[TUHS] Understanding the /bin, /sbin, /usr/bin, /usr/sbin Split

[Warner Losh]

On Feb 2, 2012, at 10:36 AM, John Cowan wrote:

> Warner Losh scripsit:
> 
>> sbin was created in SYS Vr4 to move all the binaries that were in /etc.
>> /usr/share was created to move all the non-binary, non-text files that
>> were in /etc like termcap and timezone info.
> 
> Does anyone know what the "s" in sbin stands for?  "Superuser"?  I would
> have put these files in /root/bin, but perhaps /root did not yet exist.

I'd been told a long time ago that  is stands for 'system' for people that need to administer the system, not necessarily super users.  The FreeBSD hier man page seems to bear this out:

     /sbin/     system programs and administration utilities fundamental to
                both single-user and multi-user environments

> Not everything in /usr/share comes from /etc; in particular, /usr/share/dict
> was formerly /usr/dict.

That's true, but /usr/dict was a bit of an odd-ball at the top /usr level.  /usr/share contained all the stuff from /etc and also other things that didn't seem to belong.  That's why it is documented as having the architecture independent files in it...

Warner