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# 3.4 Directory Structure

The FreeBSD directory hierarchy is fundamental to obtaining an overall understanding of the system. The most important concept to grasp is that of the root directory, “/”. This directory is the first one mounted at boot time and it contains the base system necessary to prepare the operating system for multi-user operation. The root directory also contains mount points for other file systems that are mounted during the transition to multi-user operation.

A mount point is a directory where additional file systems can be grafted onto a parent file system (usually the root file system). This is further described in Section 3.5. Standard mount points include `/usr`, `/var`, `/tmp`, `/mnt`, and `/cdrom`. These directories are usually referenced to entries in the file `/etc/fstab`. `/etc/fstab` is a table of various file systems and mount points for reference by the system. Most of the file systems in `/etc/fstab` are mounted automatically at boot time from the script rc(8) unless they contain the `noauto` option. Details can be found in Section 3.6.1.

A complete description of the file system hierarchy is available in hier(7). For now, a brief overview of the most common directories will suffice.

Directory | Description
--- | ---
`/` | Root directory of the file system.
`/bin/` | User utilities fundamental to both single-user and multi-user environments.
`/boot/` | Programs and configuration files used during operating system bootstrap.
`/boot/defaults/` | Default bootstrapping configuration files; see loader.conf(5).
`/dev/` | Device nodes; see intro(4).
`/etc/` | System configuration files and scripts.
`/etc/defaults/` | Default system configuration files; see rc(8).
`/etc/mail/` | Configuration files for mail transport agents such as sendmail(8).
`/etc/namedb/` | `named` configuration files; see named(8).
`/etc/periodic/` | Scripts that are run daily, weekly, and monthly, via cron(8); see periodic(8).
`/etc/ppp/` | `ppp` configuration files; see ppp(8).
`/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/` | Home directory for the `root` account.
`/sbin/` | System programs and administration utilities fundamental to both single-user and multi-user environments.
`/tmp/` | Temporary files. The contents of `/tmp` are usually NOT preserved across a system reboot. A memory-based file system is often mounted at `/tmp`. This can be automated using the tmpmfs-related variables of rc.conf(5) (or with an entry in `/etc/fstab`; see mdmfs(8)).
`/usr/` | The majority of user utilities and applications.
`/usr/bin/` | Common utilities, programming tools, and applications.
`/usr/include/` | Standard C include files.
`/usr/lib/` | Archive libraries.
`/usr/libdata/` | Miscellaneous utility data files.
`/usr/libexec/` | System daemons & system utilities (executed by other programs).
`/usr/local/` | Local executables, libraries, etc. Also used as the default destination for the FreeBSD ports framework. Within `/usr/local`, the general layout sketched out by hier(7) for `/usr` should be used. Exceptions are the man directory, which is directly under `/usr/local` rather than under `/usr/local/share`, and the ports documentation is in `share/doc/`port``.
`/usr/obj/` | Architecture-specific target tree produced by building the `/usr/src` tree.
`/usr/ports/` | The FreeBSD Ports Collection (optional).
`/usr/sbin/` | System daemons & system utilities (executed by users).
`/usr/share/` | Architecture-independent files.
`/usr/src/` | BSD and/or local source files.
`/usr/X11R6/` | X11R6 distribution executables, libraries, etc (optional).
`/var/` | Multi-purpose log, temporary, transient, and spool files. A memory-based file system is sometimes mounted at `/var`. This can be automated using the varmfs-related variables of rc.conf(5) (or with an entry in `/etc/fstab`; see mdmfs(8)).
`/var/log/` | Miscellaneous system log files.
`/var/mail/` | User mailbox files.
`/var/spool/` | Miscellaneous printer and mail system spooling directories.
`/var/tmp/` | Temporary files. The files are usually preserved across a system reboot, unless `/var` is a memory-based file system.
`/var/yp/` | NIS maps.

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