Installation guide

Chapter 5. File System Structure
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Table 5.1. Examples of common files in the /dev
File Description
/dev/hda The master device on primary IDE channel.
/dev/hdb The slave device on primary IDE channel.
/dev/tty0 The first virtual console.
/dev/tty1 The second virtual console.
/dev/sda The first device on primary SCSI or SATA
channel.
/dev/lp0 The first parallel port.
5.2.1.4. The /etc/ Directory
The /etc/ directory is reserved for configuration files that are local to the machine. It should contain
no binaries; any binaries should be moved to /bin/ or /sbin/.
For example, the /etc/skel/ directory stores "skeleton" user files, which are used to populate
a home directory when a user is first created. Applications also store their configuration files in
this directory and may reference them when executed. The /etc/exports file controls which file
systems to export to remote hosts.
5.2.1.5. The /lib/ Directory
The /lib/ directory should only contain libraries needed to execute the binaries in /bin/ and /
sbin/. These shared library images are used to boot the system or execute commands within the
root file system.
5.2.1.6. The /media/ Directory
The /media/ directory contains subdirectories used as mount points for removeable media such as
USB storage media, DVDs, CD-ROMs, and Zip disks.
5.2.1.7. The /mnt/ Directory
The /mnt/ directory is reserved for temporarily mounted file systems, such as NFS file system
mounts. For all removeable storage media, use the /media/ directory. Automatically detected
removeable media will be mounted in the /media directory.
Note
The /mnt directory must not be used by installation programs.
5.2.1.8. The /opt/ Directory
The /opt/ directory is normally reserved for software and add-on packages that are not part of the
default installation. A package that installs to /opt/ creates a directory bearing its name, e.g. /
opt/packagename/. In most cases, such packages follow a predictable subdirectory structure; most
store their binaries in /opt/packagename/bin/ and their man pages in /opt/packagename/
man/, and so on.