what are those folders in a /
 

What’s the deal with etc/ dev/ usr/ - folders. Why don’t they use little more friendly names like “programs”, “system settings” and “user profiles” ?

What is equalent for windows "program files"

regs,
jp :)

remember, not every1 speaks english.

and...
/etc/ contains your boot scripts, (anomgth other scripts)

/dev/ contains all your devices. in linux, all hardware is a device.
for fun, try (as root) 'cat /dev/random > /dev/dsp' that will read your random number generator, and "SAVE" it onto your sound card... (you will hear load screaches)

and /usr/ contains probrams and libraries.

arnt they windows file names ???
well.. firtst of all, there is no programs folder because programs are split up... binarys go in a binary folder, and libs go in a library folder, scripts go in the scripts folder....
its just common sence in organiseing files.

however, i suppose /home/user_name would be the equivalant to the user_profiles folder... (see the hidden files in there, they contain user settings and preferences)

Ah, yes... you're right.

Ok, this helped me to understand those strange names. :newbie:

Thanks

The directory hierarchy in Linux is supposed to follow the Filesystem Hierarchy Standard, but it still differs a bit between different distributions. You can find the 2.2 draft of the standard here. It explains the standard in depth.

User friendly doesn't have to mean "as easy as possible to understand", and since Linux comes from a Unix tradition the traditional Unix names have been preserved in order to maximize compatibility and ease of use. Spaces in filenames have to been escaped, so in order to cd to a directory called "My Files" you would have to type cd My\ Files or cd "My Files", and shorter names are quicker to type.

Windows suffers from several problems where multiple versions of the same libraries (*.dll files in Windows, *.so in Linux) can exist at the same time and interfere with one another. Linux has a smarter way of dealing with this, keeping the libraries in /lib, /usr/lib and /usr/local/lib. A program called ldconfig scans these directories for libraries and generates a list of what librabries are avaiable and which ones to use in case several libraries with the same names exist.

Similarily, all binaries are kept in /bin, /usr/bin, and /usr/local/bin.

The root folders - /lib and /bin most notably, contain system critical libraries and files. To name an example, module (driver) management programs are stored in /bin and modules in /lib/modules.

The /usr hierarchy contains the bulk of the software on the system while /usr/local contains locally built software, meaning software that doesn't come from your distribution but is built from source on the local machine.

For more info, read up on the link I provided above.

Håkan

Happy Birthday jpkeisala

I am a newb. also, and I found this section to be very informative:
http://linux-newbie.sunsite.dk/lnag_...#dir_structure

A supplement to the already informative posts above. (-;

This is also a very good link for newbies wishing to explore the structure, and also has many more topics on nearly everything if your starting in linux. Linux Administration Guide

It's also a lot quicker to type "/usr" than "C:\program files"