Unix and Linux try to structure the thousands of files in a standard way
. However the latest version is from 2004 and things as /sys
and /proc
are missing.
In the root directory the following directories should be present and used in the proposed way:
/bin
System commands, to be used from all users
/boot
Boot loader and kernel
/dev
Device files
/etc
Configuration files and boot and runlevel scripts
/home
All regular users
/lib
Shared libraries. In/lib/modules
are the kernel modules
/lost+found
Stuff that fsck found
/media
Mounting point for removable media devices
/mnt
Mounting points for temporary file systems on other media.
/opt
Additional program packages. Alternative /usr/local
/proc
Information about running processes
/root
The home directory of the user root
/sbin
System commands to be used just from root
/sys
The kernel exports information about devices and drivers to this directory.
/tmp
temporary data mounted as RAM disk using tmpfs. Alternative/var/tmp
be aware that this
directory gets wiped off when booting the system.
/usr
Static read only user data (/var
should hold the dynamic), kernel source, and applications.
/var
Dynamic data log files, printer spool, mail
To observe directories it might be handy to emerge app-text/tree and use it as tree /var/log.