NAMESPACE(4) NAMESPACE(4)
NAME
namespace - structure of conventional Inferno name space
SYNOPSIS
none
DESCRIPTION
The list below gives an overview of the Inferno distribution
file tree, organised into related categories.
/ The root directory. To programs running outside
Inferno, this corresponds to the directory in
which Inferno has been installed (e.g.
C:\inferno under Windows).
Mount points
The following are all placeholders for filesystems that are
mounted when Inferno is running. They contain no data files.
Although an Inferno namespace is a dynamic entity, and
devices can be mounted anywhere therein, many programs
assume that devices have been mounted in the standard
places, as suggested by the skeleton directories listed
below.
/dev The standard mount point for devices (e.g.
cons(3))
/env The standard mount point for the env(3) device.
/mnt A directory containing mount points for applica-
tions.
/chan An empty directory, used for holding files cre-
ated with sys-file2chan(2).
/net The standard mount point directory for network
interfaces.
/n A directory containing mount points for file
trees on local devices or imported from remote
systems.
/prog An empty directory, the mount point for the
prog(3) device.
/nvfs An empty directory, the mount point for a non-
volatile RAM filesystem on devices that have one.
/tmp Mount point for private directory of temporary
files (eg, /usr/user/tmp).
/mail Conventional place to mount mailboxes.
Limbo applications
/dis Dis executables (commands)
/dis/lib Dis libraries
/dis/wm Dis commands that run under wm(1).
/man Manual pages.
/doc Documentation other than manual pages.
Page 1 Plan 9 (printed 10/24/25)
NAMESPACE(4) NAMESPACE(4)
/appl Source to Limbo applications.
/appl/cmd Source to the commands in /dis (as documented in
Section 1).
/appl/wm Source to the commands in /dis/wm
/appl/lib Source to the modules in /dis/lib (as documented
in Section 2).
/module Limbo module declarations
Supporting data
/acme Programs and guide files specific to acme(1).
/fonts Font definitions
/locale Timezone and locale information
/icons Contains image(6) files used by programs.
/icons/tk Default directory searched by tk's -bitmap option
(see options(9)).
/lib Static program-specific data.
/lib/ndb Network configuration files used by cs(8), dns(8)
and others.
Administration
/keydb Storage of secrets and certificates on signers
(authentication servers).
/services A jungle of program-specific configuration files.
Platform specific
/Platform Binaries specific to Platform. Current platforms
include Inferno (native binaries), FreeBSD, Hp,
Irix, Linux, Nt, Plan9, Solaris and Unixware.
/Platform/arch/bin
/Platform/arch/lib
/Platform/arch/include
Platform specific binaries, libraries and include
files respectively. Arch is the architecture
type, as defined in 2c(10.1) and held in the
$objtype environment variable.
/usr A directory containing user directories.
Inferno source code
/emu Directory containing source specific to
emu(1).
/emu/port Cross-platform source for emu(1).
/emu/Platform Platform-specific source for
emu(1).
/libkfs The emu version of kfs(3).
/libbio
/libregexp Source to libraries used by hosted commands.
/lib9 Source to the Plan 9 emulation library, used
by emu and the hosted commands.
/libmemdraw
/libmemlayer
/libprefab
/libkern
Page 2 Plan 9 (printed 10/24/25)
NAMESPACE(4) NAMESPACE(4)
/libkeyring
/libdraw
/libinterp
/libtk Inferno source used by both native and
hosted versions of Inferno.
/asm
/limbo Source to the two hosted Inferno commands of
the same name.
/utils Source to hosted utilities run from emu(1)
via the cmd(3) interface.
/tools A directory containing source directories
for hosted tools used in building Inferno
(e.g. mk(10.1)).
/os A directory holding source directories for
the native versions of Inferno.
/os/init Limbo source for platform-specific initiali-
sation procedures.
/os/port Portable native kernel source.
/os/arch Arch-specific native kernel source.
/os/kfs The native kernel version of kfs(3).
Minimal name space
The above is all very well on a system with lots of storage,
but what is actually necessary for the running of Inferno?
The following gives a quick summary of the structure that
must be provided for Inferno to function correctly.
/dis This must contain Dis modules for all the appli-
cations you plan to run, and the modules they
depend on. Disdep(1) can be useful when trying
to determine this set.
/dev
/env
/chan
/net
/prog
/tmp All empty unwritable directories, place holders
for mounted services and applications. Often
these are provided by the built-in root(3).
/mnt A directory containing mount points for applica-
tions.
/n A directory containing mount points for remote
file systems.
Files needed to run as a server
/keydb/keys
See keyfs(4), logind(8) and signer(8).
/keydb/signerkey
See createsignerkey(8) and logind(8).
Files needed to run the window manager
/fonts At least one font must be provided - a default
Page 3 Plan 9 (printed 10/24/25)
NAMESPACE(4) NAMESPACE(4)
font for Tk to use.
/icons/tk This should contain icons used by applications
that run within Tk.
/user/user At least one user directory must exist if
logon(1) is to function correctly.
SEE ALSO
intro(1), root(3), namespace(6)
Page 4 Plan 9 (printed 10/24/25)