The layout of the directory hierarchy — questions like “where does this file belong?” or “what is this directory for?”.
1
vote
3answers
2k views
Why did my package get installed to /opt?
A while back I installed couchdb from source on my debian machine. It seemed to install okay and everything worked.
A few weeks later I wanted to upgrade and installed from a .deb using dpkg. ...
3
votes
3answers
277 views
Best directory for shared scripts
What is the conventional directory to keep shared scripts that might be used by more than one user?
I've read through this overview of the standard file system hierarchy, but it doesn't seem to ...
7
votes
3answers
940 views
How does the Linux file system/organization differ from Windows?
One of the things that really slows me down in catching on with Linux is the huge difference between the file system in Linux versus Windows. Up until the last 3-4 years I only used Windows systems ...
3
votes
2answers
574 views
What directories/file permissions should i ensure are set?
I have a similar question about default software configuration. For this question i would like to ask
What directories/file permissions should i ensure are set?
Aprrently Is it normal to get ...
22
votes
5answers
2k views
Why do /usr and /tmp directories for Linux miss vowels in their spellings?
I have often started to think about this but never found a good answer. Why are these two Unix directories not /user and /temp instead?
All the other directories under root seem to be exactly what ...
37
votes
4answers
2k views
How do I know where to put things in linux?
Installing something in windows takes a click of a button. But every time I try to install something in linux, which is not found in APT, I get so confused.
You download a zipped folder, then what? ...
38
votes
2answers
1k views
Why does '/' have an '..' entry?
This just baffles me. Why does the root directory contain a reference to a parent directory?
bob@bob:/$ ls -a
. build home lib32 mnt .rpmdb sys vmlinuz
.. cdrom ...
21
votes
8answers
3k views
What does etc stand for?
What does the "etc" folder in the root directory stand for? I think knowing this will help me remember where certain files are located.
Update: Might be useful for others, the folder is used for ...
20
votes
6answers
13k views
What is /usr/local/bin? Came across it in an script installation for Applescript but would like to know more
Before today, I've used Terminal to a limited extent of moving in and out of directories, changing the dates of files using the touch command, but had realised the full extent of Terminal after ...
2
votes
3answers
146 views
Carry-on Ubuntu Customization
Like most of us, I have several machines: at home, at work, for travelling... etc. I mainly write papers or books while I code. But I'm tired of svn'ing, rsync'ing and so on, so I've decided to carry ...
43
votes
16answers
3k views
Where should I put software I compile myself?
I need to compile some software on my Fedora machine. Where's the best place to put it so not to interfere with the packaged software?
