Root verses / directories??

[carlos123]

My root partition (/dev/hdb2) is mounted on /. I can access this root partition by typing "cd /" at the command prompt.

Inside my root directory (i.e. "/") there is another directory called /root. I can go to it by typing "cd /root" at the command prompt.

The /root directory has a Desktop and Mail directories in it as well as some kind of plugins file.

The / (root directory?) has the usual bin, boot, dev, and other directories in it.

I'm a bit confused here. What is the difference in terms of practical function and use between the /root directory and the / (root directory?)?

When I log in as the root user I am initially put into my /root directory. Otherwise known as "~".

Please correct me where I might be wrong but here is my understanding so far....

The /root directory corresponds to the directory where the root, super user has it's "home" files. Just as carlos, the user, has his "home" files inside /home/carlos.

The / (root directory) is the base of the Gentoo system and it is the directory from which all others stem. It is NOT associated with the root user. It just happens to be called the root directory. The root directory "/" and the /root directory are two distinct and unassociated entities. The two entities just happen to be named similarly.

Is that about right??

Thanks.

Carlos

PS. I hope this comes out okay as a post. It's my first post through Lynx. I'm emerging KDE and it's taking forever leaving me without a very useful computer setup.

[bsolar]

The the "/" directory is the root of the directory tree.
The "/root" directory is the home directory of the "root" user.

PS: so you're right...
Also you might be interested in The Filesystem Hierarchy Standard
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I may not agree with what you say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it.

[carlos123]

Thanks for confirming what I understood bsolar.

As a follow up can I safely delete the Desktop and Mail directories of the root user? Found in the /root directory?

If the root user will never be doing anything other than administrative type system changes from the command prompt is there actually any need to have anything inside the /root directory for the root user?

I think I ended up with the stuff that was in there due to my mistake. I was goofing around with KMail and adduser or something or other and ended up with some directories I didn't mean to create.

Any additional input on this from anyone will help me complete my root "guru" training (hey don't laugh! I gotta feel like a "guru" in something sos I can hobnob with all the rest of you guru's on this forum ).

Thanks.

Carlos

PS. Now that I'm back in KDE it feels like a breath of fresh air! Without being stuck inside the black box of the terminal screen. Although lynx sure did come in handy.

[bsolar]

Being able to enter in a kde session as root might be useful. BTW. if you really want, I think you could remove the Desktop directory.

I don't thave the mail directory in the homedirs, I have it in /var/spool/. You might have enabled an option somewhere that created it (system option, not a program). I can recall it but I don't remember now where is it (menuconfig?). If you know that it's been created by a program you can remove it as well, I think. (3AM here, my thoughts are starting to fade into oblivion...).

An idea. Create a new user and see it's homedir content. if mail is not there, It should be safe to remove it from the root homedir.
_________________
I may not agree with what you say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it.

[carlos123]

Thanks again bsolar.

Another late night person like me heh?

I added a new user and since nothing ended up in their home directory I will delete everything under /root too.

Sleep well!

Carlos

[floam]

Late night? Its 7:00 PM here, its 10:00 PM on the east coast. How is it late night?

[Delphiki]

When you create a new user their directory won't get populate with things like desktop and mail until you've at least logged in with them, or recieved some mail, run some programs as that user, etcetera. You can delete anything you want in /root, as none of it is critical to the system performing. Any problems it caused would be in the form of lost user specific settings (theme choices, program preferences, e-mail, etc).
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Excellent..

[carlos123]

Hi floam.

I was referring to bsolar staying up till 3:00 AM. Of course our night here in Canada is still quite young.

I usually watch deep space nine at around midnight then stay up till about 5 or 6 when I can work without being disturbed by family stuff.

I work at home and have had to get used to interruptions in the middle of intense brainal activity trying to figure out Gentoo and Linux

Carlos