Which part of the file system is data, which is programs, which is neither data nor programs

MaestroGlanz

1/14/23, 10:14 AM

I tried to look for a full list, which shows, what belongs to which category in the file system. So far all articles I found seemed to be not complete. That's, what I have so far:

bin  => programs
boot => programs + data?
dev  => neither
etc  => data
home => data
lib  => programs
lost+found => neither/both
misc => ?
mnt  => from current root perspective data
net  => like mnt
opt  => should be programs (and data, if the programming wasn't done well)
proc => neither
sbin => programs
tmp  => data
usr  => seems to be mixed?
var  => mixed also?

My problem is especially with usr and var. Can the subfolders be divided into programs and data? var contains var/lib, which should be programs. var/log on the other hand is definitely data. In usr, I expect usr/bin to be programs, but usr/share to be data.

0 + 0

filesystem

Artur Meinild

1/14/23, 10:29 AM

Why does it matter? And why the arbitrary distinction between programs and data? And why only on the root level? As a rule of thumb, binaries (programs) will be in: `/bin`, `/opt/bin`, `/sbin` or `/usr/bin`.

MaestroGlanz

1/14/23, 10:32 AM

@ArturMeinild Because I want to cleanly backup all data from my existing system.

Artur Meinild

1/14/23, 10:36 AM

Problem is, the structure is not so clear cut - neither on the root level, or whether you consider "binaries" as programs or data. Instead, you should rather focus on what data you want to backup, and locate that.

MaestroGlanz

1/14/23, 11:07 AM

@ArturMeinild That is not the response I hoped for, but the one I expected or at least I'm not surprised.

user535733

1/14/23, 12:59 PM

You have a good handle on where data *should* be stored. But there is little consequence if a developer ignores those guidelines; there is no Linux Police with enforcement power over everybody. I've seen applications ignore those guidelines and throw data into weird places. @ArturMeinild's guidance to check the *actual* locations of the data you want to preserve is sound and sensible guidance.

Elon Musk

I sit in a Tesla and translated this thread with Ai:

EN: Which part of the file system is data, which is programs, which is neither data nor programs

TH: ส่วนใดของระบบไฟล์คือข้อมูล ซึ่งก็คือโปรแกรม ซึ่งไม่ใช่ทั้งข้อมูลและโปรแกรม

RO: Care parte a sistemului de fișiere sunt date, care sunt programe, care nu sunt nici date, nici programe

RU: Какая часть файловой системы является данными, какая является программами, которая не является ни данными, ни программами

VI: Phần nào của hệ thống tệp là dữ liệu, phần nào là chương trình, phần nào không phải dữ liệu cũng không phải chương trình

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