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HIER(7)			Miscellaneous Information Manual	       HIER(7)

NAME
       hier -- index of	FreeBSD	file system hierarchy

DESCRIPTION
       /	  root directory of the	file system

       /COPYRIGHT
		  FreeBSD copyright information

       /bin/	  fundamental BSD user utilities; see intro(1)

       /boot/	  programs and configurations used during FreeBSD boot(8)

		  defaults/	  default   boot   configuration   files;  see
				  loader.conf(5)
		  device.hints	  kernel variables  for	 controlling  drivers;
				  see device.hints(5)
		  dtb/		  compiled  flattened device tree (FDT)	files;
				  see fdt(4) and dtc(1)

				  overlays/  compiled  fdt(4)  overlays;   see
					     fdt_overlays in loader.conf(5)

		  efi/		  the uefi(8) EFI System Partition (ESP) mount
				  point
		  firmware/	  loadable binary firmware kernel modules
		  fonts/	  binary    bitmap    console	 fonts;	   see
				  loader.conf(5) and vtfontcvt(8)
		  images/	  beastie boot menu images; see	loader_lua(8)
		  kernel/	  FreeBSD kernel and modules; see kldstat(8)
		  kernel.old/	  alternative kernel and modules
		  loader.conf	  boot	   loader      configuration;	   see
				  loader.conf(5)
		  loader.conf.d/  loader.conf(5) configuration files
		  lua/		  scripts   for	  the  Lua  boot  loader;  see
				  loader_lua(8)
		  modules/	  third-party loadable kernel modules, such as
				  those	installed with pkg(8) or from ports(7)
		  zfs/		  ZFS zpool(8) cache files

       /compat/	  files	supporting binary compatibility	with  other  operating
		  systems

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

       /dev/	  device nodes and special files; see intro(4) and devfs(5)

		  ada0		 first ATA storage device
		  ada0p1	 first partition on ada0
		  cd0		 first optical drive
		  cuaU0		 first USB serial port;	see cu(1)
		  da0		 first SCSI storage device
		  da0s1		 first partition on da0
		  dri/		 GPU character device nodes; see drm(7)
		  drm/		 GPU drm(7) special files
		  fd/		 file descriptor files;	see fd(4)
		  fd0		 first floppy drive
		  mmcsd0	 first SD storage device
		  mmcsd0s1	 first partition on mmcsd0
		  nda0		 first NVMe storage device attached via	cam(3)
		  null		 infinite loop that accepts anything and  con-
				 tains nothing
		  nvd0		 first	NVMe  storage  device using NVMe name-
				 spaces
		  pts/		 pseduo-terminals; see pts(4)
		  random	 source	of weak	randomness; see	random(4)
		  sa0		 first tape drive
		  usb/		 USB busses
		  vmm/		 active	bhyve(8) virtual machines
		  zvol/		 zfs(8)	volumes

       /entropy	  provides initial state to RNG; see save-entropy(8)

       /etc/	  base system configuration files and scripts; see intro(5)

		  auto_master	       autofs automount(8) configuration
		  bluetooth/	       bluetooth configuration files
		  cron.d/	       tables for driving scheduled tasks; see
				       crontab(5)
		  crontab	       root's cron table
		  defaults/	       default system configuration files; see
				       rc(8)
		  devd/		       configuration for devd(8),  the	device
				       state change daemon
		  devfs.conf	       boot time device	configuration
		  dma/		       configuration for dma(8)
		  freebsd-update.conf  configuration  for  the base system up-
				       dater; see freebsd-update(8)
		  fstab		       static  filesystem  configuration;  see
				       fstab(5)
		  hosts		       database	 of  local hosts if no network
				       name server is running
		  inetd.conf	       configuration for BSD heritage internet
				       servers;	see inetd(8)
		  localtime	       local   timezone	   information;	   see
				       ctime(3)
		  jail.conf.d/	       jail(8) startup scripts
		  login.conf	       login  class  capability	 database; see
				       login.conf(5)
		  machine-id	       defines the UUID	for the	local  system,
				       required	for dbus
		  mail/		       sendmail(8) control files

				       aliases	    addresses  to deliver sys-
						    tem	mail
				       mailer.conf  mailwrapper(8)  configura-
						    tion

		  motd.template	       message	displayed  upon	tty login; see
				       motd(5)
		  mtree/	       system	mapper	 specification;	   see
				       mtree(8)
		  newsyslog.conf.d/    log rotation configuration files.
		  ntp/		       stored time for the Network Time	Proto-
				       col
		  ntp.conf	       configuration   for   the  NTP  client,
				       ntpd(8)
		  pam.d/	       configuration files for	the  Pluggable
				       Authentication  Modules	(PAM) library;
				       see pam(3)
		  periodic/	       scripts that are	run daily, weekly,  or
				       monthly by cron(8); see periodic(8)
		  pf.conf	       configuration  for  the	Packet	Filter
				       firewall; see pf(4)
		  pkg/		       default configuration for  the  package
				       manager,	pkg(8)
		  ppp/		       PPP configuration files;	see ppp(8)
		  rc.conf	       system  and  daemon  configuration; see
				       rc.conf(5)
		  rc.d/		       system	and   daemon   startup/control
				       scripts;	see rc(8)
		  resolv.conf	       DNS configuration; see resolv.conf(5)
		  resolvconf.conf      DNS  configuration  manager  configura-
				       tion, often generated by	local-unbound;
				       see local-unbound(8) or resolvconf(8)
		  security/	       OpenBSM audit configuration files;  see
				       audit(8)
		  ssh/		       OpenSSH configuration files; see	ssh(1)
		  ssl/		       OpenSSL configuration files
		  sysctl.conf	       kernel	   state     defaults;	   see
				       sysctl.conf(5)
		  syslog.conf	       system log configuration
		  ttys		       tty   creation	 configuration;	   see
				       getty(8)
		  wpa_supplicant.conf  client	 wifi	 configuration;	   see
				       wpa_supplicant.conf(5)

       /home/	  home directories for users; the typical home for an interac-
		  tive user beastie would be /home/beastie/

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

		  geom/		class-specific libraries for the geom(8) util-
				ity
		  nvmecontrol/	vendor-specific	 libraries   to	  extend   the
				nvmecontrol(8) utility

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

       /media/	  mount	 points	for removable storage media such as CDs, DVDs,
		  and USB drives; see automount(8), or bsdisks(8) if a using a
		  desktop environment from ports(7)

       /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; by convention, it serves as	a home
		  directory for	user accounts that need	no home	directory; 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/	  fundamental  BSD  system   administration   utilities;   see
		  intro(8)

       /tmp/	  temporary files commonly removed between system reboots; see
		  clear_tmp_enable in rc.conf(5)

       /usr/	  contains the majority	of user	utilities and applications

		  bin/		 common	 utilities, programming	tools, and ap-
				 plications; see intro(1)
		  freebsd-dist/	 distribution  files  (like   base.txz);   see
				 release(7) and	bsdinstall(8)
		  include/	 standard C include header files
		  lib/		 shared	and ar(1)-type libraries; see intro(3)

				 clang/	     shared  libraries	for the	system
					     compiler, clang(1)
				 compat/     shared libraries for  compatibil-
					     ity
				 debug/	     standalone	 debug	data  for  the
					     kernel and	base system  libraries
					     and binaries
				 dtrace/     dtrace(1) library scripts
				 engines/    OpenSSL	     (Cryptography/SSL
					     toolkit) dynamically loadable en-
					     gines
				 flua/	     FreeBSD Lua shared	libraries
				 i18n/	     shared libraries for internation-
					     alization

		  lib32/	 32-bit	compatibility libraries
		  libdata/	 miscellaneous utility data files

				 ldscripts/  linker scripts; see ld(1)
				 pkgconfig/  collections   of	compiler   and
					     linker  flags  for	the pkgconf(1)
					     development tool

		  libexec/	 system	daemons	and utilities executed by pro-
				 grams

				 bsdconfig/   utilities	called by the  ncurses
					      FreeBSD configuration wizard
				 bsdinstall/  utilities	for bsdinstall(8)
				 dwatch/      profiles for dwatch(1)
				 fwget/	      utilities	called by fwget(8)
				 hyperv/      scripts  for  communicating with
					      the Hyper-V hypervisor
				 lpr/	      utilities	and  filters  for  the
					      line printer system; see lpr(1)
				 sendmail/    the   sendmail(8)	  binary;  see
					      mailwrapper(8)
				 sm.bin/      restricted       shell	   for
					      sendmail(8); see smrsh(8)
				 zfs/	      Z	file system utilities

		  local/	 local	executables, libraries,	etc, installed
				 by pkg(7) or ports(7)

				 bin/	     local   user    utilities,	   see
					     intro(1)
				 etc/	     local program configurations
				 include/    local library headers
				 lib/	     local libraries
				 lib32/	     local  32-bit  compatability  li-
					     braries
				 libdata/    local utility data	files
				 libexec/    utilities executed	by local util-
					     ities
				 sbin/	     local administration utilities
				 share/	     local    architecture-independent
					     files
				 share/doc/  local documentation
				 share/doc/freebsd/
					     articles,	books,	FAQ, and hand-
					     books available from the  FreeBSD
					     project
				 share/man/  local manual pages; see man(1)

		  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 utilities	meant for user
				 execution; see	intro(8)
		  share/	 architecture-independent files

				 atf/	     scripts for the Automated Testing
					     Framework;	see ATF(7)
				 bhyve/	     bhyve(8) keyboard mappings
				 calendar/   system-wide calendar  files;  see
					     calendar(1)
				 certs/	     TLS certificates for openssl(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
				 dtrace/     scripts  for  the Dynamic Tracing
					     Compiler; see dtrace(1)
				 examples/   various examples  for  users  and
					     programmers
				 firmware/   firmware  images  loaded by user-
					     land programs
				 games/	     ASCII text	files used by BSD her-
					     itage games, see intro(6)
				 keys/	     known trusted and revoked keys

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

				 locale/     localization      files;	   see
					     setlocale(3)
				 man/	     system manual pages; see man(1)
				 misc/	     miscellaneous system-wide files

					     ascii	 chart	of  the	 ASCII
							 codepoints
					     flowers	 the meanings of flow-
							 ers
					     magic	 magic numbers used by
							 file(1)
					     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/	 management   Informa-
							 tion Base (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  con-
						       vention,	     "VERSION"
						       matches uname(1)	-r
					     VERSION/MACHINE.MACHINE_ARCH/
						       represent  the	binary
						       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 the vi(1)	editor
				 vt/	     files used	by the system console;
					     see vt(4)

					     fonts/	 console   fonts;  see
							 vidcontrol(1),
							 vidfont(1),	   and
							 vtfontcvt(8)
					     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

		  audit/     security event audit trail	files; see audit(8)
		  authpf/    user shell	sessions for authenticating  gateways;
			     see authpf(8)
		  backups/   critical system configuration backups
		  cache/     miscellaneous cache files

			     pkg/    cached packages for pkg(8)
			     cups/   cached   printers	for  the  Common  Unix
				     Prinitng system; see cups(1)

		  crash/     default directory to store	 kernel	 crash	dumps;
			     see crash(8) and savecore(8)
		  cron/	     files used	by cron; see cron(8)

			     tabs/   crontab files; see	crontab(5)

		  db/	     autogenerated system-specific database files

			     etcupdate/	      temporary	  files	 and  log  for
					      etcupdate(8)
			     freebsd-update/  downloads	 and  temporary	 files
					      for freebsd-update(8)
			     pkg/	      package database

		  empty/     for  use by programs that require an empty	direc-
			     tory, used	for instance by	sshd(8)	for  privilege
			     separation
		  games/     status and	score files for	BSD heritage games
		  heimdal/   Kerberos server databases;	see kdc(8)
		  lib/	     state information for ported Linux	applications
		  log/	     system log	files

			     Xorg.0.log	     Xserver(1)	 log,  if  X(7)	is in-
					     stalled rotates to	Xorg.0.log.old
			     aculog	     serial line access	log; see cu(1)
			     auth.log	     system authentication log
			     bsdinstall_log  system installation log
			     cron	     scheduled task log; see cron(8)
			     cups/	     logs for cups(1)
			     daemon.log	     default log for system daemons
			     devd.log	     default  log  for	device	 state
					     change daemon
			     dmesg.today     system  message  buffer  log, ro-
					     tates to dmesg.yesterday
			     debug.log	     undiscarded debug syslog messages
			     lpd-errs	     logs for the line printer spooler
					     daemon; see lpd(8)
			     maillog	     sendmail(8) log, rotates and com-
					     presses to	maillog.0.bz2
			     messages	     general	system	  log;	   see
					     syslogd(8)
			     mount.today     currently	loaded	fstab(5),  ro-
					     tates to mount.yesterday
			     pf.today	     packet filter firewall  log;  see
					     pf(4)
			     pflog	     saved packets caught by pflogd(8)
			     ppp.log	     see ppp(8)
			     security	     transcript	 of events marked with
					     the security flag
			     setuid.today    listing of	executable files which
					     run  with	elevated  permissions,
					     rotates to	setuid.yesterday
			     userlog	     logs changes in users or groups
			     utx.lastlogin   last login	log; see getutxent(3)
			     utx.log	     login/logout	log;	   see
					     getutxent(3)
			     xferlog	     default log for ftpd(8)

		  mail/	     user mailbox files
		  msgs/	     system messages database; see msgs(1)
		  preserve/  unused, present for historical reasons
		  quotas/    UFS 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)
			     wpa_supplicant/  IEEE  Std.  802.11 wifi run time
					      files

		  rwho/	     information about other systems on	the local net-
			     work; see rwhod(8), rwho(1), and ruptime(1)
		  spool/     printer and mail system spooling directories

			     clientmqueue/  undelivered	submission mail	queue;
					    see	sendmail(8)
			     cups/	    print jobs and temporary files for
					    cups(1)
			     dma/	    undelivered	  mail	  queue	   for
					    DragonFly Mail Agent; see dma(8)
			     lock/	    serial     device	 locks;	   see
					    uucplock(3)
			     lpd/	    line printer spooler daemon	spool
			     ftp/	    ftp	root directory;	see ftpd(8)
			     mqueue/	    undelivered	  mail	  queue	   for
					    sendmail(8)
			     output/	    line printer spooling directories

		  tmp/	     temporary	files  not  removed between system re-
			     boots

			     vi.recover/  recovery files for the vi(1) editor

		  unbound/   files and configuration for unbound(8)
		  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 first	appeared in 1979 with Version 7	AT&T UNIX.

FreeBSD	13.2		       October 10, 2024			       HIER(7)

NAME | DESCRIPTION | NOTES | SEE ALSO | HISTORY

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