This is a list of the primary Red Hat Enterprise Linux system directories.
Each directory is described briefly. For additional directory
information, refer to the Red Hat Enterprise Linux System Administration Guide and
the Red Hat Enterprise Linux Reference Guide.
/bin/ — Used to store user
commands. The directory /usr/bin/ also
stores user commands.
/sbin/ — Location of many
system commands, such as shutdown. The
directory /usr/sbin/ also contains many
system commands.
/root/ — The home directory
of root, the superuser.
/misc/ — This directory is
used for automatically mounting directories on removeable
devices (such as Zip drives) and remote directories (such as
NFS shares) using autofs. Refer to the
autofs manual page (type man
autofs at a shell prompt) for more information.
/mnt/ — This directory
typically contains the mount points for file systems mounted
after the system is booted.
/media/ — This directory contains
the mount points for removable media, such as diskettes,
CD-ROMs, and USB flash drives.
/boot/ — Contains the kernel
and other files used during system startup.
/lost+found/ — Used by
fsck to place orphaned files (files
without names).
/lib/ — Contains many device
modules and library files used by programs in
/bin/ and /sbin/.
The directory /usr/lib/ contains
library files for user applications.
/dev/ — Stores device files.
/etc/ — Contains
configuration files and directories.
/var/ — For
variable (or constantly changing)
files, such as log files and the printer spool.
/usr/ — Contains files and
directories directly relating to users of the system, such
as programs and supporting library files.
/proc/ — A virtual file
system (not actually stored on the disk) that contains
system information used by certain programs.
/initrd/ — A directory that
is used to mount the initrd.img image
file and load needed device modules during bootup.
 | Warning |
|---|
| | Do not delete the
/initrd/ directory. You will be
unable to boot your computer if you delete the directory
and then reboot your Red Hat Enterprise Linux system.
|
/tftpboot/ — Contains files
and applications needed for Preboot Execution
Environment (PXE), a service that allows
client machines and machines without hard drives to boot an
operating system from an image on a central PXE server.
/tmp/ — The temporary
directory for users and programs.
/tmp/ allows all users on a system read
and write access.
/home/ — Default location of
user home directories.
/opt/ — Directory where
optional files and programs are stored. This directory is
used mainly by third-party developers for easy installation
and uninstallation of their software packages.
