Linux Solutions

Welcome to the tutorial guide. The tutorial will provide guidance and instructions on file system organisation which will include the function of major filesystem/directory on the system and also how they are organised.

A user will be aware that the Annvix filesystem is largely similar to other UNIX-based and Linux systems. This topic describes the function of each major filesystem or directory on the system and how they are organized.
/
The root directory (/) is the top-level directory of any Linux filesystem. Everything falls below root. Don’t confused the root directory with the root user’s directory. The root user has his own home directory, much like regular user accounts, in /root.
Think of / as the tree, and each directory and sub-directory below it are branches and leaves. / is the trunk of the tree, the single most important directory below which everything else lives.
/bin
The /bin directory is where essential binary files (programs) live. The /bin directory should be on the same partition as the / filesystem because most of the tools in /bin are required to boot the system and will be needed before other filesystems may be mounted during boot. The /bin directory is largely static and should never change except when packages are upgraded. This directory should not be shared to other systems (via samba, NFS, etc.).
/boot
The /boot directory is where kernels, ramdisks (initrd files), and grub’s configuration file lives. This directory can be on the / root filesystem, but it is recommended to make this directory it’s own partition (typically the first partition on the first hard drive installed on the system).
/dev
The /dev directory is a special directory that should not be changed by hand. This directory contains system device files that allow you to interact with physical hardware via a filename. Files that it contains include /dev/hda (access to the master IDE drive on the primary IDE controller), /dev/null, and so forth.
/etc
The /etc directory contains configuration files related to the system and the applications installed. More often than not, to configure something about a particular application of service, the configuration file(s) will be found here. This directory must also be on the / root filesystem.
/home
The /home directory is typically where all user accounts will have their home directory, such as /home/shafkat. It is recommended to make /home it’s own partition.
/lib
The /lib directory is where shared libraries are installed that are often-used and/or used by programs in /bin. This directory should be on the / root filesystem. It also contains the kernel modules; such as /lib/modules/2.4.32-5205avx.
/media
The /media directory is used as a top-level mount point for removable media. A user should mount a USB disk here as, say, /media/usbdisk, or a CD-ROM as /media/cdrom, a floppy disk as /media/floppy, and so forth. A user should note that by default, Annvix will place entries in /etc/fstab to mount the CD-ROM and/or floppy devices here.
/root
The root user’s home directory.
/sbin
The /sbin directory contains administration files for the system and must be a part of the / root filesystem. These are files that typically are executed only by root and not regular users.
/srv
The Annvix operating system imposes almost nothing on users, including the location of where to place web files or files served by FTP. A user will know that web data would be stored in /srv/www (rather than /var/www, FTP data would be stored in /srv/ftp (rather than /var/ftp, and mail storage would be stored in /srv/mail. This can further be broken down by domain to keep things clean, consistent, and logical. An example is provided below which shows that on a system serving up “any.org” a user will have:
• /srv/www/any.org/html
• /srv/ftp/any.org
• /srv/mail/any.org/shafkat
Please note that the first directory is the webroot for the any.org website and the second directory is the root directory of FTP files served by any.org, and the last directory for storing the virtual mail for shafkat@any.org.
/tmp
Temporary files for any user are stored in /tmp. This directory is special in that, while it is writable by any user, no user can overwrite or delete another user’s files.
/usr
The /usr directory is a top-level directory for many other directories with different functions.
/usr/bin
The /usr/bin directory contains the bulk of the system’s binary files. This directory contains the files that are not essential to the startup of the system, or are administrative in nature, belong here. The major exception is binaries installed as part of a ports package or that you compile on your own.
/usr/lib
This directory contains library files, but these are library files not required by applications involved in bringing the system up to a useable state.
/usr/sbin
The /usr/sbin directory contains system administration binaries that are not needed to boot the system.
/usr/share
This directory contains read-only architecture independent data that is required by applications in /usr.
/usr/local
The /usr/local directory contains directories such as /usr/local/bin, /usr/local/sbin, /usr/local/etc, /usr/local/lib, etc. These directories serve the same function as their top-level counterparts.
/usr/local/ports
An exceptional directory is /usr/local/ports which contains all the ports-related information. The /usr/local/ports/ports directory contains the build information for ports packages, including patches, source files, and spec files. The /usr/local/ports/packages directory contains the actual builder-built ports RPM packages that can be installed via urpmi.
/var
The /var directory is used to store variable data, such as database files, process accounting files, logs, mail spools, etc.
/var/log/system
The /var/log/system directory is used to store all the system’s syslog files.

If you followed this tutorial guide, then you would have learnt about the file system organisation which included the functionality of major filesystem/directory on the system and also how they were organised.