Thanks for all the information and pointers, and my apologies to all for all the verbal handwringing. I have just one specific question. Since these directories *are* standardized (although moved around a bit from one distr to the next, I think) does that mean that when I install a software package that all of the files will automatically go to their correct directories, and that I don't need to worry about this? I was under the impression that that was true (and a big advantage) of RPM packages, which would imply that it isn't true for others. Do I need to worry about this? --- "Michael D. Viron" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > At 02:40 PM 09/07/2001 -0700, you wrote: > >I'm overwelmed with the combination of newness and > >choice in this Linux world, although it's generally > >what I hoped for and I assume that it will just > take > >time. > > > >But one thing that I think is getting in my way is > the > >file system structure. First, I can't identify what > >kind of file something is by its extension. > Linux files actually don't have extensions (or at > least not the 3 character > extensions that dos is famous for), unless they are > shell scripts > (typically .sh), web files (usually .php, .html, or > .css), image files > (.gif, .jpg, .png), audio files (.mp3 or possibly > .ogg), or archives > (.tar.gz, .tgz, .bz2, or .zip) > > Second, I > >don't know what kinds of files belong in etc say, > or > >bin, or whichever. If it's an executable, should be > be > >in home/bin, user bin, home/peter, ...? > > /etc is typically used for system initialization > scripts (/etc/rc.d/*), > configuration files (.*rc and *.conf, and sometimes > conf.*), and home > directory skeletons for the useradd command > (/etc/skel/*). > > Executables are placed into many directories, which > include /bin, /sbin, > /usr/bin, /usr/sbin, /usr/local/bin, > /usr/local/sbin, /opt, and sometimes > under /usr/X11/bin and /home/$user/bin. > > /usr/local is the suggested place for software that > you've compiled > yourself from source .tar.gz or .tgz files, although > some people also place > this under /home/$user/bin . /usr/X11 is usually > used only for GUI based > Xwindows programs (not always true, but usually), > while the other bin > directories (/bin,/usr/bin,/usr/sbin, and /sbin) > usually contain command > line oriented programs. > > Then you have /var which contains log files for > various servers (/var/log) > and spools stuff for various servers (such as > incoming and outgoing e-mail > and so forth -- /var/spool), and which sometimes > contains the web server > root directory (/var/www/) > > /tmp is a global temporary directory, /dev is a > directory with a lot of > device files (stuff you don't want to delete), /root > is the super-user's > home directory. > > > And what is > >Lib? I thought at first that this was a library > >section for documents, but see that it seems to be > for > >certain kinds of executables (files that other > files > >need?) > > /usr/lib and any other lib directories contain > library (.so) files which > allow you to run other programs. They are roughly > equivalent to window > .dll files. > > Docs are available for most everything -- they can > be found under /usr/doc, > or /usr/share/doc or you can visit the linuxdoc.org > website which has all > the HOWTo's, guides, and FAQs you could really ever > want to read. If you > want reading beyond that, I'm sure there are a lot > of people on list that > can suggest a number of books to read. > > Michael > > -- > Michael Viron > Registered Linux User #81978 > Senior Systems & Administration Consultant > Web Spinners, University of West Florida > > > > Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? > > Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com >
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