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Unit 2: Red Hat Linux 9 Basics

In order not to always have to perform a long listing for seeing the file type, a lot of systems by Notes
default don’t issue just ls, but ls -F, which suffixes file names with one of the characters “/=*|@”
to indicate the file type. To make it extra easy on the beginning user, both the -F and --color
options are usually combined.
As a user, you only need to deal directly with plain files, executable files, directories and links.
The special file types are there for making your system do what you demand from it and are dealt
with by system administrators and programmers.
The first thing that most new users shifting from Windows will find confusing is navigating
the Linux filesystem. The Linux filesystem does things a lot more differently than the Windows
filesystem.

2.3.1 The File System Hierarchy

Similar to a physical folder, an electronic folder can enclose various files. A folder may also have
sub-folders or sub-directories.

We can create, copy, move, and delete files and folders. The folders themselves are organised
in a hierarchical manner starting at the root of the file system. Every user is provided a home
directory and upon logging in, the user is placed in his home directory.

Everything begins from the root directory, symbolized by ‘/’, and then expands into sub-
directories. Where DOS/Windows had several partitions and then directories under those
partitions, Linux places every partition under the root directory by ‘mounting’ it under specific
directories.
The Hierarchical File System on Linux Desktop is shown as below:

Figure 2.10: The Hierarchical File System

In case of Windows, the various partitions are detected at boot and allocated a drive letter. In case
of Linux, unless you mount a partition or a device, the system does not know of the existence
of that partition or device. This might not seem to be the easiest way to provide access to your
partitions or devices but it offers great flexibility.

Example: Let’s take the example of the /usr directory. This directory off the root
directory contains most of the system executables. With the Linux filesystem, you can choose
to mount it off another partition or even off another machine over the network. The underlying
system will not know the difference because /usr appears to be a local directory that is part of
the local directory structure. How many times have you wished to move around executables and
data under Windows, only to run into registry and system errors? Try moving c:windowssystem
to another partition or drive.
Another point likely to confuse newbies is the use of the frontslash ‘/’ instead of the backslash
“as in DOS/Windows. So c:windowssystem would be /c/windows/system. Well, Linux is not
going against convention here.

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