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System directories and files

Directories in /var

The directories under /var contain files and sub-directories that vary from machine to machine. Because it is desirable to keep the root filesystem small and unchanging, /var is often mounted as a separate filesystem.

/var/adm

This directory contains system logging and accounting files.

/var/audit

This directory contains files of audit records.

/var/audit/auditmap

This directory contains data files used by audit reporting functions.

/var/cron

This directory contains the cron log file.

/var/lp

This directory contains log files for the LP Print Service.

/var/news

This directory contains news files. The filenames are often descriptive of the contents of the files; they are analogous to headlines. When a user reads the news using the news(1) command, an empty file named .news_time is created in his or her login directory. The date (time) of this file is used by the news command to determine if a user has read the latest news file(s).

/var/opt

This directory is created and used by application packages.

/var/options

This directory contains a file (or symbolic link to a file) that identifies each utility installed on the system. This directory also contains information created and used by application packages (such as temporary files and logs).

/var/preserve

This directory contains backup files for vi(1) and ex(1).

/var/sadm

This directory contains logging and accounting files for software installation utilities, and package management facilities.

/var/saf

This directory contains data directories for installed software packages. This directory contains log files for the Service Access Facility (SAF).

/var/spool

This directory contains temporary spool files used in printer spooling, mail delivery, cron(1M), and other commands.

/var/spool/cron

The /var/spool/cron directory is a spool area used by cron(1M), atrm(1), and atq(1).

/var/spool/cron/crontabs

This directory contains crontab(1) files for the adm, root, and sys logins. Users whose login names are in the /etc/cron.d/cron.allow file can establish their own crontab file using the crontab command. If the cron.allow file does not exist, the /etc/cron.d/cron.deny file is checked to determine if the user is denied the use of the crontab command.

As root, you can use the crontab command to make the desired entries. Revisions to the file take effect at the next reboot. The file entries support the calendar(1) reminder service and the Basic Networking Utilities (BNU). Remember, you can use the cron(1M) function to decrease the number of tasks you perform; include recurring and habitual tasks in your crontab file. See crontab(1).

/var/spool/dist

The /var/spool/dist directory is the default spool directory used by the Application Installer (part of scoadmin(1M)) and pkgcopy(1M).

/var/spool/lp

This directory contains the work area for the LP Print Service.

/var/spool/mqueue

The /var/spool/mqueue directory is the default channel program execution directory used by the mail system.

/var/spool/pkg

The /var/spool/pkg directory is the default spool directory used by pkgadd(1M).

/var/spool/rwho

The /var/spool/rwho directory contains status message files obtained and used by rwho(1tcp), rwhod(1Mtcp), and ruptime(1tcp).

/var/spool/smtpq

This directory contains SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) directories and log files. Directories named host contain messages spooled to be sent to that host. Files named LOG.n contain the logs from the past seven days (Sunday's log is called LOG.0). The current day's log is simply LOG.

/var/spool/uucp

This directory contains files to be sent by uucp(1bnu).

/var/spool/uucppublic

This directory contains files received by uucp.

/var/spool/uucppublic/receive

This directory contains files received by uucp.

/var/tmp

/var/tmp contains temporary files. The /var/tmp directory is normally mounted as a memfs filesystem.

/var/uucp

This directory contains logging and accounting files for uucp.

/var/yp

The /var/yp directory contains a distributed, replicated database of dbm files used by NIS (the Network Information Service).


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UnixWare 7 Release 7.1.4 - 22 April 2004