Questions tagged [filesystem]

The general filesystem in Ubuntu is arranged in a single tree with everything under /. This tag should be used for questions dealing with Ubuntu's layout of files, permissions, and files that reside in special locations on disk. Questions related to a particular filesystem should instead use the specific tag for that (for instance: ext4, btrfs, zfs).

In Ubuntu, as in other Linux systems, files are arranged in a single tree with everything under / : the root directory.

A useful reference is the Linux Filesystem Hierarchy Standard, which sets out requirements and guidelines for Unix-like file systems in detail.

Some examples: the kernel and bootloader files are found in /boot, system executables are usually in /bin /usr and /sbin, configuration files are mostly found in /etc, variable files, such as system logs, are in /var, and normal users' home directories are in /home.

A key attribute of Linux file systems is the control of permissions for each file in the system. This stems from the design of Unix systems as inherently multi-user. Files are always owned by some user and some group, and the ability to read, change or "execute" a file are separately defined for the owner, the group, and everyone else. Normal users own the files in their home directories, while the majority of other files are owned by root. In Ubuntu, root normally has no password, and normal users gain permission to modify files owned by other users, including root, with the use of sudo.

A simplified graphical summary:

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Use of /opt and /usr/local directories in the context of a PC

What is the difference between /opt and /usr/local directories and what kind of programs should be installed to them? I referred to Linux File-system Hierarchy but the explanation is not that clear. According to above link; /opt :- This directory is…
Niroshan
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What do I do when my root filesystem is full?

My / folder is reading as full and I can't update software or do anything. Not sure what I'm doing wrong here. $ df -h Results: Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on /dev/sda1 5.7G 5.4G 0 100% / udev 1.9G 4.0K 1.9G 1% /dev tmpfs 770M 1.1M 769M…
Jesse
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How to unmount after using mount --bind option?

I have mounted a hard disk /dev/sda1 on /media/backup . Further, I have issued the following command: mkdir /home/users/Desktop/backup sudo mount --bind /media/backup /home/users/Desktop/backup This allows me to access /media/backup from…
Vern
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Can I disable updatedb.mlocate?

On ubuntu server here and I'm trying to unpack 300M image files from a compressed file format using Java. My unpack rate is 0.5Mbytes/sec, abysmal (34 days to unpack 1.5TB at this rate). I'm trying to figure out why, and the only oddity I notice is…
David Parks
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How folders created in /var/run on each reboot

In recent ubuntus (specifically, what interests me the most is 12.04) /var/run is tmpfs, and thus I assume it starts empty with each reboot. Yet, I see there some folders, like /var/run/mysqld and numerous others. How those folders created on each…
Sandman4
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Does Ubuntu damage USB drives?

Whenever I unmount a USB drive with Nautilus and plug it to a Windows machine, I receive a warning that the drive needs to be repaired. (the same message like in this screenshot) For 10+ years working with windows I never had a corrupted or damaged…
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What is the role of the .ICEauthority file?

When I listed files in my home directory, there was a hidden file named .ICEauthority. What is this file, and what is its role?
user262235
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Why has /var/run been migrated to /run?

From the technical overview of Ubuntu 11.10 Oneiric : Ubuntu 11.10 has migrated away from /var/run , /var/lock and /dev/shm and now uses /run , /run/lock and /run/shm instead (respectively). I hardcode these paths in my applications, why is this…
Lekensteyn
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Very large log files, what should I do?

( This question deals with a similar issue, but it talks about a rotated log file.) Today I got a system message regarding very low /var space. As usual I executed the commands in the line of sudo apt-get clean which improved the scenario only…
Masroor
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What is the .Xauthority file?

I had a problem wherein I couldn't get past the login screen in Ubuntu 12.04. Even though I gave the correct username and password, it still came back to the login screen. I found a solution wherein I changed the ownership of the .Xauthority in my…
chanHXC
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How do I use OverlayFS?

This answer and email message indicate that something called "OverlayFS" is available in Ubuntu 11.10 and will forcefully replace aufs in Ubuntu 12.04. How do I use it? Where is its documentation?
ændrük
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How to create folder shortcut in Ubuntu 14.04?

I have a folder in my Dropbox and I want to add a shortcut of that folder on my Desktop. I guess this should be extremely easy as in Windows OS :) However, I have no idea how to do it in Ubuntu 14.04. Is there anything I can do to create a simple…
Jim Blum
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How to Fix "Read-only file system" error when I run something as sudo and try to make a folder/file?

When I try to save something or rename a file/folder it say this error " Read-only file system" or run something as root in the terminal it say this error sudo: unable to open /var/lib/sudo/"My User Name"/0: Read-only file system W: Not using…
MathCubes
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Command line option to check which filesystem I am using?

Is there a command that will show which file system (ext3, ext4, FAT32, ...) the various partitions and disks are using? Similar to how sudo fdisk -l lists information about disks and partitions?
j-g-faustus
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How do I install and mount an exFAT partition?

I have searched around here and with Google, and none of the instructions I have found work with Oneric. How do install exFAT and mount an exFAT partition in the latest release of Kubuntu?
Karolinger
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