Page 157 - DCAP106_OPERATING_SYSTEM_TOOLS

Operating System Tools

Notes /dev/sda5 1276 1525 2008093+ 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda6 1526 1532 56196 83 Linux
/dev/sda7 1533 2778 10008463+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda8 2779 7296 36290803+ 83 Linux
The swap partition is pointed by through the /etc/fstab file and enabled at boot-up.
In order to view the currently active swap partitions, view the content of the /proc/swaps file
or run the swapon -s command:
# cat /proc/swaps
Filename Type Size Used Priority
/dev/sda5 partition 2008084 0 -1

9.2.2 The Linux File System Locations

As we know, each location on the Linux file system has its distinct meaning. We’ve already
discussed some of them without explicitly telling that those are standard locations, like
/home which houses the local users’ home directories.

System Required Locations

These locations cannot be placed on another file system medium. This is because those locations
are needed by the mount command itself to function properly:
z z /bin usually contains executable programs needed to bring the system up and running.
Recently however, more and more distributions are moving all applications towards /usr
/bin and are using symbolic links to transition towards this new structure.

z z /etc contains all the configuration files for the system (not the user-specific configurations).
z z /lib usually contains the system libraries necessary to successfully boot the system and run
the commands which are located inside /bin. Recently however, these files are also being
migrated towards /usr/lib.

z z /sbin, just like /bin, contains executable programs. However, whereas /bin has programs
which users can use as well, /sbin contains programs solely for system administrative
purposes.

Userland Locations

These locations contain the files for the regular operation of a system. These can be stored on
separate media if you want, but if you do, you will need to setup an initial ram disk to boot your
system with. The location for the userland locations is/usr.

z z /usr is the root of the userland locations (and usually the mount point of the separate
medium).
z z /usr/X11R6 contains all the files necessary for the graphical window server (X11); they
are subdivided in binaries (bin/), libraries (lib/) and header definitions (/include) for
programs relying on the X11 system.

z z /usr/bin contains all the executable programs.
z z /usr/lib contains all the libraries for the above mentioned programs.
z z /usr/share contains all the application data for the various applications (such as graphical
elements, documentation, etc.)

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