Solaris Transition Guide

Layout of the / File System

Table E-1 shows the layout of the SunOS release 5.7 / file system, which contains directories that are unique to each system.

Table E-1 Directories in the / File System

Directory 

Description 

/

Root of the overall file-system name space 

/dev

Primary location for special files 

/dev/dsk

Block disk devices 

/dev/rdsk

Raw disk devices 

/dev/pts

Pseudo terminal slave devices 

/dev/rmt

Raw tape devices 

/dev/sad

Entry points for the STREAMS Administrative Driver  

/dev/term

Terminal devices 

/etc

Host-specific system administrative configuration files and databases 

/etc/acct

Accounting system configuration information 

/etc/cron.d

Configuration information and FIFO for cron

/etc/default

Default information for various programs 

/etc/dfs

Configuration information for exported file systems 

/etc/fs

Binaries organized by file-system types for operations required before /usr is mounted

/etc/inet

Configuration files for Internet services 

/etc/init.d

Scripts for transitioning among run levels 

/etc/lib

Shared libraries needed during booting 

/etc/lp

Configuration information for the printer subsystem 

/etc/mail

Mail subsystem configuration 

/etc/net

Configuration information for ti (transport independent) network services

/etc/opt

Configuration information for optional packages 

/etc/rc0.d

Scripts for entering or leaving run level 0 

/etc/rc1.d

Scripts for entering or leaving run level 1 

/etc/rc2.d

Scripts for entering or leaving run level 2 

/etc/rc3.d

Scripts for entering or leaving run level 3 

/etc/rcS.d

Scripts for entering or leaving run level S 

/etc/saf

Service Access Facility (SAF) files, including FIFOs 

/etc/skel

Default profile scripts for new user accounts 

/etc/sm

Status monitor information 

/etc/sm.bak

Backup copy of status monitor information 

/etc/tm

Trademark files; contents displayed at boot time 

/etc/uucp

Configuration information for uucp

/export

Default root of the exported file-system tree 

/home

Default root of a subtree for user directories 

/kernel

Subtree of loadable kernel modules, including the base kernel itself as /kernel/unix

/mnt

Temporary mount point for file systems 

/opt

Root of a subtree for add-on application packages 

/opt/SUNWspro

Mount/installation point for unbundled language products 

/platform

Subtree of loadable kernel modules 

/sbin

Essential executables used in the booting process and in manual system failure recovery 

/tmp

Temporary files; cleared during boot sequence 

/usr

Mount point for the /usr file system

/var

Root of a subtree of various files 

/var/adm

System logging and accounting files 

/var/crash

Default depository for kernel crash dumps 

/var/cron

Log file for cron

/var/lp

Line printer subsystem logging information 

/var/mail

Directory where users' mail is kept 

/var/news

Community service messages (not to be confused with USENET-style news) 

/var/nis

NIS+ databases 

/var/opt

Root of a subtree for various files associated with optional software packages 

/var/options

Provides package compatibility with pre-SunOS 5.0 packages 

/var/preserve

Backup files for vi and ex editors

/var/sadm

Databases maintained by the software package management utilities 

/var/saf

System Access Facility (SAF) logging and accounting files 

/var/spool

Directories for spooled temporary files 

/var/spool/cron

Spool files for cron and at

/var/spool/locks

Spooling lock files 

/var/spool/lp

Line printer spool files 

/var/spool/mqueue

Mail queued for delivery 

/var/spool/pkg

Spooled packages 

/var/spool/uucp

Queued uucp jobs

/var/spool/uucppublic

Files deposited by uucp

/var/tmp

Directory for temporary files not cleared during boot sequence 

/var/uucp

Log and status files for uucp

/var/yp

Databases for yp (for backward compatibility with NIS and ypbind)