Filesystem Standard (Kali)

Kali linux is organized to be consistend with the Filesystem Hierarchy Standard (FHS), allowing users of other Linux distrobutions 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/DVD-ROM, USB keys, and so on)

• /mnt/ : temporary mount point

• /opt/ : extra applications provided by third parties

• /root/ : administrator'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) Futhermore, /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 services. This includes log files, queues, spools, and caches.

• /proc/ and /sys/ are specific to the Linux kernel. They are used by the kernel for exporting data to user space.