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3.3.1. The Filesystem Hierarchy Standard
As with other Linux distributions, Kali Linux is organized to be consistent with the Filesystem Hi- erarchy Standard (FHS), allowing users of other Linux distributions to easily find their way around Kali. The FHS defines the purpose of each directory. The top-level directories are described as follows.
• /bin/: basic programs
• /boot/: Kali Linux kernel and other files required for its early boot process
• /dev/: device files
• /etc/: configuration files
• /home/: user’s personal files
• /lib/: basic libraries
• /media/*: mount points for removable devices (CD-ROM, USB keys, and so on)
• /mnt/: temporary mount point
• /opt/: extra applications provided by third parties
• /root/: administrator’s (root’s) personal files
• /run/: volatile runtime data that does not persist across reboots (not yet included in the FHS)
• /sbin/: system programs
• /srv/: data used by servers hosted on this system
• /tmp/: temporary files (this directory is often emptied at boot)
• /usr/: applications (this directory is further subdivided into bin, sbin, lib according to the same logic as in the root directory) Furthermore, /usr/share/ contains architecture- independent data. The /usr/local/ directory is meant to be used by the administrator for installing applications manually without overwriting files handled by the packaging system (dpkg).
• /var/: variable data handled by daemons. This includes log files, queues, spools, and caches.
• /proc/ and /sys/ are specific to the Linux kernel (and not part of the FHS). They are used by the kernel for exporting data to user space.