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UNIX directory structures

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Graham Hobbs

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Nov 17, 2011, 11:14:56 AM11/17/11
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Hello,
Knowing nothing about UNIX directory structures (or UNIX maybe now to
confronted therewith)(and granted the reading is not hard) are there
any succinct documents that offer ROT's, recommendations, logic for
newbies?
Might the philosphy resemble Windows methods?
Please, thanks,
Graham Hobbs

J.O. Aho

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Nov 17, 2011, 11:48:11 AM11/17/11
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Graham Hobbs wrote:
> Hello,
> Knowing nothing about UNIX directory structures (or UNIX maybe now to
> confronted therewith)(and granted the reading is not hard) are there
> any succinct documents that offer ROT's, recommendations, logic for
> newbies?

A good staring point would be:
http://www.l.google.com/search?sclient=psy-ab&hl=en&source=hp&q=linux+directory+structure+described&btnG=Search


> Might the philosphy resemble Windows methods?

I doubt, IMHO microsoft-windows methods are just how you shouldn't do things.



--

//Aho

J G Miller

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Nov 17, 2011, 3:05:49 PM11/17/11
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On Thursday, November 17th, 2011, at 11:14:56h -0500,
Graham Hobbs explained:

> Knowing nothing about UNIX directory structures

Perhaps you should have posted your question about Unix to
a Unix news group rather than a Linux news group?

If you wish to read about the Filesystem Hierarchy Standard
common to Unix like, BSD, and Linux systems, then please consult

<http://www.pathname.COM/fhs/>

> are there any succinct documents that offer ROT's, recommendations,
> logic for newbies?

Please consider borrowing or purchasing a copy of "Unix for the Impatient".

<http://www.amazon.COM/UNIX-Impatient-2nd-Paul-Abrahams/dp/0201823764>

> Might the philosphy resemble Windows methods?

No.

Graham Hobbs

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Nov 17, 2011, 4:30:26 PM11/17/11
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On Thu, 17 Nov 2011 20:05:49 +0000 (UTC), J G Miller <mil...@yoyo.ORG>
wrote:
---
Thanks for the replies, exactly what I was after but one very, very
ignorant question ..I was always under the impressiom UNIX was the
generic and Linux a specific; aren't their file systems the same?
My interest lies in that the reading of an IBM manual about z/OS I
need to learn/know something about Linux directories.
Graham

J.O. Aho

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Nov 18, 2011, 1:02:50 AM11/18/11
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Graham Hobbs wrote:

> Thanks for the replies, exactly what I was after but one very, very
> ignorant question ..I was always under the impressiom UNIX was the
> generic and Linux a specific; aren't their file systems the same?
> My interest lies in that the reading of an IBM manual about z/OS I
> need to learn/know something about Linux directories.

For someone who don't know much about Linux/Unix may think it's the same
thing, but Linux isn't Unix, to be Unix you have to be certified as such,
which Linux isn't and those isn't Unix even if it looks and feels like one.

There are variations of certified Unix and you would see two main "flavours",
"Version 7" and "System V".

In a way it's like comparing Mircorosft-Windows NT4 with Mircosoft-Windwos 7,
they are in general the same, but have some differences, but when it comes to
the different flavours of Unix, the difference may be lager.

--

//Aho

J G Miller

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Nov 18, 2011, 9:41:17 AM11/18/11
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On Friday, November 18th, 2011 at 07:02:50h +0100, J.O. Aho explained:

> but when it comes to the different flavours of Unix, the
> difference may be lager.

Or beer ;)

Linux in some aspects is Unix-lite.

Graham Hobbs

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Nov 18, 2011, 11:17:52 AM11/18/11
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On Fri, 18 Nov 2011 14:41:17 +0000 (UTC), J G Miller <mil...@yoyo.ORG>
wrote:
---
.. but the file structure is the same (or VERY similiar) - right?
Thanks for the education, clears up a mess for me.
Slightly confused about the structure differences between UNIX, LINUX
and Windows. All are heirarchical, right?

J G Miller

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Nov 18, 2011, 12:43:03 PM11/18/11
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On Fri, 18 Nov 2011 11:17:52 -0500, Graham Hobbs wrote:

> .. but the file structure is the same (or VERY similiar) - right?

Yes, /bin, /sbin, /usr, /tmp, /var, and /home are pretty much the same.

But on GNU/Linux systems you will find system specific top level directories
/proc and /sys which may not be present on other OS.

And then there are the more specialized top level directories such as /opt
and /srv.

Since pictures may help more than words, why do you not take a look at

<http://linuxhelp.blogspot.COM/2008/05/linux-file-system-hierarchy-fun-easy.html>

VWWall

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Nov 18, 2011, 1:36:51 PM11/18/11
to
Graham Hobbs wrote:
> Hello,
> Knowing nothing about UNIX directory structures (or UNIX maybe now to
> confronted therewith)(and granted the reading is not hard) are there
> any succinct documents that offer ROT's, recommendations, logic for
> newbies?

See: http://www.pathname.com/fhs/pub/fhs-2.3.html

--
Virg Wall

Graham Hobbs

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Nov 19, 2011, 2:46:04 PM11/19/11
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On Fri, 18 Nov 2011 10:36:51 -0800, VWWall <vw...@large.invalid>
wrote:
------
VWW/JGM,
Excellent pointers, is all I need ..
for now:-)
Thanks very much!
Graham

m wedemeier

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May 1, 2012, 7:00:12 PM5/1/12
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Basic standard for linux is the FHS:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filesystem_Hierarchy_Standard

Frank Winans

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Nov 21, 2012, 2:37:45 AM11/21/12
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"Graham Hobbs" wrote
> Excellent pointers, is all I need ..
> for now:-)
> Thanks very much!
> Graham

See also man hier for a short discussion on what typically goes
in each famous directory {for example, /usr/bin}

You unfortunately format your replies with a divider line of '---' but
traditionally any line starting with '--' at left margin introduces
the 'signature block' part of a newsgroup posting, and some software
offers the feature of omitting that block. Suggest you get in the habit of
inserting a blank before the first '-' of your divider line to avoid being
censored by that feature...


dx...@albury.nospam.net.au

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Nov 21, 2012, 5:29:55 AM11/21/12
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Not wanting to be picky, Frank, but a sig delimiter is "-- " i.e. dash
dash space, *not* "---"!!

Daniel

J.O. Aho

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Nov 21, 2012, 11:51:45 AM11/21/12
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Just to make it a bit more complicated, some clients thinks dash dash is
the signature delimiter and missing the space, I guess the issue is that
the author of the client just haven't seen the space after the dashes
and then made their feature.

--

//Aho

Graham Hobbs

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Nov 21, 2012, 12:04:37 PM11/21/12
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On Wed, 21 Nov 2012 17:51:45 +0100, "J.O. Aho" <us...@example.net>
wrote:
---
what are you chaps talking about:-)?
bear in mind i don't know unix ..
graham hobbs

dx...@albury.nospam.net.au

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Nov 22, 2012, 6:31:36 AM11/22/12
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What we are talking about, Graham is "signature delimiters", i.e. if
your news reader is standards compliant, when you reply to this message,
the stuff that I have below the sig delimiter will not be quoted in your
reply!

--
When you click on "Reply", this bit should not be in the reply!!

Daniel

dx...@albury.nospam.net.au

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Nov 22, 2012, 6:34:17 AM11/22/12
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Yeap, works for me!!

You might also notice that the stuff I put after the "sig delimiter" is
in a fainter font!!

--
Daniel

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