The root file system contains files that are unique to each machine. It contains the following directories:

/

Root of the overall file system name space.

/dev

Primary location for special files. Typically, device files are built to match the kernel and hardware configuration of the machine.

/dev/cfg

Symbolic links to physical ap_ids.

/dev/cua

Device files for uucp.

/dev/dsk

Block disk devices.

/dev/fbs

Frame buffer device files.

/dev/fd

File descriptors.

/dev/md

Logical volume management meta-disk devices.

/dev/printers

USB printer device files.

/dev/pts

Pseudo-terminal devices.

/dev/rdsk

Raw disk devices.

/dev/rmt

Raw tape devices.

/dev/sad

Entry points for the STREAMS Administrative driver.

/dev/sound

Audio device and audio device control files.

/dev/swap

Default swap device.

/dev/term

Terminal devices.

/devices

Physical device files.

/etc

Platform-dependent administrative and configuration files and databases that are not shared among systems. /etc may be viewed as the directory that defines the machine's identity. An approved installation location for bundled Solaris software. The analogous location for add-on system software or for applications is /etc/opt/packagename.

/etc/acct

Accounting system configuration information.

/etc/apache

Apache configuration files.

/etc/cron.d

Configuration information for cron(1M).

/etc/default

Defaults information for various programs.

/etc/dfs

Configuration information for shared file systems.

/etc/dhcp

Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) configuration files.

/etc/dmi

Solstice Enterprise Agents configuration files.

/etc/fn

Federated Naming Service and X.500 support files.

/etc/fs

Binaries organized by file system types for operations required before /usr is mounted.

/etc/gss

Generic Security Service (GSS) Application Program Interface configuration files.

/etc/gtk

GNOME (GNU Network Object Model Environment) configuration files.

/etc/inet

Configuration files for Internet services.

/etc/init.d

Shell scripts for transitioning between run levels.

/etc/iplanet

iPlanet configuration files.

/etc/krb5

Kerberos configuration files.

/etc/lib

Shared libraries needed during booting.

/etc/lp

Configuration information for the printer subsystem.

/etc/llc2

Logical link control (llc2) driver configuration files.

/etc/lp

Configuration information for the printer subsystem.

/etc/lu

Solaris Live Upgrade configuration files.

/etc/lvm

Solaris Logical Volume Manager configuration files.

/etc/mail

Mail subsystem configuration.

/etc/nca

Solaris Network Cache and Accelerator (NCA) configuration files.

/etc/net

Configuration information for transport independent network services.

/etc/nfs

NFS server logging configuration file.

/etc/openwin

OpenWindows configuration files.

/etc/opt

Configuration information for optional packages.

/etc/ppp

Solaris PPP configuration files.

/etc/rc0.d

Scripts for entering or leaving run level 0. See init(1M).

/etc/rc1.d

Scripts for entering or leaving run level 1. See init(1M).

/etc/rc2.d

Scripts for entering or leaving run level 2. See init(1M).

/etc/rc3.d

Scripts for entering or leaving run level 3. See init(1M).

/etc/rcS.d

Scripts for bringing the system up in single user mode.

/etc/rcm

Directory for reconfiguration manager (RCM) custom scripts.

/etc/rpcsec

This directory might contain an NIS+ authentication configuration file.

/etc/saf

Service Access Facility files.

/etc/security

Basic Security Module (BSM) configuration files.

/etc/sfw

Samba configuration files.

/etc/skel

Default profile scripts for new user accounts. See useradd(1M).

/etc/smartcard

Solaris SmartCard configuration files.

/etc/snmp

Solstice Enterprise Agents configuration files.

/etc/ssh

Secure Shell configuration files. See ssh(1)

/etc/sysevent

syseventd configuration files.

/etc/subsystem

Platform-dependent subsystem configuration files that are not shared among systems. An approved installation location for bundled Solaris software. The analogous location for add-on system software or for applications is /etc/opt/packagename.

/etc/tm

Trademark files; contents displayed at boot time.

/etc/usb

USB configuration information.

/etc/uucp

UUCP configuration information. See uucp(1C).

/etc/wrsm

WCI Remote Shared Memory (WRSM) configuration information. See wrsmconf(1M)

/export

Default root of the shared file system tree.

/home

Default root of a subtree for user directories.

/kernel

Subtree of platform-dependent loadable kernel modules required as part of the boot process. It includes the generic part of the core kernel that is platform-independent, /kernel/genunix. See kernel(1M) An approved installation location for bundled Solaris software and for add-on system software.

/kernel/drv

32-bit device drivers.

/kernel/drv/sparcv9

64-bit SPARC device drivers.

/kernel/genunix

Platform-independent kernel.

/kernel/subsystem/ia64

64-bit Intel IA64 platform-dependent modules required for boot. An approved installation location for bundled Solaris software and for add-on system software. Note that ia64 is an example name; the actual name might be different.

/kernel/subsystem/sparcv9

64-bit SPARC platform-dependent modules required for boot. An approved installation location for bundled Solaris software and for add-on system software.

/mnt

Default temporary mount point for file systems. This is an empty directory on which file systems can be temporarily mounted.

/opt

Root of a subtree for add-on application packages.

/platform

Subtree of platform-specific objects which need to reside on the root filesystem. It contains a series of directories, one per supported platform. The semantics of the series of directories is equivalent to / (root).

/platform/`uname -i`/kernel

Platform-specific modules required for boot. These modules have semantics equivalent to /kernel. It includes the file unix, the core kernel. See kernel(1M). An approved installation location for bundled Solaris software and for add-on system software.

/platform/`uname -m`/kernel

Hardware class-specific modules required for boot. An approved installation location for bundled Solaris software and for add-on system software.

/platform/`uname -i`/kernel/subsystem/ia64

Intel 64-bit, platform-dependent modules required for boot. Note that ia64 is an example name; the actual name might be different. An approved installation location for bundled Solaris software.

/platform/`uname -i`/kernel/subsystem/sparcv9

SPARC 64-bit platform-specific modules required for boot. An approved installation location for bundled Solaris software.

/platform/`uname -i`/kernel/sparcv9/unix

64-bit platform-dependent kernel.

/platform/`uname -i`/kernel/unix

32-bit platform-dependent kernel.

/platform/`uname -i`/lib

Platform-specific shared objects required for boot. Semantics are equivalent to /lib. An approved installation location for bundled Solaris software and for add-on system software.

/platform/`uname -i`/sbin

Platform-specific administrative utilities required for boot. Semantics are equivalent to /sbin. An approved installation location for bundled Solaris software and for add-on system software.

/proc

Root of a subtree for the process file system.

/sbin

Essential executables used in the booting process and in manual system recovery. The full complement of utilities is available only after /usr is mounted. /sbin is an approved installation location for bundled Solaris software.

/tmp

Temporary files; cleared during the boot operation.

/usr

Mount point for the /usr file system. See description of /usr file system, below.

/var

Root of a subtree for varying files. Varying files are files that are unique to a machine but that can grow to an arbitrary (that is, variable) size. An example is a log file. An approved installation location for bundled Solaris software. The analogous location for add-on system software or for applications is /var/opt/packagename.

/var/adm

System logging and accounting files.

/var/apache

Scripts, icons, logs, and cache pages for Apache web server.

/var/audit

Basic Security Module (BSM) audit files.

/var/crash

Default depository for kernel crash dumps.

/var/cron

Log files for cron(1M).

/var/dmi

Solstice Enterprise Agents (SEA) Desktop Management Interface (DMI) run-time components.

/var/dt

dtlogin configuration files.

/var/ftp

FTP server directory.

/var/inet

IPv6 router state files.

/var/krb5

Database and log files for Kerberos.

/var/ld

Configuration files for runtime linker.

/var/ldap

LDAP client configuration files.

/var/log

System log files.

/var/lp

Line printer subsystem logging information.

/var/mail

Directory where users' mail is kept.

/var/news

Community service messages. This is not the same as USENET-style news.

/var/nfs

NFS server log files.

/var/nis

NIS+ databases.

/var/ntp

Network Time Protocol (NTP) server state directory.

/var/opt

Root of a subtree for varying files associated with optional software packages. An approved installation location for add-on system software and applications.

/var/preserve

Backup files for vi(1) and ex(1).

/var/run

Temporary files which are not needed across reboots. Only root may modify the contents of this directory.

/var/sadm

Databases maintained by the software package management utilities.

/var/sadm/system/logs

Status log files produced by software management functions and/or applications. For example, log files produced for product installation. An approved installation location for bundled Solaris software and for add-on system software and applications.

/var/saf

Service access facility logging and accounting files.

/var/samba

Log and lock files for Samba.

/var/snmp

SNMP status and configuration information.

/var/spool

Contains directories for files used in printer spooling, mail delivery, cron(1M), at(1), and so forth.

/var/spool/clientmqueue

sendmail(1M) client files.

/var/spool/cron

cron(1M) and at(1) spooling files.

/var/spool/locks

Spooling lock files.

/var/spool/lp

Line printer spool files. See lp(1).

/var/spool/mqueue

Mail queued for delivery.

/var/spool/pkg

Spooled packages.

/var/spool/print

LP print service client-side request staging area.

/var/spool/samba

Samba print queue.

/var/spool/uucp

Queued uucp(1C) jobs.

/var/spool/uucppublic

Files deposited by uucp(1C).

/var/statmon

Network status monitor files.

/var/tmp

Files that vary in size or presence during normal system operations. This directory is not cleared during the boot operation. An approved installation location for bundled Solaris software and for add-on system software and applications.

/var/uucp

uucp(1C) log and status files.

/var/yp

Databases needed for backwards compatibility with NIS and ypbind(1M); unnecessary after full transition to NIS+.

Because it is desirable to keep the root file system small and not volatile, on disk-based systems larger file systems are often mounted on /home, /opt, /usr, and /var.

The file system mounted on /usr contains platform-dependent and platform-independent sharable files. The subtree rooted at /usr/share contains platform-independent sharable files; the rest of the /usr tree contains platform-dependent files. By mounting a common remote file system, a group of machines with a common platform may share a single /usr file system. A single /usr/share file system can be shared by machines of any platform. A machine acting as a file server can share many different /usr file systems to support several different architectures and operating system releases. Clients usually mount /usr read-only so that they do not accidentally change any shared files.

The /usr file system contains the following subdirectories:

/usr/4lib

a.out libraries for the Binary Compatibility Package.

/usr/5bin

Symbolic link to the /usr/bin directory.

/usr/X

Symbolic link to the /usr/openwin directory.

/usr/adm

Symbolic link to the /var/adm directory.

/usr/apache

Apache executables, loadable modules, and documentation.

/usr/aset

Directory for Automated Security Enhancement Tools (ASET) programs and files.

/usr/bin

Platform-dependent, user-invoked executables. These are commands users expect to be run as part of their normal $PATH. For executables that are different on a 64-bit system than on a 32-bit system, a wrapper that selects the appropriate executable is placed here. See isaexec(3C). An approved installation location for bundled Solaris software. The analogous location for add-on system software or for applications is /opt/packagename/bin.

/usr/bin/ia64

Intel 64-bit, platform-dependent, user-invoked executables. Note that ia64 is an example name; the actual name might be different. This directory should not be part of a user's $PATH. A wrapper in /usr/bin should invoke the executable in this directory. See isaexec(3C). An approved installation location for bundled Solaris software. The analogous location for add-on system software or for applications is /opt/packagename/bin/ia64.

/usr/bin/sparcv9

SPARC 64-bit, platform-dependent, user-invoked executables. This directory should not be part of a user's $PATH. A wrapper in /usr/bin should invoke the executable in this directory. See isaexec(3C). An approved installation location for bundled Solaris software. The analogous location for add-on system software or for applications is /opt/packagename/bin/sparcv9.

/usr/bin/subsystem

Platform-dependent user-invoked executables that are associated with subsystem. These are commands users expect to be run as part of their normal $PATH. An approved installation location for bundled Solaris software. The analogous location for add-on system software or for applications is /opt/packagename/bin.

/usr/bin/subsystem/ia64

Intel 64-bit, platform-dependent, user-invoked executables. Note that ia64 is an example name; the actual name might be different. This directory should not be part of a user's $PATH. A wrapper in /usr/bin should invoke the executable in this directory. See isaexec(3C). An approved installation location for bundled Solaris software. The analogous location for add-on system software or for applications is /opt/packagename/bin/ia64.

/usr/bin/subsystem/sparcv9

SPARC 64-bit, platform-dependent, user-invoked executables. This directory should not be part of a user's $PATH. A wrapper in /usr/bin should invoke the executable in this directory. See isaexec(3C). An approved installation location for bundled Solaris software. The analogous location for add-on system software or for applications is /opt/packagename/bin/sparcv9.

/usr/subsystem/bin

Platform-dependent user-invoked executables that are associated with subsystem. These are commands users expect to be run as part of their normal $PATH. An approved installation location for bundled Solaris software. The analogous location for add-on system software or for applications is /opt/packagename/bin.

/usr/subsystem/bin/ia64

Intel 64-bit, platform-dependent, user-invoked executables. Note that ia64 is an example name; the actual name might be different. This directory should not be part of a user's $PATH. A wrapper in /usr/bin should invoke the executable in this directory. See isaexec(3C). An approved installation location for bundled Solaris software. The analogous location for add-on system software or for applications is /opt/packagename/bin/ia64.

/usr/subsystem/bin/sparcv9

SPARC 64-bit, platform-dependent, user-invoked executables. This directory should not be part of a user's $PATH. A wrapper in /usr/bin should invoke the executable in this directory. See isaexec(3C). An approved installation location for bundled Solaris software. The analogous location for add-on system software or for applications is /opt/packagename/bin/sparcv9.

/usr/ccs

C compilation system.

/usr/ccs/bin

C compilation commands and system utilities.

/usr/ccs/lib

Symbolic link to /usr/lib.

/usr/demo

Demo programs and data.

/usr/dict

Symbolic link to the /usr/share/lib/dict directory, which contains the dictionary file used by the UNIX spell program.

/usr/dt

root of a subtree for CDE software.

/usr/dt/bin

Primary location for CDE system utilities.

/usr/dt/include

Header files for CDE software.

/usr/dt/lib

Libraries for CDE software.

/usr/dt/share/man

On-line reference manual pages for CDE software.

/usr/games

An empty directory, a remnant of the SunOS 4.0/4.1 software.

/usr/include

Include headers (for C programs).

/usr/iplanet

Directory server executables, loadable modules, and documentation.

/usr/j2se

Java 2 SDK executables, loadable modules, and documentation.

/usr/java*

Directories containing Java programs and libraries.

/usr/kernel

Subtree of platform-dependent loadable kernel modules, not needed in the root filesystem. An approved installation location for bundled Solaris software.

/usr/kvm

A mount point, retained for backward compatibility, that formerly contained platform-specific binaries and libraries.

/usr/lib

Platform-dependent libraries, various databases, commands and daemons not invoked directly by a human user. An approved installation location for bundled Solaris software. The analogous location for add-on system software or for applications is /opt/packagename/lib.

/usr/lib/64

Symbolic link to the most portable 64-bit Solaris interfaces.

/usr/lib/acct

Accounting scripts and binaries. See acct(1M).

/usr/lib/class

Scheduling-class-specific directories containing executables for priocntl(1) and dispadmin(1M).

/usr/lib/dict

Database files for spell(1).

/usr/lib/font

troff(1) font description files.

/usr/lib/fs

File system type dependent modules; generally not intended to be invoked directly by the user.

/usr/lib/ia64

Intel 64-bit, platform-dependent libraries, various databases, commands and daemons not invoked directly by a human user. Note that ia64 is an example name; the actual name might be different. An approved installation location for bundled Solaris software. The analogous location for add-on system software or for applications is /opt/packagename/lib/ia64.

/usr/lib/iconv

Conversion tables for iconv(1).

/usr/lib/libp

Profiled libraries.

/usr/lib/locale

Localization databases.

/usr/lib/lp

Line printer subsystem databases and back-end executables.

/usr/lib/mail

Auxiliary programs for the mail(1) subsystem.

/usr/lib/netsvc

Internet network services.

/usr/lib/nfs

Auxiliary NFS-related programs and daemons.

/usr/lib/pics

Position Independent Code (PIC) archives needed to rebuild the run-time linker.

/usr/lib/refer

Auxiliary programs for refer(1).

/usr/lib/sa

Scripts and commands for the system activity report package. See sar(1).

/usr/lib/saf

Auxiliary programs and daemons related to the service access facility.

/usr/lib/sparcv9

SPARC 64-bit, platform-dependent libraries, various databases, commands and daemons not invoked directly by a human user. An approved installation location for bundled Solaris software. The analogous location for add-on system software or for applications is /opt/packagename/lib/sparcv9.

/usr/lib/spell

Auxiliary programs and databases for spell(1). This directory is only present when the Binary Compatibility Package is installed.

/usr/lib/uucp

Auxiliary programs and daemons for uucp(1C).

/usr/lib/subsystem

Platform-dependent libraries, various databases, commands and daemons that are associated with subsystem and that are not invoked directly by a human user. An approved installation location for bundled Solaris software. The analogous location for add-on system software or for applications is /opt/packagename/lib.

/usr/lib/subsystem/ia64

Intel 64-bit, platform-dependent libraries, various databases, commands and daemons that are associated with subsystem and that are not invoked directly by a human user. Note that ia64 is an example name; the actual name might be different. An approved installation location for bundled Solaris software. The analogous location for add-on system software or for applications is /opt/packagename/lib/ia64.

/usr/lib/subsystem/sparcv9

SPARC 64-bit, platform-dependent libraries, various databases, commands and daemons that are associated with subsystem and that are not invoked directly by a human user. An approved installation location for bundled Solaris software. The analogous location for add-on system software or for applications is /opt/packagename/lib/sparcv9.

/usr/subsystem/lib

Platform-dependent libraries, various databases, commands and daemons not invoked directly by a human user. An approved installation location for bundled Solaris software. The analogous location for add-on system software or for applications is /opt/packagename/lib.

/usr/subsystem/lib/ia64

Intel 64-bit, platform-dependent libraries, various databases, commands and daemons that are associated with subsystem and that are not invoked directly by a human user. Note that ia64 is an example name; the actual name might be different. An approved installation location for bundled Solaris software. The analogous location for add-on system software or for applications is /opt/packagename/lib/ia64.

/usr/subsystem/lib/sparcv9

SPARC 64-bit, platform-dependent libraries, various databases, commands and daemons that are associated with subsystem and that are not invoked directly by a human user. An approved installation location for bundled Solaris software. The analogous location for add-on system software or for applications is /opt/packagename/lib/sparcv9.

/usr/local

Not part of the SVR4-based Solaris distribution. The /usr directory is exclusively for software bundled with the Solaris operating system. If needed for storing machine-local add-on software, create the directory /opt/local and make /usr/local a symbolic link to /opt/local. The /opt directory or filesystem is for storing add-on software to the system.

/usr/mail

Symbolic link to the /var/mail directory.

/usr/man

Symbolic link to the /usr/share/man directory.

/usr/net/servers

Entry points for foreign name service requests relayed using the network listener. See listen(1M).

/usr/news

Symbolic link to the /var/news directory.

/usr/oasys

Commands and files related to the Form and Menu Language Interpreter (FMLI) execution environment. See face(1).

/usr/old

Programs that are being phased out.

/usr/openwin

Installation or mount point for the OpenWindows software.

/usr/perl5

Perl 5 programs and documentation

/usr/platform

Subtree of platform-specific objects which does not need to reside on the root filesystem. It contains a series of directories, one per supported platform. The semantics of the series of directories is equivalent to /platform, except for subdirectories which do not provide utility under one or the other (for example, /platform/include is not needed).

/usr/platform/`uname -i`/include

Symbolic link to /../`uname -i`/include.Platform-specific system (sys, vm) header files with semantics equivalent to /usr/include. An approved installation location for bundled Solaris software and for add-on system software.

/usr/platform/`uname -i`/kernel

Platform-specific modules with semantics equivalent to /usr/kernel. An approved installation location for bundled Solaris software and for add-on system software.

/usr/platform/`uname -i`/lib

Platform-specific daemon and shared objects with semantics equivalent to /usr/lib. An approved installation location for bundled Solaris software and for add-on system software.

/usr/platform/`uname -i`/lib/ia64

Intel IA64 64-bit, platform-specific daemon and shared objects. Note that ia64 is an example name; the actual name might be different. An approved installation location for bundled Solaris software and for add-on system software.

/usr/platform/`uname -i`/lib/sparcv9

SPARC 64-bit, platform-specific daemon and shared objects. An approved installation location for bundled Solaris software and for add-on system software.

/usr/platform/`uname -i`/[ s ]mannum

Where num can be one of 3x, 1m, 4, 7d, or 9e. Platform-specific system manual pages for documenting platform-specific, shared objects, administration utilities, configuration files, special files/modules, and header files. An approved installation location for bundled Solaris software and for add-on system software.

/usr/platform/`uname -i`/sbin

Platform-specific system administration utilities with semantics equivalent to /usr/sbin. An approved installation location for bundled Solaris software and for add-on system software.

/usr/preserve

Symbolic link to the /var/preserve directory.

/usr/proc

Directory for the proc tools.

/usr/proc/bin

Contains links to SPARC Version 8 binaries in /usr/bin.

/usr/pub

Files for online man page and character processing.

/usr/sadm

System administration files and directories.

/usr/sadm/bin

Binaries for the Form and Menu Language Interpreter (FMLI) scripts. See fmli(1).

/usr/sadm/install

Executables and scripts for package management.

/usr/sbin

Platform-dependent executables for system administration, expected to be run only by system administrators. An approved installation location for bundled Solaris software. The analogous location for add-on system software or for applications is /opt/packagename/sbin.

/usr/sbin/install.d

Custom Jumpstart scripts and executables.

/usr/sbin/static

Statically linked version of selected programs from /usr/bin and /usr/sbin. These are used to recover from broken dynamic linking and before all pieces necessary for dynamic linking are present.

/usr/sbin/sparc7 and sparc9

32-bit and 64-bit versions of commands.

/usr/sfw

GNU and open source executables, libraries, and documentation.

/usr/sbin/subsystem

Platform-dependent executables for system administration, expected to be run only by system administrators, and associated with subsystem. An approved installation location for bundled Solaris software. The analogous location for add-on system software or for applications is /opt/packagename/sbin.

/usr/subsystem/sbin

Platform-dependent executables for system administration, expected to be run only by system administrators, and associated with subsystem. An approved installation location for bundled Solaris software. The analogous location for add-on system software or for applications is /opt/packagename/sbin.

/usr/share

Platform-independent sharable files. An approved installation location for bundled Solaris software.

/usr/share/admserv5.1

iPlanet Console and Administration Server documentation.

/usr/share/audio

Sample audio files.

/usr/share/ds5

iPlanet Server documentation.

/usr/share/lib

Platform-independent sharable databases. An approved installation location for bundled Solaris software.

/usr/share/lib/dict

Contains word list for spell(1).

/usr/share/lib/keytables

Keyboard layout description tables.

/usr/share/lib/mailx

Help files for mailx(1).

/usr/share/lib/nterm

nroff(1) terminal tables.

/usr/share/lib/pub

Character set data files.

/usr/share/lib/tabset

Tab setting escape sequences.

/usr/share/lib/terminfo

Terminal description files for terminfo(4).

/usr/share/lib/tmac

Macro packages and related files for text processing tools, for example, nroff(1) and troff(1).

/usr/share/lib/zoneinfo

Time zone information.

/usr/share/[ s ]man

Platform-independent sharable manual pages. An approved installation location for bundled Solaris software. The analogous location for add-on system software or for applications is /opt/packagename/[ s ]man.

/usr/share/src

Source code for kernel, utilities, and libraries.

/usr/snadm

Files related to system and network administration.

/usr/spool

Symbolic link to the /var/spool directory.

/usr/src

Symbolic link to the /usr/share/src directory.

/usr/tmp

Symbolic link to the var/tmp directory.

/usr/ucb

Berkeley compatibility package binaries.

/usr/ucbinclude

Berkeley compatibility package headers.

/usr/ucblib

Berkeley compatibility package libraries.

/usr/vmsys

Commands and files related to the Framed Access Command Environment (FACE) programs. See face(1).

/usr/xpg4

Directory for POSIX-compliant utilities.