[FAQ] Linux File System Overview

[markwolfe Veteran]

  rockwolf said:

"http://www.micronux.com/catalog/article_info.php?articles_id=6" is a dead link, you should get rid of it

Thanks. Replaced link with copy of page from archive.org (Y)

[Angel Blue01]

Thank you for this thread! I just installed openSUSE 10.2 on a dual boot with Vista and I was wondering about the directory structure (perhaps a better term than file system in this case) works.

Why does root have exclusive access to so many directories in / ?

Why did the installer mount my NTFS Windows partition to /windows/C instead of /mnt/windows/C? This may be a distro thing

[d3m0nb0y]

  markjensen said:

"This Linux file system is crazy..."

This FAQ is a quick overview that I have written to summarize how the files are generally organized into their directories. I have often described this, in the past, as looking at a vertical vs. horizontal method of determining where different files should be placed. :blink: However, that doesn't really clear things up for 99% of the people I have tried to describe this to, so I will attempt to better explain this here. I will cover the file & directory organization in very broad brush strokes. For more detailed information, there are thousands of in-depth resources to be found with a brief google. Most Linux books cover this as well (but are often skipped as they aren't readily understood by most people who haven't worked with Linux for a while).

Awesome post, gave me greater insight to Linux.

[-Vivicidal-]

All I can say is thank you. THis really clears up some questions I had and has rekindled my love of Linux.