Mac OS X Tiger in a Nutshell

Domains

You might also have a /Library/Fonts folder inside your home folder and perhaps yet another inside /Network/Library/Fonts. Each Fonts folder exists inside a separate domain--Mac OS X’s term for the scope that a folder resides in (in terms of both function and permission from the current user’s point of view). The system defines four domains :

Warning

The term “domain” is a contender for the most overloaded word used to describe Mac OS X. While reading this section, try not to confuse the concept of filesystem domains with that of Internet domain names (such as oreilly.com) or NetInfo domains (as covered in Chapter 10). None of these have anything to do with each other.

User

Contains folders that are under complete control of the current user. Generally speaking, this includes the user’s Home folder and everything inside it.

Local

Holds folders and files usable by all users of this machine, which may be modified by system administrators (users in the admin group) but are not crucial to the operating system. Folders directly under the root directory (/) that don’t belong to other domains fall into the Local domain . On most systems, these include the /Library and /Applications folders.

Network

Works like the Local domain, except that its folders are hosted on the network, accessible to users of that network and modifiable by network administrators. Usually, this domain extends to cover all folders (but not the servers) found within the /Network directory.

System

Contains folders ...