8.5 The Home Directory (home)

   

8.5 The Home Directory (/home)

Traditionally, this directory contains the home directories of all system users. A home directory for user linda will be /home/linda . All users are owners of their respective directories and have full rights of files under these directories. The size of this directory usually depends on the number of users and varies widely as users add and delete files in their home directories.

Under the home directory of each user is located user- related configuration files. You have already used the $HOME/.profile and $HOME/.exrc files. There may be many other user configuration files. An example would be the file that controls how the X-Window system should start up for a particular user and what should be displayed on the user's desktop.

In a network where user information is shared, the home directories are kept on a central file server and are exported from that server to all other machines. A user can log into any one of the available systems, and he/she will find the same home directory everywhere. At this time, it must also be kept in mind that it is not mandatory to keep all home directories under the /home directory. The system administrator is free to make any choice for home directories. The name /home is just a convention. At the same time, some other directory names are mandatory. For example, a system administrator cannot place system configuration files in a directory other than /etc .


   
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HP Certified
HP Certified: HP-UX System Administration
ISBN: 0130183741
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2000
Pages: 390
Authors: Rafeeq Rehman

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