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CHAPTER 11
Concepts Glossary
This chapter contains an alphabetical listing of terms and concepts that you will
encounter in the other chapters of this manual. The terms described here are not
intended to describe everything about OpenLinux, but rather to provide informa-
tion to help you learn about the concepts that apply to your work in OpenLinux.
If you don’t find a term listed alphabetically in this chapter,
check the index to this manual to see if the term you’re look-
ing for is referenced in a different glossary entry.
/ directory
The forward slash as a directory name in Linux indicates the root directory of the
filesystem. Because Linux does not use drive letters, as Windows, DOS, or Net-
Ware clients would, everything on your Linux system is accessed relative to the
root directory, as indicated by the forward slash.
Subdirectories in Linux are separated by the forward slash as well. For example,
if you create a new user account called dtaylor, that user’s home directory will be
located in /home/dtaylor. Note that no drive letter is used; the directory simply
starts from / and adds subdirectories separated by more forward slashes to reach
the desired location in the filesystem. As with the DOS command line, the cd
command is used to change between directories (though you can easily use the
graphical file system browsers to traverse the file system).