this post was submitted on 06 Sep 2024
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Linux

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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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submitted 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) by sag@lemm.ee to c/linux@lemmy.ml
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[–] guillermohs9@lemmy.ml 34 points 2 months ago (3 children)

I always thought /usr was for "user".... TIL

[–] jalkasieni@sopuli.xyz 22 points 2 months ago (1 children)

It is, this infographic is wrong. Or I guess technically some other standard could define it like the infographic, but the Filesystem Hierarchy Standard defines it as a secondary hierarchy specifically for user data.

[–] Avatar_of_Self@lemmy.world 5 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

/usr used to be the user home directory on Unix...well most of them. I think Solaris/SunOS has always been /export/home as I recall.

[–] InverseParallax@lemmy.world 11 points 2 months ago

It did, let me explain:

On the original (ie Thompson and Ritchie at Bell in 1969-71), I think it was a PDP-11, they installed to a 512kb hard disk.

As their "stuff" grew they needed to sprawl the OS to another drive, so they mounted it under /usr and threw OS components that didn't fit.

https://landley.net/writing/unixpaths.pdf

I've done the same, outgrew so you mount under a tree to keep going, it just never became a historical artifact.

[–] HereIAm@lemmy.world 2 points 2 months ago

Huh. I did as well. Like /use/bin was for user installed applications and such. You learn something everyday.