Now that you can navigate the directory tree, let’s take a guided
tour of the files and directories you created when you installed
Debian. If you’re curious, cd to each directory and type ls to see
its contents. If the listing doesn’t fit on the screen, try ls |
less, where | is the “pipe” character, generally found on the same
key with backslash.
/ As already mentioned, this is the root directory, which contains
/ every
other directory.
/root
But don’t get /confused with /root! /root is the home
directory of the root user, or superuser. It’s a directory
called /root, but it isn’t _the_ root directory /.
/home This is where all normal users—that is, all users except
root—have their home directories. Each home directory is named after
the user who owns it, for example, /home/jane. If you’re using a
large system at a school or business, your system administrator may
create additional directories to contain home directories: /home1
and /home2 for example. On some other systems, you’ll see an
additional level of subdirectories: /home/students/username,
/home/staff/username, etc.
Your home directory is where you put all your personal work,
e-mail and other documents, and personal configuration
preferences. It’s your home on the system.
/bin
This directory contains “binaries,” executable files that
are essential to the operation of the system. Examples are
the shell (bash) and file commands such as cp.
/sbin
This directory contains “system binaries,” utilities that
the root user or system administrator might want to use, but
that you probably won’t want to use in your day-to-day
activities.
/usr
/usr contains most of the files you’ll be interested in. It
/has
many subdirectories. /usr/bin and /usr/sbin are pretty much
like
/bin and /sbin, except that the directories in /usr are not
considered “essential to the operation of the system.”
While not essential to getting the computer working, /usr
does contain the applications you’ll use to get real work
done. Also in
/usr, you’ll find the /usr/man, /usr/info, and /usr/doc
directories. These contain manual pages, info pages, and
other documentation, respectively. And don’t forget
/usr/games!
/usr/local
The Debian system doesn’t install anything in this
directory. You should use it if you want to install software
that you compile yourself or any software not contained in a
Debian package. You can also install software in your home
directory if you’ll be the only one using it.
/etc
/etc contains all the system-wide configuration files.
/Whenever
you want to change something that affects all users of your
computer—such as how you connect to the Internet or what
kind of video card you have—you’ll probably have to log on
as root and change a file in /etc.
/tmp
Here you’ll find temporary files, most of them created by
the system. This directory is generally erased on a regular
basis or every time you reboot the system. You can create
files here if you want, just be aware that they might get
deleted automatically.
/var
/var contains “variable” files that the system changes
automatically. For example, incoming mail is stored here.
The system keeps a log of its actions here. There are a
number of other automatically generated files here as well.
You’ll mostly be interested in the contents of /var/log,
where you can find error messages that can help you figure
out what you’re system’s up to if something goes wrong.
Clearly there are many more directories on the system—far too many
to describe every one.
For changing things, you’ll usually want to confine yourself to your
home directory and /etc. On a Debian system, there’s rarely an
occasion to change anything else, because everything else is
automatically installed for you.
/etc is used to configure the _system_ as a whole. You’ll use your
/own home
directory, a subdirectory of /home, for configuring your own
preferences and storing your personal data. The idea is that on a
day-to-day basis, you confine yourself to /home/_yourname_, so
there’s no way you can break anything. Occasionally you log in as
root to change something in a system-wide directory, but only when
it’s absolutely necessary. Of course, if you’re using Debian at a
school or business and someone else is the system administrator, you
won’t have root access and will be able to change only your home
directory and any other directory that you own. This limits what you
can do with the system.