HIER(7)

NAME
hier - index of FreeBSD file system hierarchy

DESCRIPTION

/   root directory of the file system

/COPYRIGHT
    FreeBSD copyright information

/bin/
    fundamental BSD user utilities; see intro(1)

/boot/
    programs and configurations used during FreeBSD boot(8)

    defaults/
        default boot configuration files; see loader.conf(5)
    device.hints
        kernel variables for controlling drivers; see device.hints(5)
    dtb/
        compiled flattened device tree (FDT) files; see fdt(4) and dtc(1)

        overlays/
            compiled fdt(4) overlays; see fdt_overlays in loader.conf(5)

    efi/
        the uefi(8) EFI System Partition (ESP) mount point
    firmware/
        loadable binary firmware kernel modules
    fonts/
        binary bitmap console fonts; see loader.conf(5) and vtfontcvt(8)
    images/
        beastie boot menu images; see loader_lua(8)
    kernel/
        FreeBSD kernel and modules; see kldstat(8)
    kernel.old/
        alternative kernel and modules
    loader.conf
        boot loader configuration; see loader.conf(5)
    loader.conf.d/
        loader.conf(5) configuration files
    lua/
        scripts for the Lua boot loader; see loader_lua(8)
    modules/
        third-party loadable kernel modules, such as those installed with pkg(8) or from ports(7)
    zfs/
        ZFS zpool(8) cache files

/compat/
    files supporting binary compatibility with other operating systems

    linux/
        default location for linux(4) compatibility run-time

/dev/
    device nodes and special files; see intro(4) and devfs(4)

    ada0
        first ATA storage device
    ada0p1
        first partition on ada0
    cd0 first optical drive
    cuaU0
        first USB serial port; see cu(1)
    da0 first SCSI storage device
    da0s1
        first partition on da0
    dri/
        GPU character device nodes; see drm(7)
    drm/
        GPU drm(7) special files
    fd/ file descriptor files; see fd(4)
    fd0 first floppy drive
    gpt/
        storage partitions by GPT label
    mmcsd0
        first SD storage device
    mmcsd0s1
        first partition on mmcsd0
    nda0
        first NVMe storage device attached via cam(3)
    null
        infinite loop that accepts anything and contains nothing
    nvd0
        first NVMe storage device using NVMe namespaces
    pts/
        pseudo-terminals; see pts(4)
    random
        source of weak randomness; see random(4)
    sa0 first tape drive
    usb/
        USB busses
    vmm/
        active bhyve(8) virtual machines
    zvol/
        zfs(8) volumes

/entropy
    provides initial state to RNG; see save-entropy(8)

/etc/
    base system configuration files and scripts; see intro(5)

    auto_master
        autofs automount(8) configuration
    bluetooth/
        bluetooth configuration files
    cron.d/
        tables for driving scheduled tasks; see crontab(5)
    crontab
        root's cron table
    defaults/
        default system configuration files; see rc(8)
    devd/
        configuration for devd(8), the device state change daemon
    devfs.conf
        boot time device configuration
    dma/
        configuration for dma(8)
    freebsd-update.conf
        configuration for the base system updater; see freebsd-update(8)
    fstab
        static filesystem configuration; see fstab(5)
    hosts
        database of local hosts if no network name server is running
    inetd.conf
        configuration for BSD heritage internet servers; see inetd(8)
    localtime
        local timezone information; see ctime(3)
    jail.conf.d/
        jail(8) startup scripts
    login.conf
        login class capability database; see login.conf(5)
    machine-id
        defines the UUID for the local system, required for dbus
    mail/
        sendmail(8) control files

        aliases
            addresses to deliver system mail
        mailer.conf
            mailwrapper(8) configuration

    motd.template
        message displayed upon tty login; see motd(5)
    mtree/
        system mapper specification; see mtree(8)
    newsyslog.conf.d/
        log rotation configuration files.
    ntp/
        stored time for the Network Time Protocol
    ntp.conf
        configuration for the NTP client, ntpd(8)
    pam.d/
        configuration files for the Pluggable Authentication Modules (PAM) library; see pam(3)
    periodic/
        scripts that are run daily, weekly, or monthly by cron(8); see periodic(8)
    pf.conf
        configuration for the Packet Filter firewall; see pf(4)
    pkg/
        default configuration for the package manager, pkg(8)
    ppp/
        PPP configuration files; see ppp(8)
    rc.conf
        system and daemon configuration; see rc.conf(5)
    rc.d/
        system and daemon startup/control scripts; see rc(8)
    resolv.conf
        DNS configuration; see resolv.conf(5)
    resolvconf.conf
        DNS configuration manager configuration, often generated by local-unbound; see local-unbound(8) or resolvconf(8)
    security/
        OpenBSM audit configuration files; see audit(8)
    ssh/
        OpenSSH configuration files; see ssh(1)
    ssl/
        OpenSSL configuration files

        cert.pem
            System trust store in bundle form; see certctl(8).
        certs/
            System trust store in OpenSSL hashed-directory form; see certctl(8).
        openssl.cnf
            OpenSSL configuration file; see openssl.cnf(5).
        untrusted/
            Explicitly distrusted certificates; see certctl(8).
    sysctl.conf
        kernel state defaults; see sysctl.conf(5)
    syslog.conf
        system message log configuration
    ttys
        tty creation configuration; see getty(8)
    wpa_supplicant.conf
        client wifi configuration; see wpa_supplicant.conf(5)

/home/
    home directories for users; the typical home for an interactive user beastie would be /home/beastie/

/lib/
    system libraries critical to binaries in /bin and /sbin

    geom/
        class-specific libraries for the geom(8) utility
    nvmecontrol/
        vendor-specific libraries to extend the nvmecontrol(8) utility

/libexec/
    system utilities critical to binaries in /bin and /sbin

/media/
    mount points for removable storage media such as CDs, DVDs, and USB drives; see automount(8), or bsdisks(8) if a using a desktop environment from ports(7)

/mnt/
    empty directory commonly used by system administrators as a temporary mount point

/net/
    automounted NFS shares; see auto_master(5)

/nonexistent/
    a non-existent directory; by convention, it serves as a home directory for user accounts that need no home directory; see also /var/empty/

/proc/
    process file system; see procfs(4)

/rescue/
    statically linked programs for emergency recovery; see rescue(8)

/root/
    home directory of the root user

/sbin/
    fundamental BSD system administration utilities; see intro(8)

/tmp/
    temporary files commonly removed between system reboots; see clear_tmp_enable in rc.conf(5)

/usr/
    contains the majority of user utilities and applications

    bin/
        common utilities, programming tools, and applications; see intro(1)
    freebsd-dist/
        distribution files (like base.txz); see release(7) and bsdinstall(8)
    include/
        standard C include header files
    lib/
        shared and ar(1)-type libraries; see intro(3)

        clang/
            shared libraries for the system compiler, clang(1)
        compat/
            shared libraries for compatibility
        debug/
            standalone debug data for the kernel and base system libraries and binaries
        dtrace/
            dtrace(1) library scripts
        engines/
            OpenSSL (Cryptography/SSL toolkit) dynamically loadable engines
        flua/
            FreeBSD Lua shared libraries
        i18n/
            shared libraries for internationalization

    lib32/
        32-bit compatibility libraries
    libdata/
        miscellaneous utility data files

        ldscripts/
            linker scripts; see ld(1)
        pkgconfig/
            collections of compiler and linker flags for the pkgconf(1) development tool

    libexec/
        system daemons and utilities executed by programs

        bsdconfig/
            utilities called by the ncurses FreeBSD configuration wizard
        bsdinstall/
            utilities for bsdinstall(8)
        dwatch/
            profiles for dwatch(1)
        fwget/
            utilities called by fwget(8)
        hyperv/
            scripts for communicating with the Hyper-V hypervisor
        lpr/
            utilities and filters for the line printer system; see lpr(1)
        sendmail/
            the sendmail(8) binary; see mailwrapper(8)
        sm.bin/
            restricted shell for sendmail(8); see smrsh(8)
        zfs/
            Z file system utilities

    local/
        local executables, libraries, etc, installed by pkg(7) or ports(7)

        bin/
            local user utilities, see intro(1)
        etc/
            local program configurations
        include/
            local library headers
        lib/
            local libraries
        lib32/
            local 32-bit compatibility libraries
        libdata/
            local utility data files
        libexec/
            utilities executed by local utilities
        sbin/
            local administration utilities
        share/
            local architecture-independent files
        share/doc/
            local documentation
        share/doc/freebsd/
            articles, books, FAQ, and handbooks available from the FreeBSD project
        share/man/
            local manual pages; see man(1)

    obj/
        architecture-specific target tree produced by building FreeBSD from source; see build(7)
    ports/
        FreeBSD ports collection; see ports(7)
    sbin/
        system daemons and utilities meant for user execution; see intro(8)
    share/
        architecture-independent files

        atf/
            scripts for the Automated Testing Framework; see ATF(7)
        bhyve/
            bhyve(8) keyboard mappings
        calendar/
            system-wide calendar files; see calendar(1)
        certs/
            TLS certificates for openssl(1)
        dict/
            word lists; see look(1)

            freebsd
                FreeBSD-specific terms, proper names, and jargon
            web2
                words from Webster's Second International

        doc/
            miscellaneous documentation
        dtrace/
            scripts for the Dynamic Tracing Compiler; see dtrace(1)
        examples/
            various examples for users and programmers
        firmware/
            firmware images loaded by userland programs
        games/
            ASCII text files used by BSD heritage games, see intro(6)
        keys/
            known trusted and revoked keys

            pkg/
                fingerprints for pkg(7) and pkg(8)

        locale/
            localization files; see setlocale(3)
        man/
            system manual pages; see man(1)
        misc/
            miscellaneous system-wide files

            ascii
                chart of the ASCII codepoints
            flowers
                the meanings of flowers
            magic
                magic numbers used by file(1)
            termcap
                terminal characteristics database; see termcap(5)

        mk/ templates for make; see make(1)
        nls/
            national language support files
        security/
            data files for security policies such as mac_lomac(4)
        sendmail/
            sendmail(8) configuration files
        skel/
            example ~. (dot) files for new accounts
        snmp/
            MIBs, example files and tree definitions for the SNMP daemon

            defs/
                tree definition files for use with gensnmptree(1)
            mibs/
                management Information Base (MIB) files

        syscons/
            syscons(4) files

            fonts/
                console fonts; see vidcontrol(1) and vidfont(1)
            keymaps/
                console keyboard maps; see kbdcontrol(1) and kbdmap(1)
            scrnmaps/
                console screen maps

        sysroot/
            files necessary for the -sysroot compiler/linker argument to build non-native binaries

            VERSION/
                files for FreeBSD release VERSION; by convention, “VERSION” matches uname(1) -r
            VERSION/MACHINE.MACHINE_ARCH/
                represent the binary ABI for these files; “MACHINE” matches uname(1) -m; “MACHINE_ARCH” matches uname(1) -p

        tabset/
            tab description files for a variety of terminals; used in the termcap file; see termcap(5)
        vi/ localization support and utilities for the vi(1) editor
        vt/ files used by the system console; see vt(4)

            fonts/
                console fonts; see vidcontrol(1), vidfont(1), and vtfontcvt(8)
            keymaps/
                console keyboard maps; see kbdcontrol(1) and kbdmap(1)

        zoneinfo/
            timezone configuration information; see tzfile(5)

    src/
        FreeBSD source code; see development(7); the layout of the source tree is described by the top-level README.md file

    tests/
        the FreeBSD test suite; see tests(7)

/var/
    log, temporary, transient, and spool files

    account/
        system accounting files

        acct
            execution accounting file; see acct(5)

    at/ timed command scheduling files; see at(1)

        jobs/
            job files
        spool/
            output spool files

    audit/
        security event audit trail files; see audit(8)
    authpf/
        user shell sessions for authenticating gateways; see authpf(8)
    backups/
        critical system configuration backups
    cache/
        miscellaneous cache files

        pkg/
            cached packages for pkg(8)
        cups/
            cached printers for the Common Unix Prinitng system; see cups(1)

    crash/
        default directory to store kernel crash dumps; see crash(8) and savecore(8)
    cron/
        files used by cron; see cron(8)

        tabs/
            crontab files; see crontab(5)

    db/ autogenerated system-specific database files

        etcupdate/
            temporary files and log for etcupdate(8)
        freebsd-update/
            downloads and temporary files for freebsd-update(8)
        pkg/
            package database

    empty/
        for use by programs that require an empty directory, used for instance by sshd(8) for privilege separation
    games/
        status and score files for BSD heritage games
    heimdal/
        Kerberos server databases; see kdc(8)
    lib/
        state information for ported Linux applications
    log/
        system log files

        Xorg.0.log
            Xserver(1) log, if X(7) is installed rotates to Xorg.0.log.old
        aculog
            serial line access log; see cu(1)
        auth.log
            system authentication log
        bsdinstall_log
            system installation log
        cron
            scheduled task log; see cron(8)
        cups/
            logs for cups(1)
        daemon.log
            default log for system daemons
        devd.log
            default log for device state change daemon
        dmesg.today
            kernel message buffer log, rotates to dmesg.yesterday
        debug.log
            undiscarded debug syslog messages
        lpd-errs
            logs for the line printer spooler daemon; see lpd(8)
        maillog
            sendmail(8) log, rotates and compresses to maillog.0.bz2
        messages
            general system message log; see syslogd(8)
        mount.today
            currently loaded fstab(5), rotates to mount.yesterday
        pf.today
            packet filter firewall log; see pf(4)
        pflog
            saved packets caught by pflogd(8)
        ppp.log
            see ppp(8)
        security
            transcript of events marked with the security flag
        setuid.today
            listing of executable files which run with elevated permissions, rotates to setuid.yesterday
        userlog
            logs changes in users or groups
        utx.lastlogin
            last login log; see getutxent(3)
        utx.log
            login/logout log; see getutxent(3)

    mail/
        user mailbox files
    msgs/
        system messages database; see msgs(1)
    preserve/
        unused, present for historical reasons
    quotas/
        UFS quota information files
    run/
        files containing information about the operating system since it was booted

        bhyve/
            bhyve(8) virtual machine unix(4)-domain sockets
        ppp/
            writable by the “network” group for command connection sockets; see ppp(8)
        utx.active
            database of current users; see getutxent(3)
        wpa_supplicant/
            IEEE Std. 802.11 wifi run time files

    rwho/
        information about other systems on the local network; see rwhod(8), rwho(1), and ruptime(1)
    spool/
        printer and mail system spooling directories

        clientmqueue/
            undelivered submission mail queue; see sendmail(8)
        cups/
            print jobs and temporary files for cups(1)
        dma/
            undelivered mail queue for DragonFly Mail Agent; see dma(8)
        lock/
            serial device locks; see uucplock(3)
        lpd/
            line printer spooler daemon spool
        mqueue/
            undelivered mail queue for sendmail(8)
        output/
            line printer spooling directories

    tmp/
        temporary files not removed between system reboots

        vi.recover/
            recovery files for the vi(1) editor

    unbound/
        files and configuration for unbound(8)
    yp/ the NIS maps; see yp(8)

NOTES
This manual page documents the default FreeBSD file system layout. The actual hierarchy on a given system is defined at the system administrator's discretion. A well-maintained installation will include a customized version of this document.

SEE ALSO
apropos(1), find(1), grep(1), ls(1), whereis(1), which(1)

HISTORY
A hier manual page first appeared in 1979 with AT&T UNIX.