HIER(7) FreeBSD Miscellaneous Information Manual HIER(7)
NAME
hier - index of FreeBSD file system hierarchy
DESCRIPTION
/ root directory of the file system
/COPYRIGHT
FreeBSD copyright information
/bin/ fundamental BSD user utilities; see intro(1)
/boot/ programs and configurations used during FreeBSD boot(8)
defaults/ default boot configuration files; see
loader.conf(5)
device.hints kernel variables for controlling drivers; see
device.hints(5)
dtb/ compiled flattened device tree (FDT) files;
see fdt(4) and dtc(1)
overlays/ compiled fdt(4) overlays; see
fdt_overlays in loader.conf(5)
efi/ the uefi(8) EFI System Partition (ESP) mount
point
firmware/ loadable binary firmware kernel modules
fonts/ binary bitmap console fonts; see
loader.conf(5) and vtfontcvt(8)
images/ beastie boot menu images; see loader_lua(8)
kernel/ FreeBSD kernel and modules; see kldstat(8)
kernel.old/ alternative kernel and modules
loader.conf boot loader configuration; see loader.conf(5)
loader.conf.d/ loader.conf(5) configuration files
lua/ scripts for the Lua boot loader; see
loader_lua(8)
modules/ third-party loadable kernel modules, such as
those installed with pkg(8) or from ports(7)
zfs/ ZFS zpool(8) cache files
/compat/ files supporting binary compatibility with other operating
systems
linux/ default location for linux(4) compatibility
run-time
/dev/ device nodes and special files; see intro(4) and devfs(4)
ada0 first ATA storage device
ada0p1 first partition on ada0
cd0 first optical drive
cuaU0 first USB serial port; see cu(1)
da0 first SCSI storage device
da0s1 first partition on da0
dri/ GPU character device nodes; see drm(7)
drm/ GPU drm(7) special files
fd/ file descriptor files; see fd(4)
fd0 first floppy drive
gpt/ storage partitions by GPT label
mmcsd0 first SD storage device
mmcsd0s1 first partition on mmcsd0
nda0 first NVMe storage device attached via cam(3)
null infinite loop that accepts anything and
contains nothing
nvd0 first NVMe storage device using NVMe namespaces
pts/ pseudo-terminals; see pts(4)
random source of weak randomness; see random(4)
sa0 first tape drive
usb/ USB busses
vmm/ active bhyve(8) virtual machines
zvol/ zfs(8) volumes
/entropy provides initial state to RNG; see save-entropy(8)
/etc/ base system configuration files and scripts; see intro(5)
auto_master autofs automount(8) configuration
bluetooth/ bluetooth configuration files
cron.d/ tables for driving scheduled tasks; see
crontab(5)
crontab root's cron table
defaults/ default system configuration files; see
rc(8)
devd/ configuration for devd(8), the device
state change daemon
devfs.conf boot time device configuration
dma/ configuration for dma(8)
freebsd-update.conf configuration for the base system
updater; see freebsd-update(8)
fstab static filesystem configuration; see
fstab(5)
hosts database of local hosts if no network
name server is running
inetd.conf configuration for BSD heritage internet
servers; see inetd(8)
localtime local timezone information; see ctime(3)
jail.conf.d/ jail(8) startup scripts
login.conf login class capability database; see
login.conf(5)
machine-id defines the UUID for the local system,
required for dbus
mail/ sendmail(8) control files
aliases addresses to deliver system
mail
mailer.conf mailwrapper(8) configuration
motd.template message displayed upon tty login; see
motd(5)
mtree/ system mapper specification; see mtree(8)
newsyslog.conf.d/ log rotation configuration files.
ntp/ stored time for the Network Time Protocol
ntp.conf configuration for the NTP client, ntpd(8)
pam.d/ configuration files for the Pluggable
Authentication Modules (PAM) library; see
pam(3)
periodic/ scripts that are run daily, weekly, or
monthly by cron(8); see periodic(8)
pf.conf configuration for the Packet Filter
firewall; see pf(4)
pkg/ default configuration for the package
manager, pkg(8)
ppp/ PPP configuration files; see ppp(8)
rc.conf system and daemon configuration; see
rc.conf(5)
rc.d/ system and daemon startup/control
scripts; see rc(8)
resolv.conf DNS configuration; see resolv.conf(5)
resolvconf.conf DNS configuration manager configuration,
often generated by local-unbound; see
local-unbound(8) or resolvconf(8)
security/ OpenBSM audit configuration files; see
audit(8)
ssh/ OpenSSH configuration files; see ssh(1)
ssl/ OpenSSL configuration files
cert.pem System trust store in bundle
form; see certctl(8).
certs/ System trust store in OpenSSL
hashed-directory form; see
certctl(8).
openssl.cnf
OpenSSL configuration file;
see openssl.cnf(5).
untrusted/ Explicitly distrusted
certificates; see certctl(8).
sysctl.conf kernel state defaults; see sysctl.conf(5)
syslog.conf system message log configuration
ttys tty creation configuration; see getty(8)
wpa_supplicant.conf client wifi configuration; see
wpa_supplicant.conf(5)
/home/ home directories for users; the typical home for an
interactive user beastie would be /home/beastie/
/lib/ system libraries critical to binaries in /bin and /sbin
geom/ class-specific libraries for the geom(8) utility
nvmecontrol/ vendor-specific libraries to extend the
nvmecontrol(8) utility
/libexec/ system utilities critical to binaries in /bin and /sbin
/media/ mount points for removable storage media such as CDs, DVDs,
and USB drives; see automount(8), or bsdisks(8) if a using a
desktop environment from ports(7)
/mnt/ empty directory commonly used by system administrators as a
temporary mount point
/net/ automounted NFS shares; see auto_master(5)
/nonexistent/
a non-existent directory; by convention, it serves as a home
directory for user accounts that need no home directory; see
also /var/empty/
/proc/ process file system; see procfs(4)
/rescue/ statically linked programs for emergency recovery; see
rescue(8)
/root/ home directory of the root user
/sbin/ fundamental BSD system administration utilities; see intro(8)
/tmp/ temporary files commonly removed between system reboots; see
clear_tmp_enable in rc.conf(5)
/usr/ contains the majority of user utilities and applications
bin/ common utilities, programming tools, and
applications; see intro(1)
freebsd-dist/ distribution files (like base.txz); see
release(7) and bsdinstall(8)
include/ standard C include header files
lib/ shared and ar(1)-type libraries; see intro(3)
clang/ shared libraries for the system
compiler, clang(1)
compat/ shared libraries for compatibility
debug/ standalone debug data for the
kernel and base system libraries
and binaries
dtrace/ dtrace(1) library scripts
engines/ OpenSSL (Cryptography/SSL toolkit)
dynamically loadable engines
flua/ FreeBSD Lua shared libraries
i18n/ shared libraries for
internationalization
lib32/ 32-bit compatibility libraries
libdata/ miscellaneous utility data files
ldscripts/ linker scripts; see ld(1)
pkgconfig/ collections of compiler and linker
flags for the pkgconf(1)
development tool
libexec/ system daemons and utilities executed by
programs
bsdconfig/ utilities called by the ncurses
FreeBSD configuration wizard
bsdinstall/ utilities for bsdinstall(8)
dwatch/ profiles for dwatch(1)
fwget/ utilities called by fwget(8)
hyperv/ scripts for communicating with the
Hyper-V hypervisor
lpr/ utilities and filters for the line
printer system; see lpr(1)
sendmail/ the sendmail(8) binary; see
mailwrapper(8)
sm.bin/ restricted shell for sendmail(8);
see smrsh(8)
zfs/ Z file system utilities
local/ local executables, libraries, etc, installed by
pkg(7) or ports(7)
bin/ local user utilities, see intro(1)
etc/ local program configurations
include/ local library headers
lib/ local libraries
lib32/ local 32-bit compatability
libraries
libdata/ local utility data files
libexec/ utilities executed by local
utilities
sbin/ local administration utilities
share/ local architecture-independent
files
share/doc/ local documentation
share/doc/freebsd/
articles, books, FAQ, and handbooks
available from the FreeBSD project
share/man/ local manual pages; see man(1)
obj/ architecture-specific target tree produced by
building FreeBSD from source; see build(7)
ports/ FreeBSD ports collection; see ports(7)
sbin/ system daemons and utilities meant for user
execution; see intro(8)
share/ architecture-independent files
atf/ scripts for the Automated Testing
Framework; see ATF(7)
bhyve/ bhyve(8) keyboard mappings
calendar/ system-wide calendar files; see
calendar(1)
certs/ TLS certificates for openssl(1)
dict/ word lists; see look(1)
freebsd FreeBSD-specific terms,
proper names, and
jargon
web2 words from Webster's
Second International
doc/ miscellaneous documentation
dtrace/ scripts for the Dynamic Tracing
Compiler; see dtrace(1)
examples/ various examples for users and
programmers
firmware/ firmware images loaded by userland
programs
games/ ASCII text files used by BSD
heritage games, see intro(6)
keys/ known trusted and revoked keys
pkg/ fingerprints for pkg(7)
and pkg(8)
locale/ localization files; see
setlocale(3)
man/ system manual pages; see man(1)
misc/ miscellaneous system-wide files
ascii chart of the ASCII
codepoints
flowers the meanings of flowers
magic magic numbers used by
file(1)
termcap terminal
characteristics
database; see
termcap(5)
mk/ templates for make; see make(1)
nls/ national language support files
security/ data files for security policies
such as mac_lomac(4)
sendmail/ sendmail(8) configuration files
skel/ example . (dot) files for new
accounts
snmp/ MIBs, example files and tree
definitions for the SNMP daemon
defs/ tree definition files
for use with
gensnmptree(1)
mibs/ management Information
Base (MIB) files
syscons/ syscons(4) files
fonts/ console fonts; see
vidcontrol(1) and
vidfont(1)
keymaps/ console keyboard maps;
see kbdcontrol(1) and
kbdmap(1)
scrnmaps/ console screen maps
sysroot/ files necessary for the -sysroot
compiler/linker argument to build
non-native binaries
VERSION/ files for FreeBSD release
VERSION; by convention,
"VERSION" matches
uname(1) -r
VERSION/MACHINE.MACHINE_ARCH/
represent the binary ABI
for these files;
"MACHINE" matches
uname(1) -m;
"MACHINE_ARCH" matches
uname(1) -p
tabset/ tab description files for a variety
of terminals; used in the termcap
file; see termcap(5)
vi/ localization support and utilities
for the vi(1) editor
vt/ files used by the system console;
see vt(4)
fonts/ console fonts; see
vidcontrol(1),
vidfont(1), and
vtfontcvt(8)
keymaps/ console keyboard maps;
see kbdcontrol(1) and
kbdmap(1)
zoneinfo/ timezone configuration information;
see tzfile(5)
src/ FreeBSD source code; see development(7); the
layout of the source tree is described by the
top-level README.md file
tests/ the FreeBSD test suite; see tests(7)
/var/ log, temporary, transient, and spool files
account/ system accounting files
acct execution accounting file; see acct(5)
at/ timed command scheduling files; see at(1)
jobs/ job files
spool/ output spool files
audit/ security event audit trail files; see audit(8)
authpf/ user shell sessions for authenticating gateways;
see authpf(8)
backups/ critical system configuration backups
cache/ miscellaneous cache files
pkg/ cached packages for pkg(8)
cups/ cached printers for the Common Unix
Prinitng system; see cups(1)
crash/ default directory to store kernel crash dumps; see
crash(8) and savecore(8)
cron/ files used by cron; see cron(8)
tabs/ crontab files; see crontab(5)
db/ autogenerated system-specific database files
etcupdate/ temporary files and log for
etcupdate(8)
freebsd-update/ downloads and temporary files for
freebsd-update(8)
pkg/ package database
empty/ for use by programs that require an empty
directory, used for instance by sshd(8) for
privilege separation
games/ status and score files for BSD heritage games
heimdal/ Kerberos server databases; see kdc(8)
lib/ state information for ported Linux applications
log/ system log files
Xorg.0.log Xserver(1) log, if X(7) is
installed rotates to Xorg.0.log.old
aculog serial line access log; see cu(1)
auth.log system authentication log
bsdinstall_log system installation log
cron scheduled task log; see cron(8)
cups/ logs for cups(1)
daemon.log default log for system daemons
devd.log default log for device state change
daemon
dmesg.today kernel message buffer log, rotates
to dmesg.yesterday
debug.log undiscarded debug syslog messages
lpd-errs logs for the line printer spooler
daemon; see lpd(8)
maillog sendmail(8) log, rotates and
compresses to maillog.0.bz2
messages general system message log; see
syslogd(8)
mount.today currently loaded fstab(5), rotates
to mount.yesterday
pf.today packet filter firewall log; see
pf(4)
pflog saved packets caught by pflogd(8)
ppp.log see ppp(8)
security transcript of events marked with
the security flag
setuid.today listing of executable files which
run with elevated permissions,
rotates to setuid.yesterday
userlog logs changes in users or groups
utx.lastlogin last login log; see getutxent(3)
utx.log login/logout log; see getutxent(3)
mail/ user mailbox files
msgs/ system messages database; see msgs(1)
preserve/ unused, present for historical reasons
quotas/ UFS quota information files
run/ files containing information about the operating
system since it was booted
bhyve/ bhyve(8) virtual machine
unix(4)-domain sockets
ppp/ writable by the "network" group
for command connection sockets;
see ppp(8)
utx.active database of current users; see
getutxent(3)
wpa_supplicant/ IEEE Std. 802.11 wifi run time
files
rwho/ information about other systems on the local
network; see rwhod(8), rwho(1), and ruptime(1)
spool/ printer and mail system spooling directories
clientmqueue/ undelivered submission mail queue;
see sendmail(8)
cups/ print jobs and temporary files for
cups(1)
dma/ undelivered mail queue for DragonFly
Mail Agent; see dma(8)
lock/ serial device locks; see uucplock(3)
lpd/ line printer spooler daemon spool
mqueue/ undelivered mail queue for
sendmail(8)
output/ line printer spooling directories
tmp/ temporary files not removed between system reboots
vi.recover/ recovery files for the vi(1) editor
unbound/ files and configuration for unbound(8)
yp/ the NIS maps; see yp(8)
NOTES
This manual page documents the default FreeBSD file system layout. The
actual hierarchy on a given system is defined at the system
administrator's discretion. A well-maintained installation will include
a customized version of this document.
SEE ALSO
apropos(1), find(1), grep(1), ls(1), whereis(1), which(1)
HISTORY
A hier manual page first appeared in 1979 with Version 7 AT&T UNIX.
FreeBSD 15.1-STABLE-HBSD September 25, 2025 HIER(7)