This is an original planning guide. It is not a vendor manual, an official standard, or legal advice. Example addresses use documentation ranges. Review every command before you paste it.
What this hour is for
/etc holds configuration. /var holds data that changes, including logs. /home holds people. /usr holds installed software you do not edit by hand. /tmp is temporary. /boot is the boot files. The explorer is a map. The config locator names a usual path. Neither tool reads your host.
Do not edit a file under /usr to change a package. Do not chmod 777 a directory because a program could not write. Give it a path in /var or a home, and a mode from the permissions page.
A path on the map is a hint. Confirm it on the host you administer. 192.0.2.10/24 and example.com are documentation. They stay in the note.
The change you can finish
Apply nothing while you are writing the note. When the lab window opens, it is one change on the host named in the ticket. Read the draft, then the host, then decide.
Rollback is the file, the package version, or the snapshot you saved first. You do not invent a rollback after the only copy is gone.
- Name the file's job.
- Find the usual directory.
- Confirm it later on your host.
- Reject a 777 change.
- Do not edit /usr by hand.
- Stop.
Mistakes that outlive the command
Linux Directory Structure Explained goes wrong in a small set of ways. The list is here so the ticket can forbid them before the window.
- 777 on a tree.
- A packaged file edited under /usr.
- A secret stored in /tmp.
- The map treated as the live host.
Decisions to write down
One decision for Linux Directory Structure Explained: The directory matches the job. 777 was rejected. /usr was not hand-edited. The host will confirm the path. And the tools did not connect.
Checks before you call it done
Confirm this before you call the change done: The job is written. The directory is written. 777 is absent. No file was edited. And the hostname is named for the later check. If one of those fails, stop.
| Directory | Holds | Do not |
|---|---|---|
| /etc | Configuration | Treat it as disposable |
| /var | Logs and data that change | Fill it and ignore it |
| /home | People | Store service data for a daemon with no account |
| /usr | Packages | Edit files here by hand |
| /tmp | Temporary files | Store a secret |
| /boot | Boot files | Use it as a scratch disk |
# /etc config. /var changing data. /usr packages.
# Do not chmod 777.
# Do not hand-edit /usr.Before you leave the host
Linux Directory Structure Explained ends when the hostname in the prompt matches the hostname in the ticket. If it does not, you are on the wrong host. Stop. A command that succeeded on the wrong host is not progress.
The draft stays a draft until a person has read the names in it. A generator does not log into the host and does not know which disk is empty. You delete a line that names a host, a path, or an account you did not write down.
192.0.2.10/24, gateway 192.0.2.1, 198.51.100.0/24, 203.0.113.0/24, and 2001:db8::/32 are documentation. example.com is a documentation name. They belong in the note. They are not values you leave on a host because a draft included them.
prompt-for-this is a reminder that a secret is missing. It is not a password, a key, or a token you save in the ticket or in git. The real secret stays in the password store.
One change is the window. If two things move and the result is wrong, you will not know which one did it. The next change waits for its own page.
If the same step fails twice, stop for the day. The failure is the result. Adding a forum command beside a half-applied change produces a host nobody can rebuild. Restore the copy you took first.
A second person reads the hostname and the change aloud. If they cannot find them in the ticket, the note is not done. Silence is not agreement. Then leave the host alone.
This page is a planning guide. It is not a vendor manual, not an official standard, and not permission to touch a host you do not administer. You do not disable a firewall, AppArmor, or SELinux to make a check pass.
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