Root directory

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In computer file systems, and mainly used in Unix and Unix-like operating systems, the root directory is the first or topmost directory in the hierarchy. It can be likened to a tree trunk, as the starting point of all branches comes from. The root file system is the file system located on the same disk partition where the root directory is located; it is the above filesystem that all other file systems are installed when the system boots.

Video Root directory

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To use the physical file cabinet example, if a separate drawer in the file cabinet is represented as the highest level of sub-directory in the file system or system prompt, then the file cabinet space in can be represented as the root directory. That is, other directories may be in it, but the root directory can not enter other directories, at least in that file system. In most operating systems, files can be placed in the root directory, as well as in sub-directories. One might imagine this as putting a paper file anywhere in the room, or into a filing cabinet in the room.

Maps Root directory

Some root directories

Unix abstracts the properties of this tree hierarchy completely and in Unix and Unix-like systems the root directory is denoted by the / (slash). Although the root directory is conventionally referred to as /, the directory entry itself has no names - the name is "empty" before the initial directory separator (/). All filesystem entries, including mounted filesystems are "branches" of this root.

Under DOS, OS/2, and Microsoft Windows, each partition has a drive letter assignment (labeled C: \ for a particular C partition) and there is no common root directory on it. DOS, OS/2, and Windows support more abstract hierarchies, with partitions can be installed in other drive directories, although these are rarely seen. It has been possible in DOS through the JOIN command since it was first added to DOS, and can be achieved in all versions of Windows as well. In some contexts, it is also possible to refer to the root directory that contains all mounted drives, although it can not load the file directly because it does not exist in any file system. For example, when linking to a local file using the "file:" URI scheme, the syntax is of the form "file :///C:/... ", where " file:// "is the default prefix, and the third '/' represents the root of the local system.

In a UNIX-like operating system, each process has its own idea of ​​the root directory. For most processes, this is the same as the actual root directory of the system, but can be changed by calling the chroot system call. This is usually done to create a closed environment to run software that requires legacy libraries and sometimes to simplify software installation and debugging. Chroot is not intended to be used for enhanced security because the process inside can break. FreeBSD offers a more powerful jail () system call that allows virtualization of the operating system level and also serves security purposes to limit which files the process can access only to parts of the file system hierarchy.

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Super-root

Some Unix systems support directories under the root directory. Typically, "/.." points back to the same inode as "/"; however, under MUNIX, this can be changed to point to the super-root directory, where remote trees can be installed. If, for example, two "pcs2a" and "pcs2b" workstations connected via the "connectnodes" and "uunite" startup scripts, "/../pcs2b" can be used to access the "pcs2b" root directory of "pcs2a".

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Related usage

/root

In many Unix, there is also a directory named /root . Confusingly, it's not the root directory in the sense of this article, but the home directory of the superuser (conventionally known as "root"). Sometimes referred to as "root slash".

VMS

In the VMS operating system, the term "root directory" is used to refer to the directory where all user files are stored, called Unix as "home directory". The equivalent of MS-DOS per-disk "root directory" in the VMS is referred to as "Master File Directory" and set as [000000]

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See also

• Standard File System Hierarchy (FHS)
• The homepage directory
• Parent directory
• Work directory

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References

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External links

• Definition of the Root Directory by Linux Information Project (LINFO)

Source of the article : Wikipedia