Hello everyone.

I will make this as quick as possible.

What I am looking for is a document of some sort that explains the directories and what they are for in Linux

For instance, I want to know the difference between /usr/bin and /usr/local bin.

Does anyone know of a document or link that has a good explanation of that?

Thank you.

Tarballed

There's no big difference. The only one is that programs that come with your distribution are installed in /usr/bin (or /usr/sbin or /bin or /sbin, last 2 if they are basic ones needed when you have problems with your system). That leaves /usr/local/bin for your programs (those you compile from source).

BTW in some systems there's a partition for / and partition for /usr. When /usr partition cannot be mounted, you need to have all the software you need to fix the problem on / (in /bin and /sbin). It may be similar with /usr/local. It may be another partition, mounted from another disk etc. It's up to you.

/usr/bin/ is for progs that are available for "everyday end user use"

/usr/sbin is for sys admin stuff and usually needs the root password to access them

http://www.freeos.com/articles/3102/ this link might help

What you are looking for is the filsystem heirarchy standard. It is here:

http://www.pathname.com/fhs/