DevOps in Linux — /etc

Deep dive into Linux /etc directory

What is the “/etc”?

The “/etc” directory is a critical system directory. It houses a vast array of system-wide configuration files and directories. These files are used by all system processes. These are text files that can be edited by the system administrator to alter the configuration of the operating system or other system software.

As a rule, usually the “/etc” directory does not contain binary files. Instead, it is populated with ASCII text files, many of which are scripts that are run at various stages of the system’s boot process. If the software is designed according to the Unix philosophy, the application’s settings are likely stored in “/etc” in one form or another.

History of the “/etc”

Unix was developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s at Bell Labs. As Unix was being developed, there was a directory created for system configuration files. At this point in the Unix design, directories had very specific purposes. For example, “/bin” was intended for essential binary executables, “/dev” for device files, “/lib” for system libraries, and so on.

The name “/etc” initially stands for “et cetera”, reflecting the developers’ concept that this directory would serve as a catch-all for…