From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Sat Feb 18 11:39:45 2012 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id BAD6E1065673 for ; Sat, 18 Feb 2012 11:39:45 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from freebsd@edvax.de) Received: from mx02.qsc.de (mx02.qsc.de [213.148.130.14]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 7A4128FC08 for ; Sat, 18 Feb 2012 11:39:45 +0000 (UTC) Received: from r56.edvax.de (port-92-195-75-202.dynamic.qsc.de [92.195.75.202]) by mx02.qsc.de (Postfix) with ESMTP id 09AE71DDE5; Sat, 18 Feb 2012 12:39:43 +0100 (CET) Received: from r56.edvax.de (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by r56.edvax.de (8.14.5/8.14.5) with SMTP id q1IBdh8T044297; Sat, 18 Feb 2012 12:39:43 +0100 (CET) (envelope-from freebsd@edvax.de) Date: Sat, 18 Feb 2012 12:39:43 +0100 From: Polytropon To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Message-Id: <20120218123943.147a7842.freebsd@edvax.de> In-Reply-To: <4F3F80FD.8070201@herveybayaustralia.com.au> References: <4F3ECF23.5000706@fisglobal.com> <20120217234623.cf7e169c.freebsd@edvax.de> <3D08D03C85ACFBB1ABCDC5DA@mac-pro.magehandbook.com> <20120218112252.772c878b.freebsd@edvax.de> <4F3F80FD.8070201@herveybayaustralia.com.au> Organization: EDVAX X-Mailer: Sylpheed 3.1.1 (GTK+ 2.24.5; i386-portbld-freebsd8.2) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Cc: Da Rock Subject: Re: /usr/home vs /home X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list Reply-To: Polytropon List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Sat, 18 Feb 2012 11:39:45 -0000 On Sat, 18 Feb 2012 20:44:13 +1000, Da Rock wrote: > BTW I was intending to put across the concept of /usr being user related > - anything a user may need or use; as opposed to / for the system > related stuff that keeps it running. Maybe I wasn't as clear as I had > thought... :) There's lots of philosophy, tradition and vanished differentiation in this field. The manpage "man hier" provides a good explaination for the layout chosen for FreeBSD. However, there are questions that may arise: What kind of programs? Those called by users, by the system, or by other programs (see libexec)? What's the difference between /bin and /sbin, same for /usr/bin and /usr/sbin? Could they maybe be merged when their functionality is similar and they reside on the same partition (file system) anyway? The /etc directory - "editable text configuration" :-) - historically also contained binaries like /etc/mount or /etc/GETTY. Depending on its location, one can assume that it controls OS things only. Wrong. In many cases, /etc/rc.conf also contains settings for enabling services installed by ports. Even though FreeBSD can use /etc/rc.conf.local (has been known in OpenBSD for non-OS setup stuff), most things are found in the system-wide file. But the corresponding start scripts are in /usr/local/etc/rc.d. Why no /usr/local/etc/rc.conf? But as rc.conf is just a file to associate variables with names, there's no problem if they are defined, but not used (e. g. in a limited system state after encountering a problem)... Luckily, most software installed from ports keeps its settings out of /etc and uses /usr/local/etc instead. Having _known_ locations for settings makes it easy to back them up. How about X on desktops? /etc/X11 is the common location for config files (if used), but per deduction, they should be in /usr/local/etc/X11 as X is a port, not a part of the OS. What about the configuration of xdm? Why isn't it stored in some /usr/local/etc subtree, but instead /usr/local/lib/X11/xdm/ is used? This short list is just to mention the loads of philosophy hidden within the system. :-) -- Polytropon Magdeburg, Germany Happy FreeBSD user since 4.0 Andra moi ennepe, Mousa, ...