) configuration file; see
                               syslog.conf(5)
                termcap        terminal type database; see termcap(3)
                ttys           terminal initialization information; see
                               ttys(5)
                uucp/          UUCP configuration files; see uucp(1) and
                               uucico(8).
                weekly         script run each week by cron(8)
                weekly.conf    configuration file for weekly; see
                               weekly.conf(5)

     /home/     mount point for the automounter; see amd(8)

     /lib/      dynamic linked libraries used by dynamic linked programs (such
                as those in /bin/ and /sbin/) that cannot rely upon /usr/lib/
                being available.

     /libexec/  system utilities (such as the dynamic linker) required by pro-
                grams and libraries that cannot rely upon /usr/libexec/ being
                available.

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

     /netbsd    pure kernel executable (the operating system loaded into mem-
                ory at boot time).

     /rescue/   statically linked rescue tools, for use in system recovery

     /root/     home directory for the super-user

                .cshrc    super-user start-up file
                .login    super-user start-up file
                .profile  super-user start-up file
                .rhosts   super-user id mapping between machines

     /sbin/     system programs and administration utilities used in both sin-
                gle-user and multi-user environments

     /stand/    programs used in a standalone environment

     /tmp/      temporary files, usually a mfs(8) memory-based filesystem (the
                contents of /tmp are usually not preserved across a system
                reboot)

     /usr/      contains the majority of the system utilities and files

                X11R6/    X11 files

                          bin/      X11 binaries
                          include/  X11 include files
                          lib/      X11 libraries

                bin/      common utilities, programming tools, and applica-
                          tions
                games/    the important stuff
                include/  standard C include files

                          arpa/       include files for Internet service pro-
                                      tocols
                          atf/        include files for the Automated Testing
                                      Framework; see atf(1)
                          g++/        include files for the C++ compiler
                          machine/    machine specific include files
                          net/
                          netatalk/   C include files for AppleTalk protocols
                                      miscellaneous network include files; see
                                      atalk(4)
                          netinet/    include files for Internet standard pro-
                                      tocols; see inet(4)
                          netinet6/   include files for Internet protocol ver-
                                      sion 6; see inet6(4)
                          netiso/     include files for ISO standard proto-
                                      cols; see iso(4)
                          netkey/     include files for secret key management,
                                      used for security protocols; see
                                      ipsec(4)
                          netnatm/    C include files for native mode ATM
                          nfs/        C include files for NFS (Network File
                                      System)
                          protocols/  C include files for Berkeley service
                                      protocols
                          sys/        system C include files (kernel data
                                      structures)
                          ufs/        C include files for UFS (The U-word File
                                      System)

                lib/      archive, profiled, position independent archive, and
                          shared libraries
                libdata/  miscellaneous utility data files
                libexec/  system daemons & system utilities (executed by other
                          programs)

                          uucp/  UUCP binaries and scripts (historically
                                 placed; to be moved)

                lkm/      loadable kernel modules
                mdec/     boot blocks, etc.
                obj/      architecture-specific target tree produced by build-
                          ing the /usr/src tree; normally a symbolic link or
                          mounted filesystem
                pkg/      packages maintained by groups other than the NetBSD
                          Project.

                          bin/      contributed binaries
                          include/  contributed include files
                          lib/      contributed libraries
                          libdata/  contributed data files
                          libexec/  contributed daemons
                          sbin/     contributed system utilities

                pkgsrc/   build descriptions ("packages") for the NetBSD pack-
                          ages system.

                          distfiles/  Where unchanged source archives are
                                      fetched to/stored
                          packages/   Where compiled binary packages are
                                      stored

                          There are also several other subdirectories which
                          contain packages of a certain category, e.g.,
                          archivers, graphics, ...

                sbin/     system daemons and system utilities (normally exe-
                          cuted by the super-user)
                share/    architecture-independent text files

                          calendar/  a variety of calendar files; see
                                     calendar(1)
                          dict/      word lists; see look(1) and spell(1)

                                     words     common words
                                     web2      words of Webster's 2nd Interna-
                                               tional
                                     papers/   reference databases; see
                                               refer(1)
                                     special/  custom word lists; see spell(1)

                          doc/       miscellaneous documentation; source for
                                     most of the printed 4.3BSD manuals
                                     (available from the USENIX association)
                          games/     text files used by various games
                          i18n/      internationalization databases; see
                                     iconv(3)
                          lkm/       documentation on the loadable kernel mod-
                                     ules interface
                          locale/    locale databases and gettext message cat-
                                     alogs; see setlocale(3) and gettext(3)
                          man/       formatted manual pages
                          me/        macros for use with the me(7) macro pack-
                                     age
                          misc/      miscellaneous system-wide text files

                                     termcap  terminal characteristics data-
                                              base; see termcap(5)

                          mk/        include files for make(1)
                          ms/        macros for use with the ms(7) macro pack-
                                     age
                          nls/       message catalogs; see catgets(3)
                          skel/      sample initialization files for new user
                                     accounts
                          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)
                          zoneinfo/  timezone configuration information; see
                                     tzfile(5)
                tests/    test programs; see atf-run(1) for information on how
                          to run them

     /usr/src/  NetBSD and local source files

                bin/       source for utilities/files in /bin
                common/    sources shared between kernel and userland
                crypto/    cryptographic source, which may have import or
                           export restrictions
                dist/      third-party `virgin' source code, referenced by
                           other parts of the source tree
                distrib/   tools and data-files for making distributions
                doc/       documentation about the source tree (i.e., about
                           the tree, not about how to use the built software.)
                etc/       source (usually example files) for files in /etc
                external/  source for programs from external third parties
                           (where NetBSD is the not the primary maintainer),
                           grouped by license, and then products per license

                           bsd/  BSD (or equivalent) licensed software, possi-
                                 bly with the ``advertising clause''

                games/     source for utilities/files in /usr/games
                gnu/       source for programs covered by the GNU license (or
                           similar)
                include/   source for files in /usr/include
                lib/       source for libraries in /usr/lib
                libexec/   source for utilities/files in /usr/libexec
                regress/   various regression tests
                rescue/    source/makefiles for /rescue
                sbin/      source for utilities/files in /sbin
                share/     source for files in /usr/share

                           doc/

                                 papers/  source for various Berkeley techni-
                                          cal papers
                                 psd/     source for Programmer's Supplemen-
                                          tary Documents
                                 smm/     source for System Manager's Manual
                                 usd/     source for User's Supplementary Doc-
                                          uments

                sys/       kernel source files

                           arch/        architecture-specific support

                                        acorn26/       Acorn Archimedes, A-
                                                       series and R-series
                                                       systems
                                        acorn32/       Acorn RiscPC/A7000 and
                                                       VLSI RC7500
                                        algor/         Algorithmics Ltd. MIPS
                                                       evaluations boards
                                        alpha/         Digital/Compaq Alpha
                                        amd64/         Computers with x86_64
                                                       capable CPUs
                                        amiga/         Commodore Amiga and
                                                       MacroSystem DraCo
                                        amigappc/      PowerPC based Amiga
                                                       boards
                                        arc/           MIPS-based machines
                                                       following the Advanced
                                                       RISC Computing spec
                                        arm/           ARM processor general
                                                       support
                                        atari/         Atari TT030, Falcon and
                                                       Hades
                                        bebox/         Be Inc. BeBox
                                        cats/          Chalice Technology's
                                                       CATS and Intel's
                                                       EBSA-285 evaluation
                                                       boards
                                        cesfic/        CES FIC8234 VME proces-
                                                       sor board
                                        cobalt/        Cobalt Networks' MIPS-
                                                       based Microserver
                                        dreamcast/     Sega Dreamcast game
                                                       console
                                        evbarm/        ARM based evaluation
                                                       boards
                                        evbmips/       MIPS based evaluation
                                                       boards
                                        evbppc/        PowerPC based evalua-
                                                       tion boards and appli-
                                                       ances
                                        evbsh3/        SH3/SH4 based evalua-
                                                       tion boards
                                        ews4800mips/   NEC's MIPS based
                                                       EWS4800 workstations
                                        hp300/         Hewlett-Packard
                                                       9000/300 and 400
                                                       680x0-based worksta-
                                                       tions
                                        hp700/         Hewlett-Packard
                                                       9000/700 HPPA based
                                                       workstations
                                        hpcarm/        StrongARM based WinCE
                                                       PDA machines
                                        hpcmips/       MIPS based WinCE PDA
                                                       machines
                                        hpcsh/         Hitachi SH3/4 based
                                                       WinCE PDA machines
                                        hppa/          HPPA processor general
                                                       support
                                        i386/          80x86-based IBM PCs and
                                                       clones
                                        ibmnws/        IBM Network Station
                                                       1000
                                        iyonix/        Castle Technology's
                                                       Iyonix ARM based PCs
                                        luna68k/       Omron Tateishi Elec-
                                                       tric's 680x0-based LUNA
                                                       workstations
                                        m68k/          680x0 processor general
                                                       support
                                        mac68k/        Apple Macintosh with
                                                       68k CPU
                                        macppc/        Apple Power Macintosh
                                                       and clones
                                        mips/          MIPS processor general
                                                       support
                                        mipsco/        MIPS Computer Systems
                                                       Inc. family of worksta-
                                                       tions and servers
                                        mmeye/         Brains Inc. SH3 based
                                                       mmEye multimedia server
                                        mvme68k/       Motorola MVME
                                                       680x0-based SBCs
                                        mvmeppc/       Motorola PowerPC VME
                                                       SBCs
                                        netwinder/     StrongARM based
                                                       NetWinder machines
                                        news68k/       Sony's 680x0-based NEWS
                                                       workstations
                                        newsmips/      Sony's MIPS-based NEWS
                                                       workstations
                                        next68k/       NeXT 68k "black" hard-
                                                       ware
                                        ofppc/         Open Firmware PowerPC
                                                       workstations
                                        playstation2/  SONY PlayStation 2
                                        pmax/          Digital MIPS-based DEC-
                                                       stations and DECsystems
                                        powerpc/       PowerPC processor sup-
                                                       port
                                        prep/          PReP (PowerPC Reference
                                                       Platform) and CHRP
                                                       machines
                                        sandpoint/     Motorola Sandpoint ref-
                                                       erence platform
                                        sbmips/        Broadcom/SiByte evalua-
                                                       tion boards
                                        sgimips/       Silicon Graphics' MIPS-
                                                       based workstations
                                        sh3/           SH3/SH4 processor gen-
                                                       eral support
                                        shark/         Digital DNARD ("Shark")
                                        sparc/         Sun Microsystems SPARC
                                                       (32-bit) and UltraSPARC
                                                       (in 32-bit mode)
                                        sparc64/       Sun Microsystems Ultra-
                                                       SPARC (in native 64-bit
                                                       mode)
                                        sun2/          Sun Microsystems
                                                       68010-based Sun 2
                                                       architecture
                                        sun3/          Sun Microsystems
                                                       68020/68030-based Sun
                                                       3/3x architecture
                                        sun68k/        680x0-based Sun archi-
                                                       tecture general support
                                        vax/           Digital VAX
                                        x68k/          Sharp X680x0
                                                       680x0-based worksta-
                                                       tions
                                        x86/           General support for
                                                       PC/AT compatibles with
                                                       ia32 or x86_64 CPUs
                                        xen/           The Xen virtual machine
                                                       monitor
                                        zaurus/        Sharp C3x00 Arm based
                                                       PDA

                           compat/      kernel compatibility modules directory

                                        common/    common compatibility rou-
                                                   tines, old 4BSD and NetBSD
                                                   routines.
                                        freebsd/   support for FreeBSD bina-
                                                   ries; see compat_freebsd(8)
                                        hpux/      support for 68000 HP-UX
                                                   binaries
                                        ibcs2/     support for Intel Binary
                                                   binaries
                                        linux/     support for Linux binaries;
                                                   see compat_linux(8)
                                        m68k4k/    support for 4KB page 68000
                                                   binaries
                                        netbsd32/  support for NetBSD 32-bit
                                                   binaries on 64 bit plat-
                                                   forms with compatible CPU
                                                   families
                                        osf1/      support for Digital UNIX
                                                   (formerly OSF/1) binaries
                                        ossaudio/  support for OSS audio
                                        pecoff/    support for Win32 binaries;
                                                   see compat_pecoff(8)
                                        sunos/     support for SunOS 4.x bina-
                                                   ries; see compat_sunos(8)
                                        svr4/      support for System V
                                                   Release 4 binaries; see
                                                   compat_svr4(8)
                                        ultrix/    support for ULTRIX binaries
                                        vax1k/     support for older VAX bina-
                                                   ries that started on a 1 KB
                                                   boundary

                           conf/        architecture independent configuration
                                        directory
                           crypto/      cryptographic kernel source, which may
                                        have import or export restrictions
                           ddb/         in kernel debugger
                           dev/         architecture independent device sup-
                                        port
                           fs/          miscellaneous file systems
                                        adosfs/      AmigaDOS file-system sup-
                                                     port; see mount_ados(8)
                                        cd9660/      support for the ISO-9660
                                                     filesystem; see
                                                     mount_cd9660(8)
                                        filecorefs/  support for the Acorn
                                                     RISC OS filecore filesys-
                                                     tem; see
                                                     mount_filecore(8)
                                        msdosfs/     MS-DOS file system; see
                                                     mount_msdos(8)
                                        ntfs/        NTFS filesystem support;
                                                     see mount_ntfs(8)
                                        ptyfs/       pseudo-terminal device
                                                     filesystem; see
                                                     mount_ptyfs(8)
                                        smbfs/       SMB/CIFS filesystem sup-
                                                     port; see mount_smbfs(8)
                                        union/       union file system; see
                                                     mount_union(8)
                           gdbscripts/  support for accessing kernel struc-
                                        tures from within the debugger gdb(1).
                           ipkdb/       support for kernel debugging over the
                                        network

                           kern/        support for the high kernel (system
                                        calls)
                           lib/         kernel libraries

                                        libkern/  C library routines used in
                                                  the kernel
                                        libsa/    machine independent stand
                                                  alone kernel library
                                        libz/     compression library

                           lkm/         loadable kernel modules

                                        compat/      LKM support compatibility
                                                     modules;  currently
                                                     unsupported.
                                        netinet/     LKM support networking
                                                     modules

                                                     if_ipl/  LKM for IP-Fil-
                                                              ter

                                        vfs/         LKM support for file sys-
                                                     tems.

                           miscfs/      miscellaneous file systems

                                        deadfs/  kernel only dead file system
                                        fdesc/   file descriptor file system;
                                                 see mount_fdesc(8)
                                        fifofs/  POSIX FIFO support
                                        genfs/   kernel only generic file sys-
                                                 tem
                                        kernfs/  kernel namespace file system;
                                                 see mount_kernfs(8)
                                        nullfs/  loop back file system; see
                                                 mount_null(8)
                                        overlay/
                                                 overlay file system; see
                                                 mount_overlay(8)
                                        portal/  portal file system; see
                                                 mount_portal(8)
                                        procfs/  process file system; see
                                                 mount_procfs(8)
                                        specfs/  kernel only special file sys-
                                                 tem
                                        syncfs/  kernel trickle sync algorithm
                                        umapfs/  user and group re-mapping
                                                 file system; see
                                                 mount_umap(8)

                           net/         miscellaneous networking support
                           netatalk/    AppleTalk networking support
                           netinet/     IP networking support
                           netinet6/    IPv6 networking support
                           netiso/      ISO networking support
                           netkey/      Key database for IPsec networking sup-
                                        port
                           netnatm/     ATM networking support
                           nfs/         NFS support
                           stand/       kernel standalone support
                           sys/         kernel (and system) include files
                           ufs/         local filesystem support

                                        ffs/  the Berkeley Fast File System
                                        lfs/  the log-structured file system
                                        mfs/  the in-memory file system
                                        ufs/  shared UNIX file system support
                           uvm/         UVM virtual memory system
                tests/     source for test programs in /usr/tests
                usr.bin/   source for utilities/files in /usr/bin
                usr.sbin/  source for utilities/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)
                backups/   miscellaneous backup files, largely of files found
                           in /etc
                chroot/    home directories of applications which are run in a
                           chroot(8) ``cage''.
                crash/     system crash dumps; see savecore(8)
                cron/      scheduled commands configuration files; see cron(8)
                db/        miscellaneous automatically generated system-spe-
                           cific database files, and persistent files used in
                           the maintenance of third party software.

                           pkg          default location for metadata related
                                        to third party software packages.  See
                                        pkg_install(1) for more details of the
                                        NetBSD Packages Collection, or pkgsrc.

                games/     miscellaneous game status and log files
                heimdal/   Kerberos 5 KDC database; see kdc(8)
                log/       miscellaneous system log files

                           amd.*        amd(8) logs
                           daily.out    output of the last run of the
                                        /etc/daily script
                           ftp.*        ftp(1) logs
                           kerberos.*   kerberos(8) logs
                           lastlog      system last time logged in log; see
                                        utmp(5)
                           lpd-errs.*   printer daemon error logs; see lpd(8)
                           maillog.*    sendmail(8) log files
                           messages.*   general system information log
                           monthly.out  output of the last run of the
                                        /etc/monthly script
                           secure       sensitive security information log
                           sendmail.st  sendmail(8) statistics
                           timed.*      timed(8) logs
                           weekly.out   output of the last run of the
                                        /etc/weekly script
                           wtmp         login/logout log; see utmp(5)

                mail/      user system mailboxes
                msgs/      system messages; see msgs(1)
                preserve/  temporary home of files preserved after an acciden-
                           tal death of ex(1) or vi(1)
                quotas/    filesystem quota information
                run/       system information files, rebuilt after each reboot

                           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

                           ftp/         commonly ``~ftp'', the anonymous ftp
                                        root directory; see ftpd(8)
                           mqueue/      sendmail mail queue; see sendmail(8)
                           news/        Network news archival and spooling
                                        directories
                           output/      printer spooling directories
                           postfix/     postfix mail queue; see postfix(1)
                           uucp/        uucp spool directory
                           uucppublic/  commonly ``~uucp'', the uucp public
                                        temporary directory; see uucp(1)

                tmp/       temporary files that are not discarded between sys-
                           tem reboots

                           vi.recover/  recovery directory for new vi(1)

                yp/        Databases and configuration for the NIS (YP) sys-
                           tem; see nis(8).

SEE ALSO
     apropos(1), ls(1), whatis(1), whereis(1), which(1)

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

NetBSD 5.0_STABLE                May 22, 2008                NetBSD 5.0_STABLE
