Filesystem Hierarchy Standard

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Filesystem Hierarchy Standard

Developed by

Linux Foundation

Initial release

14 February 1994; 20 years ago

Latest release

2.3
(29 January 2004; 10 years ago)

Website

Official website
Official website (Historical)

The Filesystem Hierarchy Standard (FHS) defines the directory structure and directory contents
in Unix and Unix-like operating systems, maintained by the Linux Foundation. The current version is
2.3, announced on 29 January 2004.[1]
Contents
[hide]

1 Directory structure
2 FHS compliance
3 History
o 3.1 Release history
4 See also
5 References
6 External links

Directory structure[edit]

Filesystem in Ubuntu 14.04.

In the FHS all files and directories appear under the root directory "/", even if they are stored on
different physical or virtual devices. Note however that some of these directories may or may not be
present on a Unix system depending on whether certain subsystems, such as the X Window
System, are installed.

The majority of these directories exist in all UNIX operating systems and are generally used in much
the same way; however, the descriptions here are those used specifically for the FHS, and are not
considered authoritative for platforms other than Linux.
Directory
/
/
b
i
n
/
b
o
o
t
/
d
e
v

Description
Primary hierarchy root and root directory of the entire file system hierarchy.

Essential command binaries that need to be available in single user mode; for all
users, e.g., cat, ls, cp.

Boot loader files, e.g., kernels, initrd.

Essential devices, e.g., /dev/null .

Host-specific system-wide configuration files

/
e
t
c

/
o
p
t
/
s
g
m
l
/
X

There has been controversy over the meaning of the name itself. In early
versions of the UNIX Implementation Document from Bell labs, /etc is
referred to as the etcetera directory,[2] as this directory historically held
everything that did not belong elsewhere (however, the FHS restricts /etc to
static configuration files and may not contain binaries).[3]Since the
publication of early documentation, the directory name has been redesignated in various ways. Recent interpretations includebackronyms such
as "Editable Text Configuration" or "Extended Tool Chest".[4]

Configuration files for add-on packages that are stored in /opt/ .

Configuration files, such as catalogs, for software that

processesSGML.

Configuration files for the X Window System, version 11.

1
1
/
x
m
l

Configuration files, such as catalogs, for software that

processes XML.

/
h
o
m
e

Users' home directories, containing saved files,

personal settings, etc.

/
l
i
b

Libraries essential for

the binaries in /bin/ and /sbin/ .

/
l
i
b
<
q
u
a
l
>

Alternate format essential libraries. Such

directories are optional, but if they exist,
they have some requirements.

/
m
e
d
i
a

Mount points for removable

media such as CD-ROMs (appeared in
FHS-2.3).

/
m
n
t

Temporarily mounted filesystems.

/
o
p
t

Optional application
software packages.[5]

/
p
r
o
c

Virtual filesystem provid

ing process and kernel in
formation as files. In
Linux, corresponds to
a procfs mount.

/
r
o
o
t

Home directory for

the root user.

/
s
b
i
n

Essential
system
binaries, e.g.,
init, ip, mount.

/
s
r
v

Sitespecific
data which
are served
by the
system.
Tempo
rary
files
(see
also /

/
t
m
p

/
u
s
r

var/
tmp ).

Often
not
preser
ved
betwee
n
system
reboot
s.
Se
co
nd
ar
y
hi
er
ar
ch

yf
or
re
ad
on
ly
us
er
da
ta;
co
nt
ai
ns
th
e
m
aj
or
ity
of
(
m
ult
i)u
se
r
uti
lit
ie
s
an
d
ap
pli
ca
tio
ns
.[6]

/
b
i
n

N
o
n
e
s
s
e
n
t
i

a
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o
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m
a
n
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d
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g
l
e
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s
e
r
m
o
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e
)
;

f
o
r
a
l
l
u
s
e
r
s
.

/
i
n
c
l
u
d
e

S
t
a
n
d
a
r
d
i
n
c
l
u
d
e
f
i
l
e
s
.

/
l
i
b

L
i
b
r
a
r
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e
s
f
o
r

t
h
e
b
i
n
a
r
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e
s
i
n
/
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s
r
/
b
i
n
/

a
n
d
/
u
s
r
/
s
b
i
n
/

.
/
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<

A
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t
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a

q
u
a
l
>

t
e

f
o
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a
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l
i
b
r
a
r
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e
s
(
o
p
t
i
o
n
a
l
)
.

/
l
o
c
a
l

/
s
b
i
n

/
s
h
a
r
e

/
s
r
c

/
X
1
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6

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v
a
r

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a
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/
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o
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k

/
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o
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/
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a
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/
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/
t
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p

FHS compliance[edit]
Most Linux distributions follow the Filesystem Hierarchy Standard and declare it their own policy to
maintain FHS compliance.[9][10][11][12]GoboLinux is an example of an intentionally non-compliant
filesystem implementation.[13]
Some distributions that generally follow the standard deviate from it in some areas. Common
deviations include:

Modern Linux distributions include a /sys directory as a virtual filesystem (sysfs, comparable
to /proc , which is a procfs), which stores and allows modification of the devices connected to
the system, whereas many traditional UNIX and Unix-like operating systems use /sys as
a symbolic link to the kernel source tree.[citation needed]
Modern Linux distributions include a /run directory as a temporary filesystem (tmpfs) which
stores volatile runtime data, and which is being considered for the next version of the
FHS.[14] According to the FHS version 2.3, this data should be stored in /var/run but this was a
problem in some cases because this directory isn't always available at early boot. As a result,
these programs have had to resort to trickery, such as
using /dev/.udev , /dev/.mdadm , /dev/.systemd or /dev/.mount directories, even
though the device directory isn't intended for such data.[15] Among other advantages, this makes
the system easier to use normally with the root filesystem mounted read-only.
This is a detailed example from Debian:[16]

/dev/.* /run/*

/dev/shm /run/shm

/dev/shm/* /run/*

/etc/* (writeable files) /run/*

/lib/init/rw /run

/var/lock /run/lock

/var/run /run

/tmp /run/tmp
Many modern UNIX systems (like FreeBSD via its ports system) install third party packages
into /usr/local while keeping locally developed code in /usr .

Some Linux distributions no longer differentiate between /lib versus /usr/lib and
have /lib symlinked to /usr/lib .

Some Linux distributions no longer differentiate

between /bin versus /usr/bin and /sbin versus /usr/sbin . They
symlink /bin to /usr/bin and /sbin to /usr/sbin . And /usr/sbin may get symlinked
to /usr/bin .

History[edit]
When the FHS was created, other UNIX and Unix-like operating systems already had their own
standards. Notable examples are these: the hier(7) description of file system layout,[17] which has
existed since the release of Version 7 Unix (in 1979); the SunOSfilesystem(7)[18] and its
successor, the Solaris filesystem(5).[19][20]

Release history[edit]
Meaning

Red

Old Standard/Draft; not supported

Yellow Old Standard; still supported

Green

Current Standard

Blue

Future Draft

Version

Release
Date

Notes

v1.0

1994-02-14

FSSTND[21]

v1.1

1994-10-09

FSSTND[22]

v1.2

1995-03-28

FSSTND[23]

v2.0

1997-10-26

FHS 2.0 is the direct successor for FSSTND 1.2. Name of the standard was changed to Filesystem
Hierarchy Standard.[24][25][26]

v2.1

2000-04-12

FHS[27][28][29]

v2.2

2001-05-23

FHS[30]

v2.3

2004-01-29

FHS[31]

v3.0

under
FHS[32]
development