FILESYSTEM(7) Standards, Environments, and Macros FILESYSTEM(7)
filesystem - File system organization
/
/usr
The file system tree is organized for administrative convenience.
Distinct areas within the file system tree are provided for files
that are private to one machine, files that can be shared by multiple
machines of a common platform, files that can be shared by all
machines, and home directories. This organization allows sharable
files to be stored on one machine but accessed by many machines using
a remote file access mechanism such as NFS. Grouping together similar
files makes the file system tree easier to upgrade and manage.
The file system tree consists of a root file system and a collection
of mountable file systems. The mount(2) program attaches mountable
file systems to the file system tree at mount points (directory
entries) in the root file system or other previously mounted file
systems. Two file systems, / (the root) and /usr, must be mounted and
/var must be accessible to have a functional system. The root file
system is mounted automatically by the kernel at boot time; the /usr
file system is mounted by the system start-up script, which is run as
part of the booting process. /var can be mounted as its own file
system or be part of /usr, as it is by default.
Certain locations, noted below, are approved installation locations
for bundled Foundation Solaris software. In some cases, the approved
locations for bundled software are also approved locations for add-on
system software or for applications. The following descriptions make
clear where the two locations differ. For example, /etc is the
installation location for platform-dependent configuration files that
are bundled with Solaris software. The analogous location for
applications is /etc/opt/packagename.
In the following descriptions, subsystem is a category of application
or system software, such as a window system (dt) or a language
(java1.2)
The following descriptions make use of the terms platform, platform-
dependent, platform-independent, and platform-specific. Platform
refers to a machines Instruction Set Architecture or processor type,
such as is returned by uname -i. Platform-dependent refers to a file
that is installed on all platforms and whose contents vary depending
on the platform. Like a platform-dependent file, a platform-
independent file is installed on all platforms. However, the contents
of the latter type remains the same on all platforms. An example of a
platform-dependent file is compiled, executable program. An example
of a platform-independent file is a standard configuration file, such
as /etc/hosts. Unlike a platform-dependent or a platform-independent
file, the platform-specific file is installed only on a subset of
supported platforms. Most platform-specific files are gathered under
/platform and /usr/platform.
The root file system contains files that are unique to each machine.
It contains the following directories:
/
Root of the overall file system name space.
/dev
The device name file system. See dev(4FS).
/dev/cfg
Symbolic links to physical ap_ids.
/dev/cpu
Provides configuration and capability information about the
processor type
/dev/cua
Device files for uucp.
/dev/dsk
Block disk devices.
/dev/dtrace
Pseudo-devices used by the DTrace framework.
/dev/dtrace/provider
Pseudo-device drivers representing instrumentation providers for
the DTrace framework.
/dev/fbs
Frame buffer device files.
/dev/fd
File descriptors.
/dev/net
Network data-link interface devices.
/dev/printers
USB printer device files.
/dev/pts
Pseudo-terminal devices.
/dev/rdsk
Raw disk devices.
/dev/rmt
Raw tape devices.
/dev/sad
Entry points for the STREAMS Administrative driver.
/dev/sound
Audio device and audio device control files.
/dev/swap
Default swap device.
/dev/term
Terminal devices.
/devices
The devices file system. See devfs(4FS).
/etc
Platform-dependent administrative and configuration files and
databases that are not shared among systems. /etc may be viewed
as the directory that defines the machine's identity. An approved
installation location for bundled Solaris software. The analogous
location for add-on system software or for applications is
/etc/opt/packagename.
/etc/X11
Xorg Xserver (X11) configuration files.
/etc/acct
Process accounting system configuration information.
/etc/cron.d
Configuration information for cron(8).
/etc/dat
Contains a list of interface adapters supported by uDAPL service
providers.
/etc/default
Defaults information for various programs.
/etc/devices
Contains device-related data.
/etc/dfs
Configuration information for shared file systems.
/etc/dhcp
Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) configuration files.
/etc/fm
Fault manager configuration files. For more information, see
fmd(8).
/etc/fonts
Font configuration information.
/etc/fs
Binaries organized by file system types for operations required
before /usr is mounted.
/etc/ftpd
ftpd configuration files.
/etc/gss
Generic Security Service (GSS) Application Program Interface
configuration files.
/etc/inet
Configuration files for Internet services.
/etc/init.d
Shell scripts for transitioning between init states. The service
management facility, smf(7) is the preferred mechanism for
managing services.
/etc/krb5
Kerberos configuration files.
/etc/lib
Shared libraries needed during booting.
/etc/llc2
Logical link control (llc2) driver configuration files.
/etc/lp
Configuration information for the printer subsystem.
/etc/mail
Mail subsystem configuration.
/etc/nca
Solaris Network Cache and Accelerator (NCA) configuration files.
/etc/net
Configuration information for transport independent network
services.
/etc/nfs
NFS server logging configuration file.
/etc/opt
Configuration information for optional packages.
/etc/ppp
Solaris PPP configuration files.
/etc/rc0.d
Scripts for entering or leaving run level 0. See init(8).
/etc/rc1.d
Scripts for entering or leaving run level 1. See init(8).
/etc/rc2.d
Scripts for entering or leaving run level 2. See init(8).
/etc/rc3.d
Scripts for entering or leaving run level 3. See init(8).
/etc/rcS.d
Scripts for bringing the system up in single user mode.
/etc/rcm
Directory for reconfiguration manager (RCM) custom scripts.
/etc/saf
Service Access Facility files.
/etc/sasl
Simple Authentication and Security Layer (SASL) server
configuration files.
/etc/security
Solaris-delivered security configuration files (Audit, RBAC,
crypto, Trusted Extensions).
/etc/skel
Default profile scripts for new user accounts. See useradd(8).
/etc/sound
Sound Events configuration files.
/etc/ssh
Secure Shell configuration files. See ssh(1)
/etc/svc
SMF service repository.
/etc/sysevent
syseventd configuration files.
/etc/subsystem
Platform-dependent subsystem configuration files that are not
shared among systems. An approved installation location for
bundled Solaris software. The analogous location for add-on
system software or for applications is /etc/opt/packagename.
/etc/tm
Trademark files; contents displayed at boot time.
/etc/usb
USB configuration information.
/etc/uucp
UUCP configuration information. See uucp(1C).
/etc/xml
Extensible Markup Language (XML) catalog.
/etc/zfs
Contains the zfs state file, zpool.cache.
/etc/zones
Solaris Zones configuration files.
/export
Default root of the shared file system tree.
/home
Default root of a subtree for user directories. Often managed by
the automounter, see automount(8) for more details.
/kernel
Subtree of platform-dependent loadable kernel modules required as
part of the boot process. It includes the generic part of the
core kernel that is platform-independent, /kernel/genunix. See
kernel(8) An approved installation location for bundled Solaris
software and for add-on system software.
/kernel/drv
32-bit x86 device drivers.
/kernel/drv/sparcv9
64-bit SPARC device drivers.
/kernel/drv/amd64
64-bit device drivers for 64-bit x86 platforms.
/kernel/dtrace
Kernel modules representing components in the DTrace framework.
/kernel/genunix
Platform-independent kernel.
/kernel/amd64/genunix
64-bit, platform-independent kernel.
/kernel/subsystem/amd64
64-bit x86 platform-dependent modules required for boot. An
approved installation location for bundled Solaris software and
for add-on system software.
/kernel/subsystem/sparcv9
64-bit SPARC platform-dependent modules required for boot. An
approved installation location for bundled Solaris software and
for add-on system software.
/lib/svc/manifest
SMF method scripts. An approved installation location for bundled
Solaris software. The analogous location for add-on system
software or for applications is
/opt/packagename/lib/svc/manifest.
/mnt
Default temporary mount point for file systems. This is an empty
directory on which file systems can be temporarily mounted.
/net
Temporary mount point for file systems that are mounted by the
automounter.
/opt
Root of a subtree for add-on application packages.
/platform
Subtree of platform-specific objects which need to reside on the
root filesystem. It contains a series of directories, one per
supported platform. The semantics of the series of directories
is equivalent to / (root).
/platform/`uname -i`/kernel
Platform-specific modules required for boot. These modules have
semantics equivalent to /kernel. It includes the file unix, the
core kernel. See kernel(8). An approved installation location
for bundled Solaris software and for add-on system software.
/platform/`uname -m`/kernel
Hardware class-specific modules required for boot. An approved
installation location for bundled Solaris software and for add-on
system software.
/platform/`uname -i`/kernel/subsystem/amd64
x86 64-bit, platform-dependent modules required for boot. This is
an approved installation location for bundled Solaris software.
/platform/`uname -i`/kernel/subsystem/sparcv9
SPARC 64-bit platform-specific modules required for boot. An
approved installation location for bundled Solaris software.
/platform/`uname -i`/kernel/sparcv9/unix
64-bit platform-dependent kernel.
/platform/`uname -i`/kernel/unix
32-bit platform-dependent kernel on i86 and a symlink to
sparcv9/unix on SPARC.
/platform/`uname -i`/lib
Platform-specific shared objects required for boot. Semantics are
equivalent to /lib. An approved installation location for bundled
Solaris software and for add-on system software.
/platform/`uname -i`/sbin
Platform-specific administrative utilities required for boot.
Semantics are equivalent to /sbin. An approved installation
location for bundled Solaris software and for add-on system
software.
/proc
Root of a subtree for the process file system. See proc(5).
/sbin
Essential executables used in the booting process and in manual
system recovery. The full complement of utilities is available
only after /usr is mounted. /sbin is an approved installation
location for bundled Solaris software.
/system
Mount point for the contract (CTFS) and object (OBJFS) file
systems. See ctfs(4FS) and objfs(4FS).
/tmp
Temporary files. Usually mounted as a memory based file system.
See tmpfs(4FS).
/usr
Mount point for the /usr file system. See description of /usr
file system, below.
/var
Root of a subtree for varying files. Varying files are files that
are unique to a machine but that can grow to an arbitrary (that
is, variable) size. An example is a log file. An approved
installation location for bundled Solaris software. The analogous
location for add-on system software or for applications is
/var/opt/packagename.
/var/adm
System logging and accounting files.
/var/audit
Default location for Audit log files.
/var/cores
Directory provided for global core files storage. See coreadm(8).
/var/crash
Default depository for kernel crash dumps. See dumpadm(8).
/var/cron
Log files for cron(8).
/var/fm
Fault manager state files. For more information, see fmd(8).
/var/ftp
FTP server directory.
/var/inet
IPv6 router state files.
/var/krb5
Database and log files for Kerberos.
/var/ld
Configuration files for runtime linker. See crle(1).
/var/ldap
LDAP client configuration files.
/var/lib
Directory for variable state information.
/var/log
System log files.
/var/lp
Line printer subsystem logging information.
/var/mail
Directory where users' mail is kept.
/var/news
Community service messages. This is not the same as USENET-style
news.
/var/nfs
NFS server log files.
/var/ntp
Network Time Protocol (NTP) server state directory.
/var/opt
Root of a subtree for varying files associated with optional
software packages. An approved installation location for add-on
system software and applications.
/var/pkg
Data associated with the Image Packaging System.
/var/preserve
Backup files for vi(1) and ex(1).
/var/run
Temporary files which are not needed across reboots. Only root
may modify the contents of this directory.
/var/sadm
Data associated with legacy SVR4 package management utilities.
/var/saf
Service access facility logging and accounting files.
/var/spool
Contains directories for files used in printer spooling, mail
delivery, cron(8), at(1), and so forth.
/var/spool/clientmqueue
sendmail(8) client files.
/var/spool/cron
cron(8) and at(1) spooling files.
/var/spool/locks
Spooling lock files.
/var/spool/lp
Line printer spool files. See lp(1).
/var/spool/mqueue
Mail queued for delivery.
/var/spool/pkg
Spooled packages.
/var/spool/print
LP print service client-side request staging area.
/var/spool/uucp
Queued uucp(1C) jobs.
/var/spool/uucppublic
Files deposited by uucp(1C).
/var/statmon
Network status monitor files.
/var/svc/log
SMF log files.
/var/svc/manifest
SMF service manifests. An approved installation location for
bundled, add-on system software and applications.
/var/svc/manifest/site
Site-local SMF service manifests.
/var/tmp
Files that vary in size or presence during normal system
operations. This directory is not cleared during the boot
operation. An approved installation location for bundled Solaris
software and for add-on system software and applications.
It is possible to change the default behavior for /var/tmp to
clear all of the files except editor temporary files by setting
the clean_vartmp property value of the rmtmpfiles service. This
is done with the following commands:
# svccfg -s svc:/system/rmtmpfiles setprop \
options/clean_vartmp = "true"
# svcadm refresh svc:/system/rmtmpfiles:default
The solaris.smf.value.rmtmpfiles authorization is required to
modify this property.
/var/uucp
uucp(1C) log and status files.
/var/yp
Databases used by NIS and ypbind(8).
/usr File System
Because it is desirable to keep the root file system small and not
volatile, on disk-based systems larger file systems are often mounted
on /home, /opt, /usr, and /var.
The file system mounted on /usr contains platform-dependent and
platform-independent sharable files. The subtree rooted at /usr/share
contains platform-independent sharable files; the rest of the /usr
tree contains platform-dependent files. By mounting a common remote
file system, a group of machines with a common platform may share a
single /usr file system. A single /usr/share file system can be
shared by machines of any platform. A machine acting as a file server
can share many different /usr file systems to support several
different architectures and operating system releases. Clients
usually mount /usr read-only so that they do not accidentally change
any shared files.
The /usr file system contains the following subdirectories:
/usr/5bin
Symbolic link to the /usr/bin directory.
/usr/X11
Xorg Xserver (X11) executables and documentation.
/usr/adm
Symbolic link to the /var/adm directory.
/usr/bin
Platform-dependent, user-invoked executables. These are commands
users expect to be run as part of their normal $PATH. For
executables that are different on a 64-bit system than on a
32-bit system, a wrapper that selects the appropriate executable
is placed here. See isaexec(3C). An approved installation
location for bundled Solaris software. The analogous location for
add-on system software or for applications is
/opt/packagename/bin.
/usr/bin/amd64
x86 64-bit, platform-dependent, user-invoked executables. This
directory should not be part of a user's $PATH. A wrapper in
/usr/bin should invoke the executable in this directory. See
isaexec(3C). An approved installation location for bundled
Solaris software. The analogous location for add-on system
software or for applications is /opt/packagename/bin/amd64.
/usr/bin/sparcv9
SPARC platform-dependent, user-invoked executables. This
directory should not be part of a user's $PATH. A wrapper in
/usr/bin should invoke the executable in this directory. See
isaexec(3C). An approved installation location for bundled
Solaris software. The analogous location for add-on system
software or for applications is /opt/packagename/bin/sparcv9.
/usr/bin/subsystem
Platform-dependent user-invoked executables that are associated
with subsystem. These are commands users expect to be run as part
of their normal $PATH. An approved installation location for
bundled Solaris software. The analogous location for add-on
system software or for applications is /opt/packagename/bin.
/usr/subsystem/bin
Platform-dependent user-invoked executables that are associated
with subsystem. These are commands users expect to be run as part
of their normal $PATH. An approved installation location for
bundled Solaris software. The analogous location for add-on
system software or for applications is /opt/packagename/bin.
/usr/subsystem/bin/amd64
x86 64-bit, platform-dependent, user-invoked executables. This
directory should not be part of a user's $PATH. A wrapper in
/usr/bin should invoke the executable in this directory. See
isaexec(3C). An approved installation location for bundled
Solaris software. The analogous location for add-on system
software or for applications is /opt/packagename/bin/amd64.
/usr/subsystem/bin/sparcv9
SPARC 64-bit, platform-dependent, user-invoked executables. This
directory should not be part of a user's $PATH. A wrapper in
/usr/bin should invoke the executable in this directory. See
isaexec(3C). An approved installation location for bundled
Solaris software. The analogous location for add-on system
software or for applications is /opt/packagename/bin/sparcv9.
/usr/ccs
Former location of files for the C compilation system, now
containing compatibility symbolic links to their new locations in
/usr/bin and /usr/lib.
/usr/demo
Demo programs and data.
/usr/dict
Symbolic link to the /usr/share/lib/dict directory, which
contains the dictionary file used by the UNIX spell program.
/usr/include
Include headers (for C programs).
/usr/java*
Directories containing Java programs and libraries.
/usr/jdk*
Java Platform virtual machine and core class libraries.
/usr/kernel
Subtree of platform-dependent loadable kernel modules, not needed
in the root filesystem. An approved installation location for
bundled Solaris software.
/usr/kvm
A mount point, retained for backward compatibility, that formerly
contained platform-specific binaries and libraries.
/usr/lib
Platform-dependent libraries, various databases, commands and
daemons not invoked directly by a human user. An approved
installation location for bundled Solaris software. The analogous
location for add-on system software or for applications is
/opt/packagename/lib.
/usr/lib/32
Symbolic link to /usr/lib.
/usr/lib/64
Symbolic link to the most portable 64-bit Solaris interfaces, on
both SPARC and x86 platforms.
/usr/lib/acct
Accounting scripts and binaries. See acct(8).
/usr/lib/adb
adb accounting scripts.
/usr/lib/amd64
Platform-dependent libraries, various databases, commands and
daemons not invoked directly by a human user on 64-bit x86. An
approved installation location for bundled Solaris software. The
analogous location for add-on system software or for applications
is /opt/packagename/lib/amd64.
/usr/lib/autofs
Contains the automountd executable.
/usr/lib/cfgadm
Contains cfgadm hardware-specific driver plugins.
/usr/lib/class
Scheduling-class-specific directories containing executables for
priocntl(1) and dispadmin(8).
/usr/lib/crypto
Contains the kernel-level cryptographic framework daemon (kcfd).
/usr/lib/devfsadm
Contains devfsadm, the daemon version of devfsadm.
/usr/lib/dict
Database files for spell(1).
/usr/lib/dtrace
Contains dtrace D source files.
/usr/lib/fm
Contains fmd, the fault manager daemon and the fault manager
library.
/usr/lib/font
troff(1) font description files.
/usr/lib/fs
File system type dependent modules; generally not intended to be
invoked directly by the user.
/usr/lib/gss
Secure services-related libraries.
/usr/lib/iconv
Conversion tables for iconv(1).
/usr/lib/inet
Contains many network-related daemons and libraries.
/usr/lib/ipf
Contains IPFILTER.LICENCE and ipftest.
/usr/lib/ipqosconf
IPQoS configuration utility.
/usr/lib/krb5
Contains the Kerberos database propagation program and libraries.
/usr/lib/ld
Contains the map files for the ld link editor.
/usr/lib/ldap
Contains LDAP client configuration utilities.
/usr/lib/libp
Profiled libraries.
/usr/lib/llc2
Contains logical link control (llc2) driver configuration files.
/usr/lib/locale
Localization databases.
/usr/lib/lp
Line printer subsystem databases and back-end executables.
/usr/lib/netsvc
Internet network services.
/usr/lib/nfs
Auxiliary NFS-related programs and daemons.
/usr/lib/picl
Platform Information and Control Library.
/usr/lib/pool
Contains the automated resource pools partitioning daemon (poold)
and associated libraries.
/usr/lib/power
Power management daemon, powerd.
/usr/lib/print
Contains lp conversion scripts and the in.lpd daemon.
/usr/lib/rcap
Resource cap enforcement daemon, rcapd.
/usr/lib/rcm
Contains the Reconfiguration and Coordination Manager daemon
(rcm_daemon) and RCM scripts.
/usr/lib/refer
Auxiliary programs for refer(1).
/usr/lib/sa
Scripts and commands for the system activity report package. See
sar(1).
/usr/lib/saf
Auxiliary programs and daemons related to the service access
facility.
/usr/lib/sasl
Simple Authentication and Security Layer (SASL) plug-in modules.
/usr/lib/secure
Default trusted libraries.
/usr/lib/security
Solaris security plug-in modules.
/usr/lib/smedia
Removable media device server daemon, rpc.smserverd.
/usr/lib/sparcv9
SPARC 64-bit, platform-dependent libraries, various databases,
commands and daemons not invoked directly by a human user. An
approved installation location for bundled Solaris software. The
analogous location for add-on system software or for applications
is /opt/packagename/lib/sparcv9.
/usr/lib/spell
Auxiliary programs and databases for spell(1). This directory is
only present when the Binary Compatibility Package is installed.
/usr/lib/subsystem
Platform-dependent libraries, various databases, commands and
daemons that are associated with subsystem and that are not
invoked directly by a human user. An approved installation
location for bundled Solaris software. The analogous location for
add-on system software or for applications is
/opt/packagename/lib.
/usr/lib/subsystem/amd64
x86 64-bit, platform-dependent libraries, various databases,
commands and daemons that are associated with subsystem and that
are not invoked directly by a human user. An approved
installation location for bundled Solaris software. The analogous
location for add-on system software or for applications is
/opt/packagename/lib/amd64.
/usr/lib/subsystem/sparcv9
SPARC 64-bit, platform-dependent libraries, various databases,
commands and daemons that are associated with subsystem and that
are not invoked directly by a human user. An approved
installation location for bundled Solaris software. The analogous
location for add-on system software or for applications is
/opt/packagename/lib/sparcv9.
/usr/subsystem/lib
Platform-dependent libraries, various databases, commands and
daemons not invoked directly by a human user. An approved
installation location for bundled Solaris software. The analogous
location for add-on system software or for applications is
/opt/packagename/lib.
/usr/subsystem/lib/amd64
x86 64-bit, platform-dependent libraries, various databases,
commands and daemons that are associated with subsystem and that
are not invoked directly by a human user. An approved
installation location for bundled Solaris software. The analogous
location for add-on system software or for applications is
/opt/packagename/lib/amd64.
/usr/subsystem/lib/sparcv9
SPARC 64-bit, platform-dependent libraries, various databases,
commands and daemons that are associated with subsystem and that
are not invoked directly by a human user. An approved
installation location for bundled Solaris software. The analogous
location for add-on system software or for applications is
/opt/packagename/lib/sparcv9.
/usr/lib/sysevent
Contains the system event notification daemon (syseventd) and the
syseventd loadable module (SLM) repository.
/usr/lib/uucp
Auxiliary programs and daemons for uucp(1C).
/usr/lib/zones
Zone administration daemon (zoneadmd).
/usr/local
Not part of the SVR4-based Solaris distribution. The /usr
directory is exclusively for software bundled with the Solaris
operating system. If needed for storing machine-local add-on
software, create the directory /opt/local and make /usr/local a
symbolic link to /opt/local. The /opt directory or filesystem is
for storing add-on software to the system.
/usr/mail
Symbolic link to the /var/mail directory.
/usr/man
Symbolic link to the /usr/share/man directory.
/usr/net/servers
Entry points for foreign name service requests relayed using the
network listener. See listen(8).
/usr/news
Symbolic link to the /var/news directory.
/usr/old
Programs that are being phased out.
/usr/perl5
Perl 5 programs and documentation
/usr/platform
Subtree of platform-specific objects which does not need to
reside on the root filesystem. It contains a series of
directories, one per supported platform. The semantics of the
series of directories is equivalent to /platform, except for
subdirectories which do not provide utility under one or the
other (for example, /platform/include is not needed).
/usr/platform/`uname -i`/include
Symbolic link to /../`uname -i`/include. Platform-specific system
(sys, vm) header files with semantics equivalent to /usr/include.
An approved installation location for bundled Solaris software
and for add-on system software.
/usr/platform/`uname -i`/lib
Platform-specific shared objects with semantics equivalent to
/usr/lib. An approved installation location for bundled Solaris
software and for add-on system software.
/usr/platform/`uname -i`/lib/subsystem/amd64
x86 64-bit, platform-specific daemon and shared objects. An
approved installation location for bundled Solaris software and
for add-on system software.
/usr/platform/`uname -i`/sbin
Platform-specific system administration utilities with semantics
equivalent to /usr/sbin. An approved installation location for
bundled Solaris software and for add-on system software.
/usr/preserve
Symbolic link to the /var/preserve directory.
/usr/proc
Former location of the proc(1) tools, now containing
compatibility symbolic links to their new locations in /usr/bin.
/usr/pub
Symbolic link to /share/lib/pub, which contains files for online
man page and character processing.
/usr/sadm
System administration files and directories.
/usr/sadm/install
Executables and scripts for package management.
/usr/sbin
Platform-dependent executables for system administration,
expected to be run only by system administrators. An approved
installation location for bundled Solaris software. The analogous
location for add-on system software or for applications is
/opt/packagename/sbin.
/usr/sbin/sparcv7 and sparcv9
32-bit and 64-bit SPARC versions of commands.
/usr/sbin/amd64
64-bit x86 versions of commands.
/usr/sbin/subsystem
Platform-dependent executables for system administration,
expected to be run only by system administrators, and associated
with subsystem. An approved installation location for bundled
Solaris software. The analogous location for add-on system
software or for applications is /opt/packagename/sbin.
/usr/subsystem/sbin
Platform-dependent executables for system administration,
expected to be run only by system administrators, and associated
with subsystem. An approved installation location for bundled
Solaris software. The analogous location for add-on system
software or for applications is /opt/packagename/sbin.
/usr/share
Platform-independent sharable files. An approved installation
location for bundled Solaris software.
/usr/share/aclocal
Open source m4 files.
/usr/share/applications
Desktop application files.
/usr/share/audio
Sample audio files.
/usr/share/icons
Desktop icon files.
/usr/share/intltool
XML translation tools.
/usr/share/ipfilter
Open source IP Filter sample files.
/usr/share/lib
Platform-independent sharable databases. An approved installation
location for bundled Solaris software.
/usr/share/lib/dict
Contains word list for spell(1).
/usr/share/lib/keytables
Keyboard layout description tables.
/usr/share/lib/mailx
Help files for mailx(1).
/usr/share/lib/nterm
nroff(1) terminal tables.
/usr/share/lib/pub
Character set data files.
/usr/share/lib/tabset
Tab setting escape sequences.
/usr/share/lib/terminfo
Terminal description files for terminfo(5).
/usr/share/lib/tmac
Macro packages and related files for text processing tools, for
example, nroff(1) and troff(1).
/usr/share/lib/zoneinfo
Time zone information.
/usr/share/man
Platform-independent sharable manual pages. An approved
installation location for bundled Solaris software. The analogous
location for add-on system software or for applications is
/opt/packagename/man.
/usr/share/pixmaps
Desktop icon files.
/usr/share/sounds
Sound files.
/usr/share/src
Source code for kernel, utilities, and libraries.
/usr/share/themes
Desktop themes.
/usr/snadm
Files related to system and network administration.
/usr/spool
Symbolic link to the /var/spool directory.
/usr/src
Symbolic link to the /usr/share/src directory.
/usr/tmp
Symbolic link to the /var/tmp directory.
/usr/ucb
Berkeley compatibility package binaries.
/usr/ucbinclude
Berkeley compatibility package headers.
/usr/ucblib
Berkeley compatibility package libraries.
/usr/xpg4
Directory for POSIX-compliant utilities.
/usr/xpg6
Directory for newer versions of POSIX-compliant utilities.
at(1), ex(1), iconv(1), isainfo(1), lp(1), mail(1), mailx(1),
nroff(1), priocntl(1), refer(1), sar(1), sh(1), spell(1), svcs(1),
troff(1), uname(1), vi(1), uucp(1C), mount(2), ctfs(4FS), dev(4FS),
devfs(4FS), objfs(4FS), tmpfs(4FS), Intro(5), proc(5), terminfo(5),
smf(7), acct(8), cron(8), dispadmin(8), dladm(8), fmd(8), fsck(8),
init(8), kernel(8), mknod(8), mount(8), svcadm(8), svccfg(8),
useradd(8), ypbind(8)
March 23, 2025 FILESYSTEM(7)
NAME
filesystem - File system organization
SYNOPSIS
/
/usr
DESCRIPTION
The file system tree is organized for administrative convenience.
Distinct areas within the file system tree are provided for files
that are private to one machine, files that can be shared by multiple
machines of a common platform, files that can be shared by all
machines, and home directories. This organization allows sharable
files to be stored on one machine but accessed by many machines using
a remote file access mechanism such as NFS. Grouping together similar
files makes the file system tree easier to upgrade and manage.
The file system tree consists of a root file system and a collection
of mountable file systems. The mount(2) program attaches mountable
file systems to the file system tree at mount points (directory
entries) in the root file system or other previously mounted file
systems. Two file systems, / (the root) and /usr, must be mounted and
/var must be accessible to have a functional system. The root file
system is mounted automatically by the kernel at boot time; the /usr
file system is mounted by the system start-up script, which is run as
part of the booting process. /var can be mounted as its own file
system or be part of /usr, as it is by default.
Certain locations, noted below, are approved installation locations
for bundled Foundation Solaris software. In some cases, the approved
locations for bundled software are also approved locations for add-on
system software or for applications. The following descriptions make
clear where the two locations differ. For example, /etc is the
installation location for platform-dependent configuration files that
are bundled with Solaris software. The analogous location for
applications is /etc/opt/packagename.
In the following descriptions, subsystem is a category of application
or system software, such as a window system (dt) or a language
(java1.2)
The following descriptions make use of the terms platform, platform-
dependent, platform-independent, and platform-specific. Platform
refers to a machines Instruction Set Architecture or processor type,
such as is returned by uname -i. Platform-dependent refers to a file
that is installed on all platforms and whose contents vary depending
on the platform. Like a platform-dependent file, a platform-
independent file is installed on all platforms. However, the contents
of the latter type remains the same on all platforms. An example of a
platform-dependent file is compiled, executable program. An example
of a platform-independent file is a standard configuration file, such
as /etc/hosts. Unlike a platform-dependent or a platform-independent
file, the platform-specific file is installed only on a subset of
supported platforms. Most platform-specific files are gathered under
/platform and /usr/platform.
Root File System
The root file system contains files that are unique to each machine.
It contains the following directories:
/
Root of the overall file system name space.
/dev
The device name file system. See dev(4FS).
/dev/cfg
Symbolic links to physical ap_ids.
/dev/cpu
Provides configuration and capability information about the
processor type
/dev/cua
Device files for uucp.
/dev/dsk
Block disk devices.
/dev/dtrace
Pseudo-devices used by the DTrace framework.
/dev/dtrace/provider
Pseudo-device drivers representing instrumentation providers for
the DTrace framework.
/dev/fbs
Frame buffer device files.
/dev/fd
File descriptors.
/dev/net
Network data-link interface devices.
/dev/printers
USB printer device files.
/dev/pts
Pseudo-terminal devices.
/dev/rdsk
Raw disk devices.
/dev/rmt
Raw tape devices.
/dev/sad
Entry points for the STREAMS Administrative driver.
/dev/sound
Audio device and audio device control files.
/dev/swap
Default swap device.
/dev/term
Terminal devices.
/devices
The devices file system. See devfs(4FS).
/etc
Platform-dependent administrative and configuration files and
databases that are not shared among systems. /etc may be viewed
as the directory that defines the machine's identity. An approved
installation location for bundled Solaris software. The analogous
location for add-on system software or for applications is
/etc/opt/packagename.
/etc/X11
Xorg Xserver (X11) configuration files.
/etc/acct
Process accounting system configuration information.
/etc/cron.d
Configuration information for cron(8).
/etc/dat
Contains a list of interface adapters supported by uDAPL service
providers.
/etc/default
Defaults information for various programs.
/etc/devices
Contains device-related data.
/etc/dfs
Configuration information for shared file systems.
/etc/dhcp
Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) configuration files.
/etc/fm
Fault manager configuration files. For more information, see
fmd(8).
/etc/fonts
Font configuration information.
/etc/fs
Binaries organized by file system types for operations required
before /usr is mounted.
/etc/ftpd
ftpd configuration files.
/etc/gss
Generic Security Service (GSS) Application Program Interface
configuration files.
/etc/inet
Configuration files for Internet services.
/etc/init.d
Shell scripts for transitioning between init states. The service
management facility, smf(7) is the preferred mechanism for
managing services.
/etc/krb5
Kerberos configuration files.
/etc/lib
Shared libraries needed during booting.
/etc/llc2
Logical link control (llc2) driver configuration files.
/etc/lp
Configuration information for the printer subsystem.
/etc/mail
Mail subsystem configuration.
/etc/nca
Solaris Network Cache and Accelerator (NCA) configuration files.
/etc/net
Configuration information for transport independent network
services.
/etc/nfs
NFS server logging configuration file.
/etc/opt
Configuration information for optional packages.
/etc/ppp
Solaris PPP configuration files.
/etc/rc0.d
Scripts for entering or leaving run level 0. See init(8).
/etc/rc1.d
Scripts for entering or leaving run level 1. See init(8).
/etc/rc2.d
Scripts for entering or leaving run level 2. See init(8).
/etc/rc3.d
Scripts for entering or leaving run level 3. See init(8).
/etc/rcS.d
Scripts for bringing the system up in single user mode.
/etc/rcm
Directory for reconfiguration manager (RCM) custom scripts.
/etc/saf
Service Access Facility files.
/etc/sasl
Simple Authentication and Security Layer (SASL) server
configuration files.
/etc/security
Solaris-delivered security configuration files (Audit, RBAC,
crypto, Trusted Extensions).
/etc/skel
Default profile scripts for new user accounts. See useradd(8).
/etc/sound
Sound Events configuration files.
/etc/ssh
Secure Shell configuration files. See ssh(1)
/etc/svc
SMF service repository.
/etc/sysevent
syseventd configuration files.
/etc/subsystem
Platform-dependent subsystem configuration files that are not
shared among systems. An approved installation location for
bundled Solaris software. The analogous location for add-on
system software or for applications is /etc/opt/packagename.
/etc/tm
Trademark files; contents displayed at boot time.
/etc/usb
USB configuration information.
/etc/uucp
UUCP configuration information. See uucp(1C).
/etc/xml
Extensible Markup Language (XML) catalog.
/etc/zfs
Contains the zfs state file, zpool.cache.
/etc/zones
Solaris Zones configuration files.
/export
Default root of the shared file system tree.
/home
Default root of a subtree for user directories. Often managed by
the automounter, see automount(8) for more details.
/kernel
Subtree of platform-dependent loadable kernel modules required as
part of the boot process. It includes the generic part of the
core kernel that is platform-independent, /kernel/genunix. See
kernel(8) An approved installation location for bundled Solaris
software and for add-on system software.
/kernel/drv
32-bit x86 device drivers.
/kernel/drv/sparcv9
64-bit SPARC device drivers.
/kernel/drv/amd64
64-bit device drivers for 64-bit x86 platforms.
/kernel/dtrace
Kernel modules representing components in the DTrace framework.
/kernel/genunix
Platform-independent kernel.
/kernel/amd64/genunix
64-bit, platform-independent kernel.
/kernel/subsystem/amd64
64-bit x86 platform-dependent modules required for boot. An
approved installation location for bundled Solaris software and
for add-on system software.
/kernel/subsystem/sparcv9
64-bit SPARC platform-dependent modules required for boot. An
approved installation location for bundled Solaris software and
for add-on system software.
/lib/svc/manifest
SMF method scripts. An approved installation location for bundled
Solaris software. The analogous location for add-on system
software or for applications is
/opt/packagename/lib/svc/manifest.
/mnt
Default temporary mount point for file systems. This is an empty
directory on which file systems can be temporarily mounted.
/net
Temporary mount point for file systems that are mounted by the
automounter.
/opt
Root of a subtree for add-on application packages.
/platform
Subtree of platform-specific objects which need to reside on the
root filesystem. It contains a series of directories, one per
supported platform. The semantics of the series of directories
is equivalent to / (root).
/platform/`uname -i`/kernel
Platform-specific modules required for boot. These modules have
semantics equivalent to /kernel. It includes the file unix, the
core kernel. See kernel(8). An approved installation location
for bundled Solaris software and for add-on system software.
/platform/`uname -m`/kernel
Hardware class-specific modules required for boot. An approved
installation location for bundled Solaris software and for add-on
system software.
/platform/`uname -i`/kernel/subsystem/amd64
x86 64-bit, platform-dependent modules required for boot. This is
an approved installation location for bundled Solaris software.
/platform/`uname -i`/kernel/subsystem/sparcv9
SPARC 64-bit platform-specific modules required for boot. An
approved installation location for bundled Solaris software.
/platform/`uname -i`/kernel/sparcv9/unix
64-bit platform-dependent kernel.
/platform/`uname -i`/kernel/unix
32-bit platform-dependent kernel on i86 and a symlink to
sparcv9/unix on SPARC.
/platform/`uname -i`/lib
Platform-specific shared objects required for boot. Semantics are
equivalent to /lib. An approved installation location for bundled
Solaris software and for add-on system software.
/platform/`uname -i`/sbin
Platform-specific administrative utilities required for boot.
Semantics are equivalent to /sbin. An approved installation
location for bundled Solaris software and for add-on system
software.
/proc
Root of a subtree for the process file system. See proc(5).
/sbin
Essential executables used in the booting process and in manual
system recovery. The full complement of utilities is available
only after /usr is mounted. /sbin is an approved installation
location for bundled Solaris software.
/system
Mount point for the contract (CTFS) and object (OBJFS) file
systems. See ctfs(4FS) and objfs(4FS).
/tmp
Temporary files. Usually mounted as a memory based file system.
See tmpfs(4FS).
/usr
Mount point for the /usr file system. See description of /usr
file system, below.
/var
Root of a subtree for varying files. Varying files are files that
are unique to a machine but that can grow to an arbitrary (that
is, variable) size. An example is a log file. An approved
installation location for bundled Solaris software. The analogous
location for add-on system software or for applications is
/var/opt/packagename.
/var/adm
System logging and accounting files.
/var/audit
Default location for Audit log files.
/var/cores
Directory provided for global core files storage. See coreadm(8).
/var/crash
Default depository for kernel crash dumps. See dumpadm(8).
/var/cron
Log files for cron(8).
/var/fm
Fault manager state files. For more information, see fmd(8).
/var/ftp
FTP server directory.
/var/inet
IPv6 router state files.
/var/krb5
Database and log files for Kerberos.
/var/ld
Configuration files for runtime linker. See crle(1).
/var/ldap
LDAP client configuration files.
/var/lib
Directory for variable state information.
/var/log
System log files.
/var/lp
Line printer subsystem logging information.
/var/mail
Directory where users' mail is kept.
/var/news
Community service messages. This is not the same as USENET-style
news.
/var/nfs
NFS server log files.
/var/ntp
Network Time Protocol (NTP) server state directory.
/var/opt
Root of a subtree for varying files associated with optional
software packages. An approved installation location for add-on
system software and applications.
/var/pkg
Data associated with the Image Packaging System.
/var/preserve
Backup files for vi(1) and ex(1).
/var/run
Temporary files which are not needed across reboots. Only root
may modify the contents of this directory.
/var/sadm
Data associated with legacy SVR4 package management utilities.
/var/saf
Service access facility logging and accounting files.
/var/spool
Contains directories for files used in printer spooling, mail
delivery, cron(8), at(1), and so forth.
/var/spool/clientmqueue
sendmail(8) client files.
/var/spool/cron
cron(8) and at(1) spooling files.
/var/spool/locks
Spooling lock files.
/var/spool/lp
Line printer spool files. See lp(1).
/var/spool/mqueue
Mail queued for delivery.
/var/spool/pkg
Spooled packages.
/var/spool/print
LP print service client-side request staging area.
/var/spool/uucp
Queued uucp(1C) jobs.
/var/spool/uucppublic
Files deposited by uucp(1C).
/var/statmon
Network status monitor files.
/var/svc/log
SMF log files.
/var/svc/manifest
SMF service manifests. An approved installation location for
bundled, add-on system software and applications.
/var/svc/manifest/site
Site-local SMF service manifests.
/var/tmp
Files that vary in size or presence during normal system
operations. This directory is not cleared during the boot
operation. An approved installation location for bundled Solaris
software and for add-on system software and applications.
It is possible to change the default behavior for /var/tmp to
clear all of the files except editor temporary files by setting
the clean_vartmp property value of the rmtmpfiles service. This
is done with the following commands:
# svccfg -s svc:/system/rmtmpfiles setprop \
options/clean_vartmp = "true"
# svcadm refresh svc:/system/rmtmpfiles:default
The solaris.smf.value.rmtmpfiles authorization is required to
modify this property.
/var/uucp
uucp(1C) log and status files.
/var/yp
Databases used by NIS and ypbind(8).
/usr File System
Because it is desirable to keep the root file system small and not
volatile, on disk-based systems larger file systems are often mounted
on /home, /opt, /usr, and /var.
The file system mounted on /usr contains platform-dependent and
platform-independent sharable files. The subtree rooted at /usr/share
contains platform-independent sharable files; the rest of the /usr
tree contains platform-dependent files. By mounting a common remote
file system, a group of machines with a common platform may share a
single /usr file system. A single /usr/share file system can be
shared by machines of any platform. A machine acting as a file server
can share many different /usr file systems to support several
different architectures and operating system releases. Clients
usually mount /usr read-only so that they do not accidentally change
any shared files.
The /usr file system contains the following subdirectories:
/usr/5bin
Symbolic link to the /usr/bin directory.
/usr/X11
Xorg Xserver (X11) executables and documentation.
/usr/adm
Symbolic link to the /var/adm directory.
/usr/bin
Platform-dependent, user-invoked executables. These are commands
users expect to be run as part of their normal $PATH. For
executables that are different on a 64-bit system than on a
32-bit system, a wrapper that selects the appropriate executable
is placed here. See isaexec(3C). An approved installation
location for bundled Solaris software. The analogous location for
add-on system software or for applications is
/opt/packagename/bin.
/usr/bin/amd64
x86 64-bit, platform-dependent, user-invoked executables. This
directory should not be part of a user's $PATH. A wrapper in
/usr/bin should invoke the executable in this directory. See
isaexec(3C). An approved installation location for bundled
Solaris software. The analogous location for add-on system
software or for applications is /opt/packagename/bin/amd64.
/usr/bin/sparcv9
SPARC platform-dependent, user-invoked executables. This
directory should not be part of a user's $PATH. A wrapper in
/usr/bin should invoke the executable in this directory. See
isaexec(3C). An approved installation location for bundled
Solaris software. The analogous location for add-on system
software or for applications is /opt/packagename/bin/sparcv9.
/usr/bin/subsystem
Platform-dependent user-invoked executables that are associated
with subsystem. These are commands users expect to be run as part
of their normal $PATH. An approved installation location for
bundled Solaris software. The analogous location for add-on
system software or for applications is /opt/packagename/bin.
/usr/subsystem/bin
Platform-dependent user-invoked executables that are associated
with subsystem. These are commands users expect to be run as part
of their normal $PATH. An approved installation location for
bundled Solaris software. The analogous location for add-on
system software or for applications is /opt/packagename/bin.
/usr/subsystem/bin/amd64
x86 64-bit, platform-dependent, user-invoked executables. This
directory should not be part of a user's $PATH. A wrapper in
/usr/bin should invoke the executable in this directory. See
isaexec(3C). An approved installation location for bundled
Solaris software. The analogous location for add-on system
software or for applications is /opt/packagename/bin/amd64.
/usr/subsystem/bin/sparcv9
SPARC 64-bit, platform-dependent, user-invoked executables. This
directory should not be part of a user's $PATH. A wrapper in
/usr/bin should invoke the executable in this directory. See
isaexec(3C). An approved installation location for bundled
Solaris software. The analogous location for add-on system
software or for applications is /opt/packagename/bin/sparcv9.
/usr/ccs
Former location of files for the C compilation system, now
containing compatibility symbolic links to their new locations in
/usr/bin and /usr/lib.
/usr/demo
Demo programs and data.
/usr/dict
Symbolic link to the /usr/share/lib/dict directory, which
contains the dictionary file used by the UNIX spell program.
/usr/include
Include headers (for C programs).
/usr/java*
Directories containing Java programs and libraries.
/usr/jdk*
Java Platform virtual machine and core class libraries.
/usr/kernel
Subtree of platform-dependent loadable kernel modules, not needed
in the root filesystem. An approved installation location for
bundled Solaris software.
/usr/kvm
A mount point, retained for backward compatibility, that formerly
contained platform-specific binaries and libraries.
/usr/lib
Platform-dependent libraries, various databases, commands and
daemons not invoked directly by a human user. An approved
installation location for bundled Solaris software. The analogous
location for add-on system software or for applications is
/opt/packagename/lib.
/usr/lib/32
Symbolic link to /usr/lib.
/usr/lib/64
Symbolic link to the most portable 64-bit Solaris interfaces, on
both SPARC and x86 platforms.
/usr/lib/acct
Accounting scripts and binaries. See acct(8).
/usr/lib/adb
adb accounting scripts.
/usr/lib/amd64
Platform-dependent libraries, various databases, commands and
daemons not invoked directly by a human user on 64-bit x86. An
approved installation location for bundled Solaris software. The
analogous location for add-on system software or for applications
is /opt/packagename/lib/amd64.
/usr/lib/autofs
Contains the automountd executable.
/usr/lib/cfgadm
Contains cfgadm hardware-specific driver plugins.
/usr/lib/class
Scheduling-class-specific directories containing executables for
priocntl(1) and dispadmin(8).
/usr/lib/crypto
Contains the kernel-level cryptographic framework daemon (kcfd).
/usr/lib/devfsadm
Contains devfsadm, the daemon version of devfsadm.
/usr/lib/dict
Database files for spell(1).
/usr/lib/dtrace
Contains dtrace D source files.
/usr/lib/fm
Contains fmd, the fault manager daemon and the fault manager
library.
/usr/lib/font
troff(1) font description files.
/usr/lib/fs
File system type dependent modules; generally not intended to be
invoked directly by the user.
/usr/lib/gss
Secure services-related libraries.
/usr/lib/iconv
Conversion tables for iconv(1).
/usr/lib/inet
Contains many network-related daemons and libraries.
/usr/lib/ipf
Contains IPFILTER.LICENCE and ipftest.
/usr/lib/ipqosconf
IPQoS configuration utility.
/usr/lib/krb5
Contains the Kerberos database propagation program and libraries.
/usr/lib/ld
Contains the map files for the ld link editor.
/usr/lib/ldap
Contains LDAP client configuration utilities.
/usr/lib/libp
Profiled libraries.
/usr/lib/llc2
Contains logical link control (llc2) driver configuration files.
/usr/lib/locale
Localization databases.
/usr/lib/lp
Line printer subsystem databases and back-end executables.
/usr/lib/netsvc
Internet network services.
/usr/lib/nfs
Auxiliary NFS-related programs and daemons.
/usr/lib/picl
Platform Information and Control Library.
/usr/lib/pool
Contains the automated resource pools partitioning daemon (poold)
and associated libraries.
/usr/lib/power
Power management daemon, powerd.
/usr/lib/print
Contains lp conversion scripts and the in.lpd daemon.
/usr/lib/rcap
Resource cap enforcement daemon, rcapd.
/usr/lib/rcm
Contains the Reconfiguration and Coordination Manager daemon
(rcm_daemon) and RCM scripts.
/usr/lib/refer
Auxiliary programs for refer(1).
/usr/lib/sa
Scripts and commands for the system activity report package. See
sar(1).
/usr/lib/saf
Auxiliary programs and daemons related to the service access
facility.
/usr/lib/sasl
Simple Authentication and Security Layer (SASL) plug-in modules.
/usr/lib/secure
Default trusted libraries.
/usr/lib/security
Solaris security plug-in modules.
/usr/lib/smedia
Removable media device server daemon, rpc.smserverd.
/usr/lib/sparcv9
SPARC 64-bit, platform-dependent libraries, various databases,
commands and daemons not invoked directly by a human user. An
approved installation location for bundled Solaris software. The
analogous location for add-on system software or for applications
is /opt/packagename/lib/sparcv9.
/usr/lib/spell
Auxiliary programs and databases for spell(1). This directory is
only present when the Binary Compatibility Package is installed.
/usr/lib/subsystem
Platform-dependent libraries, various databases, commands and
daemons that are associated with subsystem and that are not
invoked directly by a human user. An approved installation
location for bundled Solaris software. The analogous location for
add-on system software or for applications is
/opt/packagename/lib.
/usr/lib/subsystem/amd64
x86 64-bit, platform-dependent libraries, various databases,
commands and daemons that are associated with subsystem and that
are not invoked directly by a human user. An approved
installation location for bundled Solaris software. The analogous
location for add-on system software or for applications is
/opt/packagename/lib/amd64.
/usr/lib/subsystem/sparcv9
SPARC 64-bit, platform-dependent libraries, various databases,
commands and daemons that are associated with subsystem and that
are not invoked directly by a human user. An approved
installation location for bundled Solaris software. The analogous
location for add-on system software or for applications is
/opt/packagename/lib/sparcv9.
/usr/subsystem/lib
Platform-dependent libraries, various databases, commands and
daemons not invoked directly by a human user. An approved
installation location for bundled Solaris software. The analogous
location for add-on system software or for applications is
/opt/packagename/lib.
/usr/subsystem/lib/amd64
x86 64-bit, platform-dependent libraries, various databases,
commands and daemons that are associated with subsystem and that
are not invoked directly by a human user. An approved
installation location for bundled Solaris software. The analogous
location for add-on system software or for applications is
/opt/packagename/lib/amd64.
/usr/subsystem/lib/sparcv9
SPARC 64-bit, platform-dependent libraries, various databases,
commands and daemons that are associated with subsystem and that
are not invoked directly by a human user. An approved
installation location for bundled Solaris software. The analogous
location for add-on system software or for applications is
/opt/packagename/lib/sparcv9.
/usr/lib/sysevent
Contains the system event notification daemon (syseventd) and the
syseventd loadable module (SLM) repository.
/usr/lib/uucp
Auxiliary programs and daemons for uucp(1C).
/usr/lib/zones
Zone administration daemon (zoneadmd).
/usr/local
Not part of the SVR4-based Solaris distribution. The /usr
directory is exclusively for software bundled with the Solaris
operating system. If needed for storing machine-local add-on
software, create the directory /opt/local and make /usr/local a
symbolic link to /opt/local. The /opt directory or filesystem is
for storing add-on software to the system.
/usr/mail
Symbolic link to the /var/mail directory.
/usr/man
Symbolic link to the /usr/share/man directory.
/usr/net/servers
Entry points for foreign name service requests relayed using the
network listener. See listen(8).
/usr/news
Symbolic link to the /var/news directory.
/usr/old
Programs that are being phased out.
/usr/perl5
Perl 5 programs and documentation
/usr/platform
Subtree of platform-specific objects which does not need to
reside on the root filesystem. It contains a series of
directories, one per supported platform. The semantics of the
series of directories is equivalent to /platform, except for
subdirectories which do not provide utility under one or the
other (for example, /platform/include is not needed).
/usr/platform/`uname -i`/include
Symbolic link to /../`uname -i`/include. Platform-specific system
(sys, vm) header files with semantics equivalent to /usr/include.
An approved installation location for bundled Solaris software
and for add-on system software.
/usr/platform/`uname -i`/lib
Platform-specific shared objects with semantics equivalent to
/usr/lib. An approved installation location for bundled Solaris
software and for add-on system software.
/usr/platform/`uname -i`/lib/subsystem/amd64
x86 64-bit, platform-specific daemon and shared objects. An
approved installation location for bundled Solaris software and
for add-on system software.
/usr/platform/`uname -i`/sbin
Platform-specific system administration utilities with semantics
equivalent to /usr/sbin. An approved installation location for
bundled Solaris software and for add-on system software.
/usr/preserve
Symbolic link to the /var/preserve directory.
/usr/proc
Former location of the proc(1) tools, now containing
compatibility symbolic links to their new locations in /usr/bin.
/usr/pub
Symbolic link to /share/lib/pub, which contains files for online
man page and character processing.
/usr/sadm
System administration files and directories.
/usr/sadm/install
Executables and scripts for package management.
/usr/sbin
Platform-dependent executables for system administration,
expected to be run only by system administrators. An approved
installation location for bundled Solaris software. The analogous
location for add-on system software or for applications is
/opt/packagename/sbin.
/usr/sbin/sparcv7 and sparcv9
32-bit and 64-bit SPARC versions of commands.
/usr/sbin/amd64
64-bit x86 versions of commands.
/usr/sbin/subsystem
Platform-dependent executables for system administration,
expected to be run only by system administrators, and associated
with subsystem. An approved installation location for bundled
Solaris software. The analogous location for add-on system
software or for applications is /opt/packagename/sbin.
/usr/subsystem/sbin
Platform-dependent executables for system administration,
expected to be run only by system administrators, and associated
with subsystem. An approved installation location for bundled
Solaris software. The analogous location for add-on system
software or for applications is /opt/packagename/sbin.
/usr/share
Platform-independent sharable files. An approved installation
location for bundled Solaris software.
/usr/share/aclocal
Open source m4 files.
/usr/share/applications
Desktop application files.
/usr/share/audio
Sample audio files.
/usr/share/icons
Desktop icon files.
/usr/share/intltool
XML translation tools.
/usr/share/ipfilter
Open source IP Filter sample files.
/usr/share/lib
Platform-independent sharable databases. An approved installation
location for bundled Solaris software.
/usr/share/lib/dict
Contains word list for spell(1).
/usr/share/lib/keytables
Keyboard layout description tables.
/usr/share/lib/mailx
Help files for mailx(1).
/usr/share/lib/nterm
nroff(1) terminal tables.
/usr/share/lib/pub
Character set data files.
/usr/share/lib/tabset
Tab setting escape sequences.
/usr/share/lib/terminfo
Terminal description files for terminfo(5).
/usr/share/lib/tmac
Macro packages and related files for text processing tools, for
example, nroff(1) and troff(1).
/usr/share/lib/zoneinfo
Time zone information.
/usr/share/man
Platform-independent sharable manual pages. An approved
installation location for bundled Solaris software. The analogous
location for add-on system software or for applications is
/opt/packagename/man.
/usr/share/pixmaps
Desktop icon files.
/usr/share/sounds
Sound files.
/usr/share/src
Source code for kernel, utilities, and libraries.
/usr/share/themes
Desktop themes.
/usr/snadm
Files related to system and network administration.
/usr/spool
Symbolic link to the /var/spool directory.
/usr/src
Symbolic link to the /usr/share/src directory.
/usr/tmp
Symbolic link to the /var/tmp directory.
/usr/ucb
Berkeley compatibility package binaries.
/usr/ucbinclude
Berkeley compatibility package headers.
/usr/ucblib
Berkeley compatibility package libraries.
/usr/xpg4
Directory for POSIX-compliant utilities.
/usr/xpg6
Directory for newer versions of POSIX-compliant utilities.
SEE ALSO
at(1), ex(1), iconv(1), isainfo(1), lp(1), mail(1), mailx(1),
nroff(1), priocntl(1), refer(1), sar(1), sh(1), spell(1), svcs(1),
troff(1), uname(1), vi(1), uucp(1C), mount(2), ctfs(4FS), dev(4FS),
devfs(4FS), objfs(4FS), tmpfs(4FS), Intro(5), proc(5), terminfo(5),
smf(7), acct(8), cron(8), dispadmin(8), dladm(8), fmd(8), fsck(8),
init(8), kernel(8), mknod(8), mount(8), svcadm(8), svccfg(8),
useradd(8), ypbind(8)
March 23, 2025 FILESYSTEM(7)