Directory path part 1: category
A category tells you the types of files found in a directory. For example, if the category is bin, you can be reasonably assured that the directory contains programs. Common categories are listed below.
Categories for programs | |
bin | Programs (usually binary files) |
sbin | Programs (usually binary files) intended to be run by the superuser, root |
lib | Libraries of code used by programs |
libexec | Programs invoked by other programs, not usually by users; think “library of executable programs” |
Categories for documentation | |
doc | Documentation |
info | Documentation files for Emacs’s built-in help system |
man | Documentation files (manual pages) displayed by the |
share | Program-specific files, such as examples and installation instructions |
Categories for configuration | |
etc | Configuration files for the system (and other miscellaneous stuff) |
init.d | Configuration files for booting Linux; also rc1.d, rc2.d, … |
rc.d | |
Categories for programming | |
include | Header files for programming |
src | Source code for programs |
Categories for web files | |
cgi-bin | Scripts/programs that run on web pages |
html | Web pages |
public_html | Web pages, typically in users’ home directories |
www | Web pages |
Categories for display | |
fonts | Fonts (surprise!) |
X11 | X window system files |
Categories for hardware | ||
dev | Device files for interfacing with disks and other hardware | |
mnt misc | Mount points: directories that provide access to disks | |
Categories for runtime files | |
var | Files ... |