Linux/Unix For DevOps and Developer :: History of Unix

The history of Unix dates to the mid-1960s when the Massachusetts Institute of ,AT&T Bell Labs, and General Electric were jointly developing an experimental time-sharing operating system called Multics for the GE-645 mainframe. Multics introduced many innovations but had many problems. Bell Labs, frustrated by the size and complexity of Multics but not the aims, slowly pulled out of the project. Their last researchers to leave Multics – Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, Doug McIlroy, and Joe Ossanna among others – decided to redo the work on a much smaller scale. In 1979, Dennis Ritchie described their vision for Unix. and from there the Journey Started ...

A Shell provides you with an interface to the Unix system. It gathers input from you and executes programs based on that input. When a program finishes executing, it displays that program's output. Superuser is the generic term to refer to the user account used for system administration (Full Permission).

Linux Directory Structure:

1. / – root Every single file and directory starts from the root directory. Only root user has write privilege under this directory. Please note that /root is root user’s home directory, which is not same as /.

2. /bin – User Binaries Contains binary executables. Common linux commands you need to use in single-user modes are located under this directory. Commands used by all the users of the system are located here. For example: ps, ls, ping, grep, cp.

3. /sbin – System Binaries Just like /bin, /sbin also contains binary executables. But, the linux commands located under this directory are used typically by system aministrator, for system maintenance purpose. For example: iptables, reboot, fdisk, ifconfig, swapon

4. /etc – Configuration Files Contains configuration files required by all programs. This also contains startup and shutdown shell scripts used to start/stop individual programs. For example: /etc/resolv.conf, /etc/logrotate.conf

5. /dev – Device Files Contains device files. These include terminal devices, usb, or any device attached to the system. For example: /dev/tty1, /dev/usbmon0

6. /proc – Process Information Contains information about system process. This is a pseudo filesystem contains information about running process. For example: /proc/{pid} directory contains information about the process with that particular pid. This is a virtual filesystem with text information about system resources. For example: /proc/uptime

7. /var – Variable Files var stands for variable files. Content of the files that are expected to grow can be found under this directory. This includes — system log files (/var/log); packages and database files (/var/lib); emails (/var/mail); print queues (/var/spool); lock files (/var/lock); temp files needed across reboots (/var/tmp);

8. /tmp – Temporary Files Directory that contains temporary files created by system and users. Files under this directory are deleted when system is rebooted.

9. /usr – User Programs Contains binaries, libraries, documentation, and source-code for second level programs. /usr/bin contains binary files for user programs. If you can’t find a user binary under /bin, look under /usr/bin. For example: at, awk, cc, less, scp /usr/sbin contains binary files for system administrators. If you can’t find a system binary under /sbin, look under /usr/sbin. For example: atd, cron, sshd, useradd, userdel /usr/lib contains libraries for /usr/bin and /usr/sbin /usr/local contains users programs that you install from source. For example, when you install apache from source, it goes under /usr/local/apache2

10. /home – Home Directories Home directories for all users to store their personal files. For example: /home/john, /home/nikita

11. /boot – Boot Loader Files Contains boot loader related files. Kernel initrd, vmlinux, grub files are located under /boot For example: initrd.img-2.6.32-24-generic, vmlinuz-2.6.32-24-generic

12. /lib – System Libraries Contains library files that supports the binaries located under /bin and /sbin Library filenames are either ld* or lib*.so.* For example: ld-2.11.1.so, libncurses.so.5.7

13. /opt – Optional add-on Applications opt stands for optional. Contains add-on applications from individual vendors. add-on applications should be installed under either /opt/ or /opt/ sub-directory.

14. /mnt – Mount Directory Temporary mount directory where sysadmins can mount filesystems.

15. /media – Removable Media Devices Temporary mount directory for removable devices. For examples, /media/cdrom for CD-ROM; /media/floppy for floppy drives; /media/cdrecorder for CD writer

16. /srv – Service Data srv stands for service. Contains server specific services related data. For example, /srv/cvs contains CVS related data.