/ - Root Directory
As we all know Linux file system starts with /, the root directory. All other directories are 'children' of this directory. The partition which the root file system resides on is mounted first during boot and the system will not boot if it doesn't find it.
/bin - Essential Binaries
This directory contains several useful commands that are of use to both the system administrator as well as non-privileged users.
Unlike /sbin, the bin directory contains several useful commands that are of use to both the system administrator as well as non-privileged users. It usually contains the shells like bash, zsh, etc. and commonly used commands like cp, mv, rm, cat, ls. For this reason and in contrast to /usr/bin, the binaries in this directory are considered to be essential. The reason for this is that it contains essential system programs that must be available even if only the partition containing / is mounted. It also contains programs which boot scripts may depend on.
/boot - Boot Files
This directory contains everything required for the boot process except for configuration files not needed at boot time.
This directory contains everything required for the boot process except for configuration files not needed at boot time (the most notable of those being those that belong to the GRUB boot-loader) and the map installer. Thus, the /boot directory stores data that is used before the kernel begins executing user-mode programs. This may include redundant (back-up) master boot records, sector/system map files, the kernel and other important boot files and data that is not directly edited by hand. Programs necessary to arrange for the boot loader to be able to boot a file are placed in /sbin. Configuration files for boot loaders are placed in /etc. The system kernel is located in either / or /boot
/dev - Device Files
This directory is the location of special or device files.
It is a very interesting directory that highlights one important aspect of the Linux filesystem - everything is a file or a directory. Look through this directory and you should hopefully see hda1, hda2 etc.... which represent the various partitions on the first master drive of the system. The majority of devices are either block or character devices; however other types of devices exist and can be created. In general, 'block devices' are devices that store or hold data, 'character devices' can be thought of as devices that transmit or transfer data. For example, diskette drives, hard drives and CD-ROM drives are all block devices while serial ports, mice and parallel printer ports are all character devices. There is a naming scheme of sorts but in the vast majority of cases these are completely illogical.
/etc - Configuration Files
This directory contains all system related configuration files in here or in its sub-directories.
This is the nerve center of your system, it contains all system related configuration files in here or in its sub-directories. A "configuration file" is defined as a local file used to control the operation of a program; it must be static and cannot be an executable binary. For this reason, it's a good idea to backup this directory regularly. It will definitely save you a lot of re-configuration later if you re-install or lose your current installation. Normally, no binaries should be or are located here.
/home - Users Directories
Each user is assigned a specific directory that is accessible only to them and the system administrator. These are the user home directories, which can be found under this directory.
Linux is a multi-user environment so each user is also assigned a specific directory that is accessible only to them and the system administrator. These are the user home directories, which can be found under '/home/$USER' (~/). It is your playground: everything is at your command, you can write files, delete them, install programs, etc.... Your home directory contains your personal configuration files, the so-called dot files (their name is preceded by a dot). Personal configuration files are usually 'hidden', if you want to see them, you either have to turn on the appropriate option in your file manager or run ls with the -a switch. If there is a conflict between personal and system wide configuration files, the settings in the personal file will prevail. Almost always when a user is created their dotfiles will be taken from the /etc/skel directory where system administrators place a sample file that user's can modify to their hearts content. /home can get quite large and can be used for storing downloads, compiling, installing and running programs, your mail, your collection of image or sound files etc.
/lib - Essential Shared Libraries
This directory contains kernel modules and those shared library images (the C programming code library) needed to boot the system and run the commands in the root filesystem.
The /lib directory contains kernel modules and those shared library images (the C programming code library) needed to boot the system and run the commands in the root filesystem, ie. by binaries in /bin and /sbin. Libraries are readily identifiable through their filename extension of *.so. Windows equivalent to a shared library would be a DLL (dynamically linked library) file. They are essential for basic system functionality. Kernel modules (drivers) are in the subdirectory /lib/modules/'kernel-version'. To ensure proper module compilation you should ensure that /lib/modules/'kernel-version'/kernel/build points to /usr/src/'kernel-version' or ensure that the Makefile knows where the kernel source itself are located.
/lost+found - System Recovery Files
Linux should always go through a proper shutdown. Sometimes your system might crash or a power failure might take the machine down. Either way, at the next boot, a lengthy filesystem check (the speed of this check is dependent on the type of filesystem that you actually use. ie. ext3 is faster than ext2 because it is a journalled filesystem) using fsck will be done. Fsck will go through the system and try to recover any corrupt files that it finds. The result of this recovery operation will be placed in this directory. The files recovered are not likely to be complete or make much sense but there always is a chance that something worthwhile is recovered. Each partition has its own lost+found directory. If you find files in there, try to move them back to their original location. If you find something like a broken symbolic link to 'file', you have to reinstall the file/s from the corresponding RPM, since your file system got damaged so badly that the files were mutilated beyond recognition.
/media - Removable Media
Amid much controversy and consternation on the part of system and network administrators a directory containing mount points for removable media has now been created. Funnily enough, it has been named /media.
/mnt - Temporary Mount Points
Mounting is the process by which you make a filesystem available to the system. After mounting your files will be accessible under the mount-point. This directory usually contains mount points or sub-directories where you mount your floppy and your CD. You can also create additional mount-points here if you wish. Standard mount points would include /mnt/cdrom and /mnt/floppy. There is no limitation to creating a mount-point anywhere on your system but by convention and for sheer practicality do not litter your file system with mount-points. It should be noted that some distributions like Debian allocate /floppy and /cdrom as mount points while Redhat and Mandrake puts them in /mnt/floppy and /mnt/cdrom respectively.
/opt - Optional Packages
This directory is reserved for all the software and add-on packages that are not part of the default installation.
/proc - Kernal & Process Files
This is very special in that it is also a virtual filesystem. It's sometimes referred to as a process information pseudo-file system. It doesn't contain 'real' files but runtime system information (e.g. system memory, devices mounted, hardware configuration, etc). For this reason it can be regarded as a control and information centre for the kernel. In fact, quite a lot of system utilities are simply calls to files in this directory. For example, 'lsmod' is the same as 'cat /proc/modules' while 'lspci' is a synonym for 'cat /proc/pci'. By altering files located in this directory you can even read/change kernel parameters (sysctl) while the system is running. The most distinctive thing about files in this directory is the fact that all of them have a file size of 0, with the exception of kcore, mtrr and self.
/root - Home Directory of Admin User or 'root'
This may be somewhat confusing but in former days, '/' was root's home directory. To keep things tidier, 'root' got his own home directory. '/home' is often located on a different partition or even on another system and would thus be inaccessible to 'root' when - for some reason - only '/' is mounted.
/run - Application State Files
The /run directory is fairly new, and gives applications a standard place to store transient files they require like sockets and process IDs. These files can’t be stored in /tmp because files in /tmp may be deleted.
/sbin - System Admin Binaries
This should contain only binaries essential for booting, restoring, recovering, and/or repairing the system in addition to the binaries in /bin.
/tmp - Temporary Files
This directory contains mostly files that are required temporarily.
Many programs use this to create lock files and for temporary storage of data. Do not remove files from this directory unless you know exactly what you are doing! Many of these files are important for currently running programs and deleting them may result in a system crash. Usually it won't contain more than a few KB anyway. On most systems, this directory is cleared out at boot or at shutdown by the local system.
/usr - User Binaries & Read-Only Data
/usr usually contains by far the largest share of data on a system. Hence, this is one of the most important directories in the system as it contains all the user binaries, their documentation, libraries, header files, etc.... X and its supporting libraries can be found here. User programs like telnet, ftp, etc.... are also placed here. In the original Unix implementations, /usr was where the home directories of the users were placed (that is to say, /usr/someone was then the directory now known as /home/someone). In current Unices, /usr is where user-land programs and data (as opposed to 'system land' programs and data) are. The name hasn't changed, but it's meaning has narrowed and lengthened from "everything user related" to "user usable programs and data". As such, some people may now refer to this directory as meaning 'User System Resources' and not 'user' as was originally intended.
/var - Variables Data Files
Contains variable data like system logging files, mail and printer spool directories, and transient and temporary files.
Some portions of /var are not shareable between different systems. For instance, /var/log, /var/lock, and /var/run. Other portions may be shared
