this post was submitted on 06 Sep 2024
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Linux

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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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submitted 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) by sag@lemm.ee to c/linux@lemmy.ml
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[–] that_leaflet@lemmy.world 83 points 2 months ago (2 children)

I don’t get why this sort of picture always gets posted and upvoted when it’s wrong for most distros nowadays.

[–] TrickDacy@lemmy.world 12 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Can you recommend one that is correct? I use pop_os (Ubuntu) and Arch. Kinda curious about either one

[–] that_leaflet@lemmy.world 34 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (2 children)

Not aware of any correct pictures, but I can tell you what's wrong with this one

  • /usr: explaining it as "Unix System Resources" is a bit vague
  • /bin: /bin is usually a symlink to /usr/bin
  • /sbin: /sbin is usually a symlink to /usr/sbin, distros like Fedora are also looking into merging sbin into bin
  • /opt: many, I'd say most, "add-on applications" put themselves in bin
  • /media: /media is usually a symlink to /run/media, also weird to mention CD-ROMs when flash drives and other forms of storage get mounted here by default
  • /mnt: i would disagree about the temporary part, as I mentioned before, stuff like flash drives are usually mounted in /run/media by default
  • /root: the root user is usually not enabled on home systems
  • /lib: /lib is usually a symlink to /usr/lib

I would also like the mention that the FHS standard wasn't designed to be elegant, well thought out system. It mainly documents how the filesystem has been traditionally laid out. I forget which folder(s), but once a new folder has been made just because the main hard drive in a developer's system filled up so they created a new folder named something different on a secondary hard drive.

[–] TrickDacy@lemmy.world 5 points 2 months ago

Thanks for this. I'm always confused by the layout and this tend to stick to putting things in the same places, even if they're wrong :)

[–] Sunny@slrpnk.net 3 points 2 months ago (1 children)

On my distro(Bazzite), /mnt is only a symlink to /var/mnt. Not sure why, but only found out the other day.

[–] that_leaflet@lemmy.world 1 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I’m using Silverblue and it also symlinks to /var/mnt. I don’t think it does that on traditional distros, like Fedora 40 Workstation.

[–] LeFantome@programming.dev 1 points 2 months ago

I assume it is because /var can be written to while the rest of the filesystem ( outside /home ) is expected to be read-only.

[–] Kusimulkku@lemm.ee 7 points 2 months ago

It seems handy when you're learning about stuff but only when you haven't learned enough to realize it's not correct.