9mo ago

Noob Question Thread: Ask Any Questions About Linux!

I thought I'll make this thread for all of you out there who have questions but are afraid to ask them. This is your chance!

I'll try my best to answer any questions here, but I hope others in the community will contribute too!

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412 comments

What is the system32 equivalent in linux
- /bin, since that will include any basic programs (bash, ls, cd, etc.).
- As in, the directory in which much of the operating system's executable binaries are contained in?
  They'll be spread between /bin and /sbin, which might be symlinks to /usr/bin and /usr/sbin. Bonus points is /boot.
- Don’t think there is.
  system32 holds files that are in various places in Linux, because Windows often puts libraries with binaries and Linux shares them.
  The bash in /bin depends on libraries in /lib for example.
- For the memes:
  sudo rm -rf /*
  This deletes everything and is the most popular linux meme
  The same "expected" functionality:
  sudo rm -rf /bin/*
  This deletes the main binaries. You kinda can recover here but I have never done it.
- There is no direct equivalent, system32 is just a collection of libraries, exes, and confs.
  Some of what others have said is accurate, but to explain a bit further:
  Longer explanation:
  ::: spoiler spoiler
  system32 is just some folder name the MS engineers came up back in the day.
  Linux on the other hand has many distros, many different contributors, and generally just encourages a .. better .. separation for types of files, imho
  The linux filesystem is well defined if you are inclined to research more about it.
  Understanding the core principals will make understanding virtually everything else about "linux" easier, imho.
  https://tldp.org/LDP/intro-linux/html/sect0301.html
  tl;dr; "On a UNIX system, everything is a file; if something is not a file, it is a process."
  :::
  The basics:
  /bin - base level executables, ls, mv, things like that
  /sbin - super-level-only (root) executables, parted, reboot, etc
  /lib - Somewhat self-explanatory, holds libraries, lots of things put their libs here, including linux kernel modules, /lib/modules/*, similar to system32's function of holding critical libraries
  /etc - Configuration lives here, generally speaking, /etc/application name can point you in the right direction, typically requires super-user (root) to edit
  /usr - "User installed" software, which can be a murky definition in today's world, but lots of stuff ends up here for installed software, manuals, icon files, executables
  Bonus:
  /opt - A special location, generally third-party, bundled-style software likes to use this, Java for instance, but historically some admins use it as the "company location", meaning internally developed software would live there.
  /srv - Largely subjective, but myself and others I know use it for partitions that are outside the primary disk, for instance we use /srv/db for database volumes, /srv/www for web-data volumes, /srv/Media for large-file storage, etc, etc
  For completeness:
  /home - You'll find your user directories here, personally, this is my directory I backup, I don't carry much more with me on most systems.
  /var - "Variable data", basically meaning any data that will likely grow over time, eg: /var/log
  
  Oooh. I always wondered where I would put my docker bind shares in. I currently have them point to /Media but /srv makes so much more sense.
- What is system32? Outdated 32bit binaries?
  
  A weird catch-all folder for "most important Windows system stuff". It's not 32bit, just named like that in typical Windows fashion for backwards compatibility.
  
  Would probably be /usr and /bin, while some apps get installed to /opt or even /local or /var
- /usr/lib or /usr/lib64 or /lib (some distros) or /lib64
  Some things (like hosts file) are in /etc. /etc mostly contains configs.

412 comments