NAMESPACE(4) NAMESPACE(4)
NAME
namespace - structure of conventional file name space
SYNOPSIS
none
DESCRIPTION
After a user's profile has run, the file name space should
adhere to a number of conventions if the system is to behave
normally. This manual page documents those conventions by
traversing the file hierarchy and describing the points of
interest. It also serves as a guide to where things reside
in the file system proper. The traversal is far from
exhaustive.
First, here is the appearance of the file server as it
appears before any mounts or bindings.
/ The root directory.
/adm The administration directory for the file
server.
/adm/users List of users known to the file server; see
users(6).
/adm/keys Authentication keys for users.
/adm/netkeys SecureNet keys for users; see securenet(8).
/adm/timezone Directory of timezone files; see ctime(2).
/adm/timezone/EST.EDT
Time zone description for Eastern Time. Other
such files are in this directory too.
/adm/timezone/timezone
Time zone description for the local time zone;
a copy of one of the other files in this
directory.
/bin
/dev
/env
/fd
/net
/proc
/srv
/shr
/tmp All empty unwritable directories, place hold-
ers for mounted services and directories.
/mnt A directory containing mount points for appli-
cations.
/n A directory containing mount points for file
trees imported from remote systems.
/386
/68000
/68020
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NAMESPACE(4) NAMESPACE(4)
/alpha
/arm
/mips
/power
/sparc Each CPU architecture supported by Plan 9 has
a directory in the root containing
architecture-specific files, to be selected
according to $objtype or $cputype (see 2c(1)
and init(8)). Here we list only those for
/386.
/386/init The initialization program used during boot-
strapping; see init(8).
/386/bin Directory containing binaries for the Intel
x86 architecture.
/386/bin/aux
/386/bin/ip
etc. Subdirectories of /386/bin containing auxil-
iary tools and collecting related programs.
/386/lib Directory of object code libraries as used by
8l (see 2l(1)).
/386/include Directory of x86-specific C include files.
/386/9* The files in /386 beginning with a 9 are bina-
ries of the operating system or its bootstrap
loader.
/386/mkfile Selected by mk(1) when $objtype is 386, this
file configures mk to compile for the Intel
x86 architecture.
/rc Isomorphic to the architecture-dependent
directories, this holds executables and
libraries for the shell, rc(1).
/rc/bin Directory of shell executable files.
/rc/lib Directory of shell libraries.
/rc/lib/rcmain
Startup code for rc(1).
/rc/lib/rcmain.local
Site local startup code for rc(1).
/lib Collections of data, generally not parts of
programs.
/lib/mammals
/lib/sky
etc. Databases.
/lib/ndb The network database used by the networking
software; see ndb(6) and ndb(8).
/lib/namespace
The file used by newns (see auth(2)) to estab-
lish the default name space; see namespace(6).
/lib/font/bit Bitmap font files.
/lib/font/ttf TrueType font files.
/lib/rfc Directory of Internet `Requests For Comments',
ranging from trivia to specifications.
/lib/rfc/grabrfc
Maintains RFC collection; usually run from
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NAMESPACE(4) NAMESPACE(4)
cron (see auth(8)).
/sys System software.
/sys/include Directory of machine-independent C include
files.
/sys/lib Pieces of programs not easily held in the var-
ious bins.
/sys/lib/acid Directory of acid(1) load modules.
/sys/lib/dist Software used to assemble the distribution's
installation floppy.
/sys/lib/troff
Directory of troff(1) font tables and macros.
/sys/lib/yaccpar
The yacc(1) parser.
/sys/man The manual.
/sys/doc Other system documentation.
/sys/log Log files created by various system services.
/sys/src Top-level directory of system sources.
/sys/src/cmd Source to the commands in the bin directories.
/sys/src/9 Source to the operating system for terminals
and CPU servers.
/sys/src/fs Source to the operating system for file
servers.
/sys/src/lib* Source to the libraries.
/usr A directory containing home directories of
users.
/mail Directory of electronic mail; see mail(1).
/mail/box Directory of users' mail box files.
/mail/lib Directory of alias files, etc.
/acme Directory of tools for acme(1).
/cron Directory of files for cron(8).
/cfg/system System-specific files, often addenda to their
namesakes, notably cpurc, termrc, namespace,
and consoledb.
The following files and directories are modified in the
standard name space, as defined by /lib/namespace (see
namespace(6)).
/ The root of the name space. It is a kernel
device, root(3), serving a number of local
mount points such as /bin and /dev as well as
the bootstrap program /boot. Unioned with /
is the root of the main file server.
/boot Compiled into the operating system kernel,
this file establishes the connection to the
main file server and starts init; see boot(8)
and init(8).
/bin Mounted here is a union directory composed of
/$objtype/bin, /rc/bin, $home/bin/$objtype,
$home/bin/rc, etc., so /bin is always the
directory containing the appropriate executa-
bles for the current architecture.
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NAMESPACE(4) NAMESPACE(4)
/dev Mounted here is a union directory containing
I/O devices such as the console (cons(3)), the
interface to the raster display (draw(3)),
etc. The window system, rio(1), prefixes this
directory with its own version, overriding
many device files with its own, multiplexed
simulations of them.
/env Mounted here is the environment device,
env(3), which holds environment variables such
as $cputype.
/net Mounted here is a union directory formed of
all the network devices available.
/net/cs The communications point for the connection
server, ndb/cs (see ndb(8)).
/net/dns The communications point for the Domain Name
Server, ndb/dns (see ndb(8)).
/net/tcp
/net/udp Directories holding the IP protocol devices
(see ip(3)).
/proc Mounted here is the process device, proc(3),
which provides debugging access to active pro-
cesses.
/fd Mounted here is the dup device, dup(3), which
holds pseudonyms for open file descriptors.
/shr Mounted here is the global mountpoint device,
shr(3), which holds mounted filesystems visi-
ble in all namespaces.
/srv Mounted here is the service registry, srv(3),
which holds connections to file servers.
/srv/boot The communication channel to the main file
server for the machine.
/mnt/wsys Mount point for the window system.
/mnt/term Mount point for the terminal's name space as
seen by the CPU server after a cpu(1) command.
/n/kremvax A place where machine kremvax's name space may
be mounted.
/tmp Mounted here is each user's private tmp,
$home/tmp.
SEE ALSO
intro(1), namespace(6)
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