Show pagesourceBack to top Share via Share via... Twitter LinkedIn Telegram Yammer RedditRecent ChangesSend via e-MailPrintPermalinkHelp or get help'd × Table of Contents Common newbie mistakes From Windows Files and Folders File system hierarchy From Mac OS X Pitfalls when switching to Linux Common newbie mistakes downloading from untrusted sources in the internet when there's a package in the package manager From Windows Files and Folders File and folder names are case sensitive. File system hierarchy There are no different 'drives' with letters (C:, D:, …) like in Windows. Linux organises all programs and data in a single unified structure called the file system tree. It starts at the so-called root level at / and you descend in folders divided by a slash. Here are the important folders on a root level, taken from a guide: Directory Content /bin Common programs, shared by the system, the system administrator and the users. /boot The startup files and the kernel, vmlinuz. /dev Contains references to all the CPU peripheral hardware, which are represented as files with special properties. /etc Most important system configuration files, data similar to those in the Control Panel in Windows /home Home directories of the common users. /lib Library files, includes files for all kinds of programs needed by the system and the users. /lost+found Every partition has a lost+found in its upper directory. Files that were saved during failures are here. /mnt Standard mount point for external file systems, e.g. a CD-ROM or a digital camera. /net Standard mount point for remote file systems /opt Typically contains extra and third party software. /proc Virtual file system containing information about system resources. More information: `man proc` in a terminal window. /root The administrative user's home directory. Mind the difference between `/`, the root directory and `/root`, the home directory of the root user. /sbin Programs for use by the system and the system administrator. /tmp Temporary space for use by the system, cleaned upon reboot, so don't use this for saving any work! /usr Secondary hierarchy for read-only user data; contains the majority of (multi-)user utilities and applications. /usr/bin Non-essential command binaries (not needed in single user mode); for all users. /usr/local Tertiary hierarchy for local data, specific to this host. Typically has further subdirectories, e.g., bin, lib, share. /usr/share Architecture-independent (shared) data. /var Storage for all variable files and temporary files created by users, such as log files, the mail queue, the print spooler area, etc. More information: FHS on Wikipedia From Mac OS X Last modified: 2019-12-20 14:21