File System Hierarchy Questions

Cyril Chevrot <cyril.chevrot@asim.lip6.fr> shaped electrons to say:[color=blue]
> Apparently the home of the File System Hierarchy, FHS, is :
> [url]http://www.pathname.com/fhs/[/url]
>
> However I haven't found the meaning of the initials there.
> I woulk like to know an official place where I could read these informations.
>
> Here is what I have read from non official place :
> /etc
> ET Cetera: Intuitive but makes it really a sense ?
> It's the one which takes me the biggest problem.
> I can't believe it means ET Cetera but I have never read anything else.[/color]

Yes, it is for "et cetera", things that weren't elsewhere. Dates from
the earliest UNIX systems.
[color=blue]
> /usr
> USeRs: The most intuitive.
> Or
> Unix System Resources
> I think the good one is the latter but I'm not sure.[/color]

Things neede for dealing with "users", things that aren't necessarily
needed for boot time administrator use.
[color=blue]
> /opt
> OPTional Software: I think this is right.[/color]

Fairly new, it is for "optional" packages supplied by third parties (not
the admin or the distribution supplier - most common example is Oracle.)

The short names are historical hangovers. The original UNIX systems
used 10 character per second Teletype(TM) terminals, and you wanted to
keep things as short as possible for quicker typing. This also explains
some of the short command names. ls - "list" rm - "remove" cp - "copy"
and so on.

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Gregory G. "Wolfe" Woodbury `-_-' Owner/Admin: wolves.durham.nc.us
ggw at wolves.durham.nc.us U RHCT August 2003
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