mirror of https://github.com/tLDP/LDP
68 lines
3.3 KiB
XML
68 lines
3.3 KiB
XML
<sect1 id="home">
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<title>/home</title>
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<para>Linux is a multi-user environment so each user is also
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assigned a specific directory that is accessible only to them
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and the system administrator. These are the user home directories,
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which can be found under '/home/$USER' (~/). It is your playground:
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everything is at your command, you can write files, delete them,
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install programs, etc.... Your home directory contains your
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personal configuration files, the so-called dot files (their name
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is preceded by a dot). Personal configuration files are usually 'hidden',
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if you want to see them, you either have to turn on the appropriate
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option in your file manager or run ls with the -a switch. If there is
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a conflict between personal and system wide configuration files, the
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settings in the personal file will prevail. </para>
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<para>Dotfiles most likely to be altered by the end user are probably
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your .xsession and .bashrc files. The configuration files for X and
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Bash respectively. They allow you to be able to change the window
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manager to be startup upon login and also aliases, user-specified
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commands and environment variables respectively. Almost always when a
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user is created their dotfiles will be taken from the /etc/skel directory
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where system administrators place a sample file that user's can modify to
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their hearts content.</para>
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<para>/home can get quite large and can be used for storing downloads,
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compiling, installing and running programs, your mail, your collection
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of image or sound files etc.</para>
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<para>The FSSTND states that:</para>
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<para><screen>
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/home is a fairly standard concept, but it is clearly a site-specific
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filesystem.
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Different people prefer to place user accounts in a variety of places.
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This section describes only a suggested placement for user home
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directories; nevertheless we recommend that all FHS-compliant
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distributions use this as the default location for home directories.
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On small systems, each user's directory is typically one of the many
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subdirectories of /home such as /home/smith, /home/torvalds,
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/home/operator, etc. On large systems (especially when the /home
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directories are shared amongst many hosts using NFS) it is useful
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to subdivide user home directories. Subdivision may be accomplished by
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using subdirectories such as /home/staff, /home/guests, /home/students,
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etc.
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The setup will differ from host to host. Therefore, no program
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should rely on this location.
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If you want to find out a user's home directory, you should use the
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getpwent(3) library function rather than relying on /etc/passwd because
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user information may be stored remotely using systems such as NIS.
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User specific configuration files for applications are stored in the
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user's home directory in a file that starts with the '.' character
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(a "dot file"). If an application needs to create more than one dot
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file then they should be placed in a subdirectory with a name starting
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with a '.' character, (a "dot directory"). In this case the
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configuration files should not start with the '.' character.
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It is recommended that apart from autosave and lock files programs
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should refrain from creating non dot files or directories in a home
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directory without user intervention.
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</screen></para>
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</sect1>
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