file-hierarchy(7) — Linux manual page

NAME | DESCRIPTION | GENERAL STRUCTURE | RUNTIME DATA | VENDOR-SUPPLIED OPERATING SYSTEM RESOURCES | PERSISTENT VARIABLE SYSTEM DATA | VIRTUAL KERNEL AND API FILE SYSTEMS | COMPATIBILITY SYMLINKS | HOME DIRECTORY | WRITE ACCESS | NODE TYPES | SYSTEM PACKAGES | USER PACKAGES | SEE ALSO | NOTES | COLOPHON

FILE-HIERARCHY(7)            file-hierarchy            FILE-HIERARCHY(7)

NAME         top

       file-hierarchy - File system hierarchy overview

DESCRIPTION         top

       Operating systems using the systemd(1) system and service manager
       are organized based on a file system hierarchy inspired by UNIX,
       more specifically the hierarchy described in the File System
       Hierarchy[1] specification and hier(7), with various extensions,
       partially documented in the XDG Base Directory Specification[2]
       and XDG User Directories[3]. This manual page describes a more
       generalized, though minimal and modernized subset of these
       specifications that defines more strictly the suggestions and
       restrictions systemd makes on the file system hierarchy.

       Many of the paths described here can be queried with the
       systemd-path(1) tool.

GENERAL STRUCTURE         top

       /
           The file system root. Usually writable, but this is not
           required. Possibly a temporary file system ("tmpfs"). Not
           shared with other hosts (unless read-only).

           Added in version 215.

       /boot/
           The boot partition used for bringing up the system. On EFI
           systems, this is possibly the EFI System Partition (ESP),
           also see systemd-gpt-auto-generator(8). This directory is
           usually strictly local to the host, and should be considered
           read-only, except when a new kernel or boot loader is
           installed. This directory only exists on systems that run on
           physical or emulated hardware that requires boot loaders.

           Added in version 215.

       /efi/
           If the boot partition /boot/ is maintained separately from
           the EFI System Partition (ESP), the latter is mounted here.
           Tools that need to operate on the EFI system partition should
           look for it at this mount point first, and fall back to
           /boot/ — if the former doesn't qualify (for example if it is
           not a mount point or does not have the correct file system
           type MSDOS_SUPER_MAGIC).

           Added in version 239.

       /etc/
           System-specific configuration. This directory may or may not
           be read-only. Frequently, this directory is pre-populated
           with vendor-supplied configuration files, but applications
           should not make assumptions about this directory being fully
           populated or populated at all, and should fall back to
           defaults if configuration is missing.

           Added in version 215.

       /home/
           The location for normal user's home directories. Possibly
           shared with other systems, and never read-only. This
           directory should only be used for normal users, never for
           system users. This directory and possibly the directories
           contained within it might only become available or writable
           in late boot or even only after user authentication. This
           directory might be placed on limited-functionality network
           file systems, hence applications should not assume the full
           set of file API is available on this directory. Applications
           should generally not reference this directory directly, but
           via the per-user $HOME environment variable, or via the home
           directory field of the user database.

           Added in version 215.

       /root/
           The home directory of the root user. The root user's home
           directory is located outside of /home/ in order to make sure
           the root user may log in even without /home/ being available
           and mounted.

           Added in version 215.

       /srv/
           The place to store general server payload, managed by the
           administrator. No restrictions are made how this directory is
           organized internally. Generally writable, and possibly shared
           among systems. This directory might become available or
           writable only very late during boot.

           Added in version 215.

       /tmp/
           The place for small temporary files. This directory is
           usually mounted as a "tmpfs" instance, and should hence not
           be used for larger files. (Use /var/tmp/ for larger files.)
           This directory is usually flushed at boot-up. Also, files
           that are not accessed within a certain time may be
           automatically deleted.

           If applications find the environment variable $TMPDIR set,
           they should use the directory specified in it instead of
           /tmp/ (see environ(7) and IEEE Std 1003.1[4] for details).

           Since /tmp/ is accessible to other users of the system, it is
           essential that files and subdirectories under this directory
           are only created with mkstemp(3), mkdtemp(3), and similar
           calls. For more details, see Using /tmp/ and /var/tmp/
           Safely[5].

           Added in version 215.

RUNTIME DATA         top

       /run/
           A "tmpfs" file system for system packages to place runtime
           data, socket files, and similar. This directory is flushed on
           boot, and generally writable for privileged programs only.
           Always writable.

           Added in version 215.

       /run/log/
           Runtime system logs. System components may place private logs
           in this directory. Always writable, even when /var/log/ might
           not be accessible yet.

           Added in version 215.

       /run/user/
           Contains per-user runtime directories, each usually
           individually mounted "tmpfs" instances. Always writable,
           flushed at each reboot and when the user logs out. User code
           should not reference this directory directly, but via the
           $XDG_RUNTIME_DIR environment variable, as documented in the
           XDG Base Directory Specification[2].

           Added in version 215.

VENDOR-SUPPLIED OPERATING SYSTEM RESOURCES         top

       /usr/
           Vendor-supplied operating system resources. Usually
           read-only, but this is not required. Possibly shared between
           multiple hosts. This directory should not be modified by the
           administrator, except when installing or removing
           vendor-supplied packages.

           Added in version 215.

       /usr/bin/
           Binaries and executables for user commands that shall appear
           in the $PATH search path. It is recommended not to place
           binaries in this directory that are not useful for invocation
           from a shell (such as daemon binaries); these should be
           placed in a subdirectory of /usr/lib/ instead.

           Added in version 215.

       /usr/include/
           C and C++ API header files of system libraries.

           Added in version 215.

       /usr/lib/
           Static, private vendor data that is compatible with all
           architectures (though not necessarily
           architecture-independent). Note that this includes internal
           executables or other binaries that are not regularly invoked
           from a shell. Such binaries may be for any architecture
           supported by the system. Do not place public libraries in
           this directory, use $libdir (see below), instead.

           Added in version 215.

       /usr/lib/arch-id/
           Location for placing dynamic libraries into, also called
           $libdir. The architecture identifier to use is defined on
           Multiarch Architecture Specifiers (Tuples)[6] list. Legacy
           locations of $libdir are /usr/lib/, /usr/lib64/. This
           directory should not be used for package-specific data,
           unless this data is architecture-dependent, too. To query
           $libdir for the primary architecture of the system, invoke:

               # systemd-path system-library-arch

           Added in version 215.

       /usr/share/
           Resources shared between multiple packages, such as
           documentation, man pages, time zone information, fonts and
           other resources. Usually, the precise location and format of
           files stored below this directory is subject to
           specifications that ensure interoperability.

           Added in version 215.

       /usr/share/doc/
           Documentation for the operating system or system packages.

           Added in version 215.

       /usr/share/factory/etc/
           Repository for vendor-supplied default configuration files.
           This directory should be populated with pristine vendor
           versions of all configuration files that may be placed in
           /etc/. This is useful to compare the local configuration of a
           system with vendor defaults and to populate the local
           configuration with defaults.

           Added in version 215.

       /usr/share/factory/var/
           Similar to /usr/share/factory/etc/, but for vendor versions
           of files in the variable, persistent data directory /var/.

           Added in version 215.

PERSISTENT VARIABLE SYSTEM DATA         top

       /var/
           Persistent, variable system data. Writable during normal
           system operation. This directory might be pre-populated with
           vendor-supplied data, but applications should be able to
           reconstruct necessary files and directories in this
           subhierarchy should they be missing, as the system might
           start up without this directory being populated. Persistency
           is recommended, but optional, to support ephemeral systems.
           This directory might become available or writable only very
           late during boot. Components that are required to operate
           during early boot hence shall not unconditionally rely on
           this directory.

           Added in version 215.

       /var/cache/
           Persistent system cache data. System components may place
           non-essential data in this directory. Flushing this directory
           should have no effect on operation of programs, except for
           increased runtimes necessary to rebuild these caches.

           Added in version 215.

       /var/lib/
           Persistent system data. System components may place private
           data in this directory.

           Added in version 215.

       /var/log/
           Persistent system logs. System components may place private
           logs in this directory, though it is recommended to do most
           logging via the syslog(3) and sd_journal_print(3) calls.

           Added in version 215.

       /var/spool/
           Persistent system spool data, such as printer or mail queues.

           Added in version 215.

       /var/tmp/
           The place for larger and persistent temporary files. In
           contrast to /tmp/, this directory is usually mounted from a
           persistent physical file system and can thus accept larger
           files. (Use /tmp/ for small ephemeral files.) This directory
           is generally not flushed at boot-up, but time-based cleanup
           of files that have not been accessed for a certain time is
           applied.

           If applications find the environment variable $TMPDIR set,
           they should use the directory specified in it instead of
           /var/tmp/ (see environ(7) for details).

           The same security restrictions as with /tmp/ apply:
           mkstemp(3), mkdtemp(3), and similar calls should be used. For
           further details about this directory, see Using /tmp/ and
           /var/tmp/ Safely[5].

           Added in version 215.

VIRTUAL KERNEL AND API FILE SYSTEMS         top

       /dev/
           The root directory for device nodes. Usually, this directory
           is mounted as a "devtmpfs" instance, but might be of a
           different type in sandboxed/containerized setups. This
           directory is managed jointly by the kernel and
           systemd-udevd(8), and should not be written to by other
           components. A number of special purpose virtual file systems
           might be mounted below this directory.

           Added in version 215.

       /dev/shm/
           Place for POSIX shared memory segments, as created via
           shm_open(3). This directory is flushed on boot, and is a
           "tmpfs" file system. Since all users have write access to
           this directory, special care should be taken to avoid name
           clashes and vulnerabilities. For normal users, shared memory
           segments in this directory are usually deleted when the user
           logs out. Usually, it is a better idea to use memory mapped
           files in /run/ (for system programs) or $XDG_RUNTIME_DIR (for
           user programs) instead of POSIX shared memory segments, since
           these directories are not world-writable and hence not
           vulnerable to security-sensitive name clashes.

           Added in version 215.

       /proc/
           A virtual kernel file system exposing the process list and
           other functionality. This file system is mostly an API to
           interface with the kernel and not a place where normal files
           may be stored. For details, see proc(5). A number of special
           purpose virtual file systems might be mounted below this
           directory.

           Added in version 215.

       /proc/sys/
           A hierarchy below /proc/ that exposes a number of kernel
           tunables. The primary way to configure the settings in this
           API file tree is via sysctl.d(5) files. In
           sandboxed/containerized setups, this directory is generally
           mounted read-only.

           Added in version 215.

       /sys/
           A virtual kernel file system exposing discovered devices and
           other functionality. This file system is mostly an API to
           interface with the kernel and not a place where normal files
           may be stored. In sandboxed/containerized setups, this
           directory is generally mounted read-only. A number of special
           purpose virtual file systems might be mounted below this
           directory.

           Added in version 215.

       /sys/fs/cgroup/
           A virtual kernel file system exposing process control groups
           (cgroups). This file system is an API to interface with the
           kernel and not a place where normal files may be stored. On
           current systems running in the default "unified" mode, this
           directory serves as the mount point for the "cgroup2"
           filesystem, which provides a unified cgroup hierarchy for all
           resource controllers. On systems with non-default
           configurations, this directory may instead be a tmpfs
           filesystem containing mount points for various "cgroup" (v1)
           resource controllers; in such configurations, if "cgroup2" is
           mounted it will be mounted on /sys/fs/cgroup/unified/, but
           cgroup2 will not have resource controllers attached. In
           sandboxed/containerized setups, this directory may either not
           exist or may include a subset of functionality.

           Added in version 251.

COMPATIBILITY SYMLINKS         top

       /bin/, /sbin/, /usr/sbin/
           These compatibility symlinks point to /usr/bin/, ensuring
           that scripts and binaries referencing these legacy paths
           correctly find their binaries.

           Added in version 215.

       /lib/
           This compatibility symlink points to /usr/lib/, ensuring that
           programs referencing this legacy path correctly find their
           resources.

           Added in version 215.

       /lib64/
           On some architecture ABIs, this compatibility symlink points
           to $libdir, ensuring that binaries referencing this legacy
           path correctly find their dynamic loader. This symlink only
           exists on architectures whose ABI places the dynamic loader
           in this path.

           Added in version 215.

       /var/run/
           This compatibility symlink points to /run/, ensuring that
           programs referencing this legacy path correctly find their
           runtime data.

           Added in version 215.

HOME DIRECTORY         top

       User applications may want to place files and directories in the
       user's home directory. They should follow the following basic
       structure. Note that some of these directories are also
       standardized (though more weakly) by the XDG Base Directory
       Specification[2]. Additional locations for high-level user
       resources are defined by xdg-user-dirs[3].

       ~/.cache/
           Persistent user cache data. User programs may place
           non-essential data in this directory. Flushing this directory
           should have no effect on operation of programs, except for
           increased runtimes necessary to rebuild these caches. If an
           application finds $XDG_CACHE_HOME set, it should use the
           directory specified in it instead of this directory.

           Added in version 215.

       ~/.config/
           Application configuration. When a new user is created, this
           directory will be empty or not exist at all. Applications
           should fall back to defaults should their configuration in
           this directory be missing. If an application finds
           $XDG_CONFIG_HOME set, it should use the directory specified
           in it instead of this directory.

           Added in version 215.

       ~/.local/bin/
           Executables that shall appear in the user's $PATH search
           path. It is recommended not to place executables in this
           directory that are not useful for invocation from a shell;
           these should be placed in a subdirectory of ~/.local/lib/
           instead. Care should be taken when placing
           architecture-dependent binaries in this place, which might be
           problematic if the home directory is shared between multiple
           hosts with different architectures.

           Added in version 215.

       ~/.local/lib/
           Static, private vendor data that is compatible with all
           architectures.

           Added in version 215.

       ~/.local/lib/arch-id/
           Location for placing public dynamic libraries. The
           architecture identifier to use is defined on Multiarch
           Architecture Specifiers (Tuples)[6] list.

           Added in version 215.

       ~/.local/share/
           Resources shared between multiple packages, such as fonts or
           artwork. Usually, the precise location and format of files
           stored below this directory is subject to specifications that
           ensure interoperability. If an application finds
           $XDG_DATA_HOME set, it should use the directory specified in
           it instead of this directory.

           Added in version 215.

       ~/.local/state/
           Application state. When a new user is created, this directory
           will be empty or not exist at all. Applications should fall
           back to defaults should their state in this directory be
           missing. If an application finds $XDG_STATE_HOME set, it
           should use the directory specified in it instead of this
           directory.

           Added in version 254.

WRITE ACCESS         top

   Unprivileged Write Access
       Unprivileged processes generally lack write access to most of the
       hierarchy.

       The exceptions for normal users are /tmp/, /var/tmp/, /dev/shm/,
       as well as the home directory $HOME (usually found below /home/)
       and the runtime directory $XDG_RUNTIME_DIR (found below
       /run/user/) of the user, which are all writable.

       For unprivileged system processes, only /tmp/, /var/tmp/ and
       /dev/shm/ are writable. If an unprivileged system process needs a
       private writable directory in /var/ or /run/, it is recommended
       to either create it before dropping privileges in the daemon
       code, to create it via tmpfiles.d(5) fragments during boot, or
       via the StateDirectory= and RuntimeDirectory= directives of
       service units (see systemd.unit(5) for details).

       /tmp/, /var/tmp/ and /dev/shm/ should be mounted nosuid and
       nodev, which means that set-user-id mode and character or block
       special devices are not interpreted on those file systems. In
       general it is not possible to mount them noexec, because various
       programs use those directories for dynamically generated or
       optimized code, and with that flag those use cases would break.
       Using this flag is OK on special-purpose installations or systems
       where all software that may be installed is known and doesn't
       require such functionality. See the discussion of
       nosuid/nodev/noexec in mount(8) and PROT_EXEC in mmap(2).

   Lack of Write Access on Read-Only Systems and during System Recovery
       As noted above, some systems operate with the /usr and /etc
       hierarchies mounted read-only, possibly only allowing write
       access during package upgrades. Other part of the hierarchy are
       generally mounted read-write (in particular /var and /var/tmp),
       but may be read-only when the kernel remounts the file system
       read-only in response to errors, or when the system is booted
       read-only for recovery purposes. To the extent reasonable,
       applications should be prepared to execute without write access,
       so that for example, failure to save non-essential data to
       /var/cache/ or failure to create a custom log file under /var/log
       does not prevent the application from running.

       The /run/ directory is available since the earliest boot and is
       always writable. It should be used for any runtime data and
       sockets, so that write access to e.g.  /etc or /var is not
       needed.

NODE TYPES         top

       Unix file systems support different types of file nodes,
       including regular files, directories, symlinks, character and
       block device nodes, sockets and FIFOs.

       It is strongly recommended that /dev/ is the only location below
       which device nodes shall be placed. Similarly, /run/ shall be the
       only location to place sockets and FIFOs. Regular files,
       directories and symlinks may be used in all directories.

SYSTEM PACKAGES         top

       Developers of system packages should follow strict rules when
       placing their files in the file system. The following table lists
       recommended locations for specific types of files supplied by the
       vendor.

       Table 1. System package vendor files locations
       ┌───────────────────────────┬──────────────────────────┐
       │ Directory                 Purpose                  │
       ├───────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
       │ /usr/bin/                 │ Package executables that │
       │                           │ shall appear in the      │
       │                           │ $PATH executable search  │
       │                           │ path, compiled for any   │
       │                           │ of the supported         │
       │                           │ architectures compatible │
       │                           │ with the operating       │
       │                           │ system. It is not        │
       │                           │ recommended to place     │
       │                           │ internal binaries or     │
       │                           │ binaries that are not    │
       │                           │ commonly invoked from    │
       │                           │ the shell in this        │
       │                           │ directory, such as       │
       │                           │ daemon binaries. As this │
       │                           │ directory is shared with │
       │                           │ most other packages of   │
       │                           │ the system, special care │
       │                           │ should be taken to pick  │
       │                           │ unique names for files   │
       │                           │ placed here, that are    │
       │                           │ unlikely to clash with   │
       │                           │ other package's files.   │
       ├───────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
       │ /usr/lib/arch-id/         │ Public shared libraries  │
       │                           │ of the package. As       │
       │                           │ above, be careful with   │
       │                           │ using too generic names, │
       │                           │ and pick unique names    │
       │                           │ for your libraries to    │
       │                           │ place here to avoid name │
       │                           │ clashes.                 │
       ├───────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
       │ /usr/lib/package/         │ Private static vendor    │
       │                           │ resources of the         │
       │                           │ package, including       │
       │                           │ private binaries and     │
       │                           │ libraries, or any other  │
       │                           │ kind of read-only vendor │
       │                           │ data.                    │
       ├───────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
       │ /usr/lib/arch-id/package/ │ Private other vendor     │
       │                           │ resources of the package │
       │                           │ that are                 │
       │                           │ architecture-specific    │
       │                           │ and cannot be shared     │
       │                           │ between architectures.   │
       │                           │ Note that this generally │
       │                           │ does not include private │
       │                           │ executables since        │
       │                           │ binaries of a specific   │
       │                           │ architecture may be      │
       │                           │ freely invoked from any  │
       │                           │ other supported system   │
       │                           │ architecture.            │
       ├───────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
       │ /usr/include/package/     │ Public C/C++ APIs of     │
       │                           │ public shared libraries  │
       │                           │ of the package.          │
       └───────────────────────────┴──────────────────────────┘

       Additional static vendor files may be installed in the
       /usr/share/ hierarchy to the locations defined by the various
       relevant specifications.

       The following directories shall be used by the package for local
       configuration and files created during runtime:

       Table 2. System package variable files locations
       ┌─────────────────────┬──────────────────────────┐
       │ Directory           Purpose                  │
       ├─────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
       │ /etc/package/       │ System-specific          │
       │                     │ configuration for the    │
       │                     │ package. It is           │
       │                     │ recommended to default   │
       │                     │ to safe fallbacks if     │
       │                     │ this configuration is    │
       │                     │ missing, if this is      │
       │                     │ possible. Alternatively, │
       │                     │ a tmpfiles.d(5) fragment │
       │                     │ may be used to copy or   │
       │                     │ symlink the necessary    │
       │                     │ files and directories    │
       │                     │ from /usr/share/factory/ │
       │                     │ during boot, via the "L" │
       │                     │ or "C" directives.       │
       ├─────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
       │ /run/package/       │ Runtime data for the     │
       │                     │ package. Packages must   │
       │                     │ be able to create the    │
       │                     │ necessary subdirectories │
       │                     │ in this tree on their    │
       │                     │ own, since the directory │
       │                     │ is flushed automatically │
       │                     │ on boot. Alternatively,  │
       │                     │ a tmpfiles.d(5) fragment │
       │                     │ may be used to create    │
       │                     │ the necessary            │
       │                     │ directories during boot, │
       │                     │ or the RuntimeDirectory= │
       │                     │ directive of service     │
       │                     │ units may be used to     │
       │                     │ create them at service   │
       │                     │ startup (see             │
       │                     │ systemd.unit(5) for      │
       │                     │ details).                │
       ├─────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
       │ /run/log/package/   │ Runtime log data for the │
       │                     │ package. As above, the   │
       │                     │ package needs to make    │
       │                     │ sure to create this      │
       │                     │ directory if necessary,  │
       │                     │ as it will be flushed on │
       │                     │ every boot.              │
       ├─────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
       │ /var/cache/package/ │ Persistent cache data of │
       │                     │ the package. If this     │
       │                     │ directory is flushed,    │
       │                     │ the application should   │
       │                     │ work correctly on next   │
       │                     │ invocation, though       │
       │                     │ possibly slowed down due │
       │                     │ to the need to rebuild   │
       │                     │ any local cache files.   │
       │                     │ The application must be  │
       │                     │ capable of recreating    │
       │                     │ this directory should it │
       │                     │ be missing and           │
       │                     │ necessary. To create an  │
       │                     │ empty directory, a       │
       │                     │ tmpfiles.d(5) fragment   │
       │                     │ or the CacheDirectory=   │
       │                     │ directive of service     │
       │                     │ units (see               │
       │                     │ systemd.unit(5)) may be  │
       │                     │ used.                    │
       ├─────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
       │ /var/lib/package/   │ Persistent private data  │
       │                     │ of the package. This is  │
       │                     │ the primary place to put │
       │                     │ persistent data that     │
       │                     │ does not fall into the   │
       │                     │ other categories listed. │
       │                     │ Packages should be able  │
       │                     │ to create the necessary  │
       │                     │ subdirectories in this   │
       │                     │ tree on their own, since │
       │                     │ the directory might be   │
       │                     │ missing on boot. To      │
       │                     │ create an empty          │
       │                     │ directory, a             │
       │                     │ tmpfiles.d(5) fragment   │
       │                     │ or the StateDirectory=   │
       │                     │ directive of service     │
       │                     │ units (see               │
       │                     │ systemd.unit(5)) may be  │
       │                     │ used.                    │
       ├─────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
       │ /var/log/package/   │ Persistent log data of   │
       │                     │ the package. As above,   │
       │                     │ the package should make  │
       │                     │ sure to create this      │
       │                     │ directory if necessary,  │
       │                     │ possibly using           │
       │                     │ tmpfiles.d(5) or         │
       │                     │ LogsDirectory= (see      │
       │                     │ systemd.exec(5)), as it  │
       │                     │ might be missing.        │
       ├─────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
       │ /var/spool/package/ │ Persistent spool/queue   │
       │                     │ data of the package. As  │
       │                     │ above, the package       │
       │                     │ should make sure to      │
       │                     │ create this directory if │
       │                     │ necessary, as it might   │
       │                     │ be missing.              │
       └─────────────────────┴──────────────────────────┘

USER PACKAGES         top

       Programs running in user context should follow strict rules when
       placing their own files in the user's home directory. The
       following table lists recommended locations in the home directory
       for specific types of files supplied by the vendor if the
       application is installed in the home directory. (User
       applications installed system-wide are covered by the rules
       outlined above for vendor files.)

       Table 3. Vendor package file locations under the home directory
       of the user
       ┌───────────────────────────────┬──────────────────────────┐
       │ Directory                     Purpose                  │
       ├───────────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
       │ ~/.local/bin/                 │ Package executables that │
       │                               │ shall appear in the      │
       │                               │ $PATH executable search  │
       │                               │ path. It is not          │
       │                               │ recommended to place     │
       │                               │ internal executables or  │
       │                               │ executables that are not │
       │                               │ commonly invoked from    │
       │                               │ the shell in this        │
       │                               │ directory, such as       │
       │                               │ daemon executables. As   │
       │                               │ this directory is shared │
       │                               │ with most other packages │
       │                               │ of the user, special     │
       │                               │ care should be taken to  │
       │                               │ pick unique names for    │
       │                               │ files placed here, that  │
       │                               │ are unlikely to clash    │
       │                               │ with other package's     │
       │                               │ files.                   │
       ├───────────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
       │ ~/.local/lib/arch-id/         │ Public shared libraries  │
       │                               │ of the package. As       │
       │                               │ above, be careful with   │
       │                               │ using overly generic     │
       │                               │ names, and pick unique   │
       │                               │ names for your libraries │
       │                               │ to place here to avoid   │
       │                               │ name clashes.            │
       ├───────────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
       │ ~/.local/lib/package/         │ Private, static vendor   │
       │                               │ resources of the         │
       │                               │ package, compatible with │
       │                               │ any architecture, or any │
       │                               │ other kind of read-only  │
       │                               │ vendor data.             │
       ├───────────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
       │ ~/.local/lib/arch-id/package/ │ Private other vendor     │
       │                               │ resources of the package │
       │                               │ that are                 │
       │                               │ architecture-specific    │
       │                               │ and cannot be shared     │
       │                               │ between architectures.   │
       └───────────────────────────────┴──────────────────────────┘

       Additional static vendor files may be installed in the
       ~/.local/share/ hierarchy, mirroring the subdirectories specified
       in the section "Vendor-supplied operating system resources"
       above.

       The following directories shall be used by the package for
       per-user local configuration and files created during runtime:

       Table 4. User package variable file locations
       ┌───────────────────────────┬──────────────────────────┐
       │ Directory                 Purpose                  │
       ├───────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
       │ ~/.config/package/        │ User-specific            │
       │                           │ configuration and state  │
       │                           │ for the package. It is   │
       │                           │ required to default to   │
       │                           │ safe fallbacks if this   │
       │                           │ configuration is         │
       │                           │ missing.                 │
       ├───────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
       │ $XDG_RUNTIME_DIR/package/ │ User runtime data for    │
       │                           │ the package.             │
       ├───────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┤
       │ ~/.cache/package/         │ Persistent cache data of │
       │                           │ the package. If this     │
       │                           │ directory is flushed,    │
       │                           │ the application should   │
       │                           │ work correctly on next   │
       │                           │ invocation, though       │
       │                           │ possibly slowed down due │
       │                           │ to the need to rebuild   │
       │                           │ any local cache files.   │
       │                           │ The application must be  │
       │                           │ capable of recreating    │
       │                           │ this directory should it │
       │                           │ be missing and           │
       │                           │ necessary.               │
       └───────────────────────────┴──────────────────────────┘

SEE ALSO         top

       systemd(1), hier(7), systemd-path(1),
       systemd-gpt-auto-generator(8), sysctl.d(5), tmpfiles.d(5),
       pkg-config(1), systemd.unit(5)

NOTES         top

        1. File System Hierarchy
           http://refspecs.linuxfoundation.org/FHS_3.0/fhs-3.0.html

        2. XDG Base Directory Specification
           https://standards.freedesktop.org/basedir-spec/basedir-spec-latest.html

        3. XDG User Directories
           https://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/xdg-user-dirs

        4. IEEE Std 1003.1
           http://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/9699919799/basedefs/V1_chap08.html#tag_08_03

        5. Using /tmp/ and /var/tmp/ Safely
           https://systemd.io/TEMPORARY_DIRECTORIES

        6. Multiarch Architecture Specifiers (Tuples)
           https://wiki.debian.org/Multiarch/Tuples

COLOPHON         top

       This page is part of the systemd (systemd system and service
       manager) project.  Information about the project can be found at
       ⟨http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/systemd⟩.  If you have
       a bug report for this manual page, see
       ⟨http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/systemd/#bugreports⟩.
       This page was obtained from the project's upstream Git repository
       ⟨https://github.com/systemd/systemd.git⟩ on 2023-12-22.  (At that
       time, the date of the most recent commit that was found in the
       repository was 2023-12-22.)  If you discover any rendering
       problems in this HTML version of the page, or you believe there
       is a better or more up-to-date source for the page, or you have
       corrections or improvements to the information in this COLOPHON
       (which is not part of the original manual page), send a mail to
       man-pages@man7.org

systemd 255                                            FILE-HIERARCHY(7)

Pages that refer to this page: systemd-path(1)daemon(7)hier(7)systemd.directives(7)systemd.index(7)