user utilities fundamental to both single-user and multi-user environments
/boot/
programs and configuration files used during operating system bootstrap
defaults/
default bootstrapping configuration files; see loader.conf(5)
kernel/
pure kernel executable (the operating system loaded into memory at boot time).
modules/
third-party loadable kernel modules; see kldstat(8)
/cdrom/
default mount point for CD-ROM drives (created by sysinstall(8))
/compat/
normally a link to /usr/compat. If not, then the /usr/compat comments apply (created by sysinstall(8))
/dev/
device special files managed by devfs(5)
fd/
file descriptor files; see fd(4)
net/
network devices
/dist/
mount point used by sysinstall(8)
/etc/
system configuration files and scripts
defaults/
default system configuration files; see rc(8)
gnats/
gnats configuration files; see send-pr(1)
isdn/
isdn4bsd configuration files; see isdnd(8)
localtime
local timezone information; see ctime(3)
mail/
Sendmail control files
mtree/
mtree configuration files; see mtree(8)
namedb/
named configuration files; see named(8)
pam.d/
configuration files for the Pluggable Authentication Modules (PAM) library; see pam(8)
periodic/
scripts that are run daily, weekly, and monthly, via cron(8); see periodic(8)
ppp/
ppp configuration files; see ppp(8)
ssl/
OpenSSL configuration files
/lib/
critical system libraries needed for binaries in /bin and /sbin
geom/
class-specific libraries for the geom(8) utility
/libexec/
critical system utilities needed for binaries in /bin and /sbin
/mnt/
empty directory commonly used by system administrators as a temporary mount point
/proc/
process file system; see procfs(5), mount_procfs(8)
/rescue/
statically linked programs for emergency recovery; see rescue(8)
/root/
root’s HOME directory
/sbin/
system programs and administration utilities fundamental to both single-user and multi-user environments
/stand/
programs used in a standalone environment
/tmp/
temporary files that are not guaranteed to persist across system reboots
/usr/
contains the majority of user utilities and applications
bin/
common utilities, programming tools, and applications
compat/
files needed to support binary compatibility with other operating systems, such as Linux (created by sysinstall(8))
games/
useful and semi-frivolous programs
include/
standard C include files
altq/
C include files for alternate queueing
arpa/
C include files for Internet service protocols
bsnmp/
C include files for the SNMP daemon
c++/
C++ include files
cam/
C include files for the Common Access Methods Layer
scsi/
The SCSI device on top of CAM
dev/
C include files for programming various .Fx devices
ic/
Various header files describing driver- and bus-independent hardware circuits
ofw/
Open Firmware support
pbio/
8255 PPI cards; see pbio(4)
ppbus/
The parallel port bus; see ppbus(4)
usb/
The USB subsystem
utopia/
Physical chip driver for ATM interfaces; see utopia(4)
wi/
The wi(4) WaveLAN driver
fs/
fdescfs/
per-process file descriptors file system
fifofs/
-p1003.1 FIFOs file system
msdosfs/
MS-DOS file system
ntfs/
NTFS file system
nullfs/
loopback file system
nwfs/
NetWare file system
portalfs/
portal file system
procfs/
process file system
smbfs/
SMB/CIFS file system
udf/
UDF file system
umapfs/
alternate uid/gid mappings file system
unionfs
union file system
geom/
GEOM framework
concat/
CONCAT GEOM class
gate/
GATE GEOM class
mirror/
MIRROR GEOM class
nop/
NOP GEOM class
raid3/
RAID3 GEOM class
stripe/
STRIPE GEOM class
isc/
ISC utility library libisc include files
isofs/
cd9660/
iso9660 file system
libmilter/
C include files for libmilter, the sendmail(8) mail filter API
machine/
machine-specific C include files
net/
miscellaneous network C include files
netatalk/
Appletalk protocol
netatm/
ATM include files; see atm(8)
netinet/
C include files for Internet standard protocols; see inet(4)
netinet6/
C include files for Internet protocol version 6; see inet6(4)
netipx/
IPX/SPX protocol stacks
netkey/
kernel key-management service
netnatm/
NATM include files; see natm(4)
api/
include files for the signalling API
msg/
include files that describe signalling messages and declare associated functions
saal/
include files for the signalling AAL layer
sig/
include files for the UNI signalling protocol
netsmb/
SMB/CIFS requester
nfs/
C include files for NFS (Network File System)
objc/
Objective C include files
openssl/
OpenSSL (Cryptography/SSL toolkit) headers
pccard/
PC-CARD controllers
posix4/
POSIX real-time extensions includes; see p1003_1b(9)
protocols/
C include files for Berkeley service protocols
readline/
get a line from a user, with editing; see readline(3)
rpc/
remote procedure calls; see rpc(3)
rpcsvc/
definition of RPC service structures; see rpc(3)
security/
PAM; see pam(8)
sys/
system C include files (kernel data structures)
ufs/
C include files for UFS (The U-word File System)
ffs/
Fast file system
ufs/
UFS file system
vm/
virtual memory; see vmstat(8)
lib/
shared and archive ar 1 -type libraries
aout/
a.out archive libraries
compat/
shared libraries for compatibility
aout/
a.out backward compatibility libraries
libdata/
miscellaneous utility data files
gcc/
gcc(1) configuration data
ldscripts/
linker scripts; see ld(1)
lint/
various prebuilt lint libraries; see lint(1)
libexec/
system daemons & system utilities (executed by other programs)
aout/
utilities to manipulate a.out executables
elf/
utilities to manipulate ELF executables
lpr/
utilities and filters for LP print system; see lpr(1)
sendmail/
the sendmail(8) binary; see mailwrapper(8)
sm.bin/
restricted shell for sendmail(8); see smrsh(8)
local/
local executables, libraries, etc. Also used as the default destination for the .Fx ports framework. Within local/, the general layout sketched out by hier for /usr should be used. Exceptions are the man directory (directly under local/ rather than under local/share/), ports documentation (in share/doc/<port>/), and /usr/local/etc (mimics /etc).
obj/
architecture-specific target tree produced by building the /usr/src tree
ports/
The .Fx ports collection (optional).
sbin/
system daemons & system utilities (executed by users)
share/
architecture-independent files
calendar/
a variety of pre-fab calendar files; see calendar(1)
dict/
word lists; see look(1)
freebsd
.Fx Ns -specific terms, proper names, and jargon
words
common words
web2
words from Webster’s 2nd International
papers/
reference databases; see refer(1)
doc/
miscellaneous documentation; source for most of the printed BSD manuals (available from the USENIX association)
FAQ/
Frequently Asked Questions
IPv6/
implementation notes for IPv6
bind/
documents pertaining to BIND (the Berkeley Internet Name Domain)
es/
Spanish translations of documents in /usr/share/doc
handbook/
.Fx Handbook
ja/
Japanese translations of documents in /usr/share/doc
ncurses/
HTML documents pertaining to ncurses; see ncurses(3)
ntp/
HTML documents pertaining to the Network Time Protocol
papers/
UNIX Papers
psd/
UNIX Programmer’s Supplementary Documents
ru/
Russian translations of documents in /usr/share/doc
smm/
UNIX System Manager’s Manual
tutorials/
.Fx tutorials
usd/
UNIX User’s Supplementary Documents
zh/
Chinese translations of documents in /usr/share/doc
examples/
various examples for users and programmers
games/
ASCII text files used by various games
groff_font/
device description file for device name
info/
GNU Info hypertext system
isdn/
ISDN
locale/
localization files; see setlocale(3)
man/
manual pages
me/
macros for use with the me macro package; see me(7)
misc/
miscellaneous system-wide ASCII text files
fonts/
???
pcvtfonts/
pcvt fonts; see pcvt(4)
termcap
terminal characteristics database; see termcap(5)
mk/
templates for make; see make(1)
nls/
national language support files; see mklocale(1)
pcvt/
pcvt documentation and etc examples; see pcvt(4)
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/
MIB files
syscons/
files used by syscons; see syscons(4)
fonts/
console fonts; see vidcontrol(1) and vidfont(1)
keymaps/
console keyboard maps; see kbdcontrol(1) and kbdmap(1)
scrnmaps/
console screen maps
tabset/
tab description files for a variety of terminals; used in the termcap file; see termcap(5)
tmac/
text processing macros; see nroff(1) and troff(1)
vi/
localization support and utilities for vi(1)
zoneinfo/
timezone configuration information; see tzfile(5)
src/
BSD , third-party, and/or local source files
bin/
source code for files in /bin
contrib/
source code for contributed software
crypto/
source code for contributed cryptography software
etc/
source code for files in /etc
games/
source code for files in /usr/games
gnu/
Utilities covered by the GNU General Public License
include/
source code for files in /usr/include
kerberos5/
build infrastructure for kerberos version 5
lib/
source code for files in /usr/lib
libexec/
source code for files in /usr/libexec
release/
files required to produce a .Fx release
sbin/
source code for files in /sbin
secure/
build directory for files in /usr/src/crypto
share/
source for files in /usr/share
sys/
kernel source code
tools/
tools used for maintenance and testing of .Fx
usr.bin/
source code for files in /usr/bin
usr.sbin/
source code for files in /usr/sbin
X11R6/
X11R6 distribution executables, libraries, etc (optional).
bin/
X11R6 binaries (servers, utilities, local packages/ports).
etc/
X11R6 configuration files and scripts.
include/
X11R6 include files.
lib/
X11R6 libraries.
man/
X11R6 manual pages.
share/
architecture-independent files.
/var/
multi-purpose 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/
directory containing job files
spool/
directory containing output spool files
backups/
miscellaneous backup files
crash/
default directory to store kernel crash dumps; see crash(8) and savecore(8)
