> I'm coming from a DOS (since version 4.0) and Windows (no biggie.. I got KDE
> if I need it :)) environment, and I'm not totally sure how the directory
There is a document called FHS (File Heirarchical Standard) available at
places like linuxdoc.org, that goes into much greater detail on the layout
of a Linux or Unix file system. There really isn't any standard file layout
in DOS, although there might be a few conventions people follow. Some might
stuff C:\ full, while other people more sanely segregate stuff in logical
places. Back when I was running DOS, I'd put utilities in c:\util; dos itself
would be in c:\dos, and applications would basically live in their separate
directories.
> structure is laid out? What are the DOS equivelants (if any) of the /etc/
> /usr/ etc.. directories?
/usr/bin would probably correspond best to 'program files', although mostly
only executables live here. Other parts of programs (by the large majority,
unix programs only need to be an executable, and are therefore self-contained)
might go in /usr/man, for manual pages, and /usr/doc, for in-depth document-
ation for a particular program.
There really isn't a DOS equivalent of /etc that I can see. DOS of course
has configuration files, but not a whole lot, and those that there are can
live in c:\. Startup scripts akin to autoexec.bat would live in /etc/.
> Where do files that I compile and install should go? Is there a "progra~1"
> type directory?
Well, they can be installed into the system, and if you do that, you prohably
want to put them underneath /usr/local. /usr/local has the same purpose as
/usr, except that it's for local (self-installed) stuff and not stuff that
comes with the distribution. There's really no analog in DOS - everything
goes into application directories, whether or not it comes with the system
(I suppose that's because nothing really comes with DOS to begtn with) :).
> Also.. for a download dir.. should it be /usr/download ?
Maybe, but think of /usr as 'the system' and if you want to put stuff in
for the 'system' you might want /usr/local instead. But I'd prefer to use
something under the /home directory. The concept of /home directories is
something that only recently has been injected into the world of DOS/Windows,
with the "My Documents" folder. Windows does tend to make this a little
more segregated then it needs to be - 'my files' would be closer to what
/home signifies in Unix.
Here's a link to an article from Linux Gazette. It's a bit dated, but it
may be still helpful.
http://www.linuxdoc.org/LDP/LG/issue36/tag/4.html
The FHS master document is at http://www.pathname.com/fhs .
> Leif Madsen
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