source: chapter06/creatingdirs.xml@ e860d2c

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
<!DOCTYPE sect1 PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.4//EN" "http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.4/docbookx.dtd" [
  <!ENTITY % general-entities SYSTEM "../general.ent">
  %general-entities;
]>
<sect1 id="ch-system-creatingdirs">
<title>Creating Directories</title>
<?dbhtml filename="creatingdirs.html"?>

<para>It is time to create some structure in the LFS file system. Create a
standard directory tree by issuing the following commands:</para>
 
<screen><userinput>install -d /{bin,boot,dev,etc/opt,home,lib,mnt}
install -d /{sbin,srv,usr/local,var,opt}
install -d /root -m 0750
install -d /tmp /var/tmp -m 1777
install -d /media/{floppy,cdrom}
install -d /usr/{bin,include,lib,sbin,share,src}
ln -s share/{man,doc,info} /usr
install -d /usr/share/{doc,info,locale,man}
install -d /usr/share/{misc,terminfo,zoneinfo}
install -d /usr/share/man/man{1..8}
install -d /usr/local/{bin,etc,include,lib,sbin,share,src}
ln -s share/{man,doc,info} /usr/local
install -d /usr/local/share/{doc,info,locale,man}
install -d /usr/local/share/{misc,terminfo,zoneinfo}
install -d /usr/local/share/man/man{1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8}
install -d /var/{lock,log,mail,run,spool}
install -d /var/{opt,cache,lib/{misc,locate},local}
install -d /opt/{bin,doc,include,info}
install -d /opt/{lib,man/man{1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8}}</userinput></screen>

<para>Directories are, by default, created with permission mode 755,
but this is not desirable for all directories. In the commands above,
two changes are made&mdash;one to the home directory of user
<emphasis>root</emphasis>, and another to the directories for
temporary files.</para>

<para>The first mode change ensures that not just anybody can enter
the <filename class="directory">/root</filename> directory&mdash;the same
as a normal user would do with his or her home directory. The second
mode change makes sure that any user can write to the <filename
class="directory">/tmp</filename> and <filename
class="directory">/var/tmp</filename> directories, but cannot remove
another user's files from them. The latter is prohibited by the
so-called <quote>sticky bit,</quote> the highest bit (1) in the 1777
bit mask.</para>

<note><para>Notice the two different constructions above for creating multiple
man directories: <command>install -d /usr/share/man/man{1..8}</command> and
<command>install -d /usr/local/share/man/man{1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8}</command>. The
first one is new since Bash 3.0 This new feature will help make repetitive
commands easier to type.</para></note>

<sect2>
<title>FHS Compliance Note</title>

<para>The directory tree is based on the Filesystem Hierarchy Standard (FHS)
 (available at <ulink url="http://www.pathname.com/fhs/"/>). In addition
to the tree created above, this standard stipulates the existence of <filename
class="directory">/usr/local/games</filename> and <filename
class="directory">/usr/share/games</filename>. The FHS is not precise as to the
structure of the <filename class="directory">/usr/local/share</filename>
subdirectory, so we create only the directories that are needed. However, feel
free to create these directories if you prefer to conform more strictly to the
FHS.</para>

</sect2>

</sect1>