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HIER(7)			Miscellaneous Information Manual	       HIER(7)

NAME
       hier -- layout of file systems

SYNOPSIS
       An overview of the file system hierarchy.

DESCRIPTION
       /	  root directory

       /bin/	  user	utilities  that	 are  fundamental  to  single-user and
		  multi-user modes

       /boot/	  programs and configuration files used	 during	 bootstrap  of
		  the operating	system

		  defaults/	default	 bootstrap  configuration  files;  see
				loader.conf(5)
		  dtb/		compiled flattened device  tree	 (FDT)	files;
				see fdt(4) and dtc(1)

				overlays/  compiled   flattened	  device  tree
					   (FDT) overlays; these  can  be  ap-
					   plied  using	 the fdt_overlays set-
					   ting	in loader.conf(5)

		  efi/		mount point for	the EFI	System Partition (ESP)
				on UEFI	systems
		  firmware/	loadable  kernel  modules  containing	binary
				firmware,  for hardware	to which firmware must
				be downloaded
		  kernel/	pure kernel executable (the  operating	system
				loaded	into  memory  at boot time) and	kernel
				modules
		  modules/	third-party loadable kernel modules,  such  as
				those associated with ports(7)
		  zfs/		zfs(8) pool cache files

       /compat/	  files	 supporting  binary compatibility with other operating
		  systems

		  linux/	default	location  for  linux(4)	 compatibility
				run-time

       /dev/	  the normal mount point for devfs(5)

		  fd/		file descriptor	files; see fd(4)

       /etc/	  system configuration files and scripts

		  bluetooth/	bluetooth configuration	files
		  defaults/	default	system configuration files; see	rc(8)
		  localtime	local timezone information; see	ctime(3)
		  mail/		sendmail(8) control files
		  mtree/	mtree(8) configuration files
		  pam.d/	configuration  files for the Pluggable Authen-
				tication Modules (PAM) library;	see pam(3)
		  periodic/	scripts	that are run daily, weekly, or monthly
				by cron(8); see	periodic(8)
		  ppp/		PPP configuration files; see ppp(8)
		  rc.d/		system and daemon startup/control scripts; see
				rc(8)
		  security/	OpenBSM	  audit	  configuration	  files;   see
				audit(8)
		  ssh/		OpenSSH	configuration files; see ssh(1)
		  ssl/		OpenSSL	configuration files

       /home/	  users'  home directories; whilst the layout is not standard-
		  ized,	the typical home for an	interactive user beastie would
		  be /home/beastie/

       /lib/	  system libraries that	are critical to	binaries in  /bin  and
		  /sbin

		  casper/	service-specific libcasper(3) Capsicum support
				libraries
		  geom/		class-specific libraries for the geom(8) util-
				ity
		  nvmecontrol/	vendor-specific	  libraries   to   extend  the
				nvmecontrol(8) utility

       /libexec/  system utilities that	are critical to	binaries in  /bin  and
		  /sbin

       /media/	  empty	 directory commonly containing mount points for	remov-
		  able media such as USB drives, CDs, and DVDs

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

       /net/	  automounted NFS shares; see auto_master(5)

       /nonexistent/
		  a  non-existent  directory; conventionally, a	home directory
		  for special user accounts that do not	require	a home	direc-
		  tory.	 See also /var/empty/

       /proc/	  process file system; see procfs(5)

       /rescue/	  statically-linked   programs	for  emergency	recovery;  see
		  rescue(8)

       /root/	  home directory of the	root user

       /sbin/	  system programs and administration utilities that are	funda-
		  mental to single-user	and multi-user modes

       /tmp/	  temporary files that	may  be	 removed  by  rc(8);  see  the
		  clear_tmp_enable variable of rc.conf(5)

       /usr/	  contains the majority	of user	utilities and applications

		  bin/		 common	 utilities, programming	tools, and ap-
				 plications
		  freebsd-dist/	 distribution  files  (like   base.txz;	  see)
				 release(7) and	bsdinstall(8)
		  include/	 standard C include files
		  lib/		 shared	and archive ar(1)-type libraries

				 compat/     shared  libraries for compatibil-
					     ity
				 debug/	     standalone	 debug	data  for  the
					     kernel  and base system libraries
					     and binaries
				 dtrace/     DTrace library scripts
				 engines/    OpenSSL	     (Cryptography/SSL
					     toolkit) dynamically loadable en-
					     gines

		  libdata/	 miscellaneous utility data files

				 gcc/	     GCC configuration data
				 ldscripts/  linker scripts; see ld(1)
				 pkgconfig/  pc(5)	 (ports/devel/pkgconf)
					     files;  collections  of  compiler
					     flags,  linker  flags,  and other
					     information relevant  to  library
					     use

		  libexec/	 system	 daemons and system utilities that are
				 executed by other programs

				 aout/	     utilities to manipulate a.out ex-
					     ecutables
				 elf/	     utilities to manipulate ELF  exe-
					     cutables
				 lpr/	     utilities	 and  filters  for  LP
					     print system; see lpr(1)
				 sendmail/   the   sendmail(8)	 binary;   see
					     mailwrapper(8)
				 sm.bin/     restricted	shell for sendmail(8);
					     see smrsh(8)

		  local/	 local executables, libraries, etc.  Also used
				 as  the  default destination for the ports(7)
				 framework.  Within local/, the	general	layout
				 sketched out by hier for /usr should be used.
				 Exceptions are	the  ports  documentation  (in
				 share/doc/_port_/),	 and	/usr/local/etc
				 (mimics /etc).
		  obj/		 architecture-specific target tree produced by
				 building FreeBSD from source; see build(7)
		  ports/	 FreeBSD ports collection; see ports(7)
		  sbin/		 system	daemons	and system utilities that  are
				 executed by users
		  share/	 architecture-independent files

				 calendar/   system-wide  calendar  files; see
					     calendar(1)
				 dict/	     word lists; see look(1)

					     freebsd	 FreeBSD-specific
							 terms,	proper	names,
							 and jargon
					     web2	 words	from Webster's
							 Second	International

				 doc/	     miscellaneous documentation
				 examples/   various examples  for  users  and
					     programmers
				 firmware/   firmware  images  loaded by user-
					     land programs
				 games/	     used by various games
				 keys/	     known trusted and revoked keys

					     pkg/	 fingerprints	   for
							 pkg(7)	and pkg(8)

				 locale/     localization      files;	   see
					     setlocale(3)
				 man/	     manual pages
				 misc/	     miscellaneous system-wide files

					     termcap	 terminal characteris-
							 tics  database;   see
							 termcap(5)

				 mk/	     templates for make; see make(1)
				 nls/	     national language support files
				 security/   data  files for security policies
					     such as mac_lomac(4)
				 sendmail/   sendmail(8) configuration files
				 skel/	     example . (dot) files for new ac-
					     counts
				 snmp/	     MIBs, example files and tree def-
					     initions for the SNMP daemon

					     defs/	 tree definition files
							 for	 use	  with
							 gensnmptree(1)
					     mibs/	 MIB files

				 syscons/    syscons(4)	files

					     fonts/	 console   fonts;  see
							 vidcontrol(1)	   and
							 vidfont(1)
					     keymaps/	 console      keyboard
							 maps;		   see
							 kbdcontrol(1)	   and
							 kbdmap(1)
					     scrnmaps/	 console screen	maps

				 sysroot/    files necessary for the  -sysroot
					     compiler/linker argument to build
					     non-native	binaries

					     VERSION/	 files for FreeBSD re-
							 lease	 VERSION.   By
							 convention, "VERSION"
							 matches uname(1) -r.

							 MACHINE.MACHINE_ARCH/
								     represent
								     the   bi-
								     nary  ABI
								     for these
								     files.
								     "MACHINE"
								     matches
								     uname(1)
								     -m.
								     "MACHINE_ARCH"
								     matches
								     uname(1)
								     -p.

				 tabset/     tab description files for a vari-
					     ety of  terminals;	 used  in  the
					     termcap file; see termcap(5)
				 vi/	     localization  support  and	utili-
					     ties for vi(1)
				 vt/	     vt(4) files

					     fonts/	 console  fonts;   see
							 vidcontrol(1)	   and
							 vidfont(1)
					     keymaps/	 console      keyboard
							 maps;		   see
							 kbdcontrol(1)	   and
							 kbdmap(1)

				 zoneinfo/   timezone  configuration  informa-
					     tion; see tzfile(5)

		  src/		 FreeBSD source	code; see development(7).  The
				 layout	of the source tree is described	by the
				 top-level README.md file.

		  tests/	 the FreeBSD test suite; see tests(7)

       /var/	  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)

			     jobs/	 job files
			     spool/	 output	spool files

		  backups/   miscellaneous backup files
		  cache/     miscellaneous cache files

			     pkg/	 cached	packages for pkg(8)

		  crash/     default  directory	 for  kernel  crash dumps; see
			     crash(8) and savecore(8)
		  cron/	     cron(8) files

			     tabs/	 crontab(5) files

		  db/	     miscellaneous automatically-generated system-spe-
			     cific database files

			     freebsd-update/  temporary	 files	and  downloads
					      for freebsd-update(8)

		  empty/     for  use by programs that require an empty	direc-
			     tory.   Uses  include  privilege  separation   by
			     sshd(8)
		  games/     miscellaneous game	status and score files
		  heimdal/   Kerberos server databases;	see kdc(8)
		  log/	     miscellaneous system log files

			     utx.lastlogin  last login log; see	getutxent(3)
			     utx.log	    login/logout log; see getutxent(3)

		  mail/	     user mailbox files
		  msgs/	     system messages database; see msgs(1)
		  preserve/  unused, present for historical reasons
		  quotas/    file system quota information files
		  run/	     files  containing information about the operating
			     system since it was booted

			     bhyve/	 bhyve(8)	virtual	       machine
					 unix(4)-domain	sockets
			     ppp/	 writable  by  the "network" group for
					 command   connection	sockets;   see
					 ppp(8)
			     utx.active	 database   of	 current   users;  see
					 getutxent(3)

		  rwho/	     rwho  data	 files;	 see  rwhod(8),	 rwho(1),  and
			     ruptime(1)
		  spool/     miscellaneous  printer  and  mail system spooling
			     directories

			     clientmqueue/  undelivered	submission mail	queue;
					    see	sendmail(8)
			     ftp/	    ftp	root directory;	see ftpd(8)
			     mqueue/	    undelivered	  mail	 queue;	   see
					    sendmail(8)
			     output/	    line printer spooling directories

		  tmp/	     temporary files that are not removed by rc(8)

			     vi.recover/  vi(1)	recovery files

		  yp/	     the NIS maps; see yp(8)

NOTES
       This manual page	documents the default FreeBSD file system layout.  The
       actual hierarchy	on a given system is defined at	the system administra-
       tor's  discretion.   A well-maintained installation will	include	a cus-
       tomized version of this document.

SEE ALSO
       apropos(1), find(1), grep(1), ls(1), whereis(1),	which(1)

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

FreeBSD	13.2			 July 6, 2023			       HIER(7)

NAME | SYNOPSIS | DESCRIPTION | NOTES | SEE ALSO | HISTORY

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