FreeBSD manual
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HIER(7) FreeBSD 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 applied using
the fdt_overlays setting 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
Authentication Modules (PAM) library; see pam(3)
periodic/ scripts that are run daily, weekly, or monthly
/home/ users' home directories; whilst the layout is not
standardized, 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) utility
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 removable
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 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/ system programs and administration utilities that are
fundamental 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
applications
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 compatibility
debug/ standalone debug data for the
kernel and base system libraries
and binaries
dtrace/ DTrace library scripts
engines/ OpenSSL (Cryptography/SSL toolkit)
dynamically loadable engines
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
executables
elf/ utilities to manipulate ELF
executables
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 userland
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
characteristics
sendmail/ sendmail(8) configuration files
skel/ example . (dot) files for new
accounts
snmp/ MIBs, example files and tree
definitions 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
release VERSION. By
convention, "VERSION"
matches uname(1) -r.
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 variety
of terminals; used in the termcap
file; see termcap(5)
vi/ localization support and utilities
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)
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-
specific database files
freebsd-update/ temporary files and downloads for
freebsd-update(8)
empty/ for use by programs that require an empty
directory. 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
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
administrator's discretion. A well-maintained installation will include
a customized 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 14.0-RELEASE-p6 July 6, 2023 FreeBSD 14.0-RELEASE-p6