/usr, as you guessed, is the directory where "user" files reside; it contains all of the items that are not part of the system itself such as user programs and data. System programs are stored in /bin, user programs in /usr/bin, or, in Ubuntu, in /usr/share/. TuxFiles has a good description of the Linux directory structure.

Feb 23, 2019 · /usr ( from English "User System Resources" ) - catalogue/directory in UNIX-like systems, containing dynamically combined programs, user files and manually-installed programs. In accordance with FHS, it is mounted on root filesystem and must contain only data which is not to be modified by programs (that is to say, /usr in operational mode can ...

Nov 3, 2015 · /usr/local/bin is for programs that a normal user may run. The /usr/local hierarchy is for use by the system administrator when installing software locally. It needs to be safe from being overwritten when the system software is updated. It may be used for programs and data that are shareable amongst a group of hosts, but not found in /usr.

This makes a separate directory under /opt for every package you install, and that directory has all the requisites for the package (as opposed to /usr or /usr/local, where binaries for all the packages are under bin, libraries for all the packages are under lib, &c.). In general, if you're writing or packaging software yourself that needs a ...

This is a part where the FHS is slightly self-contradictory, as /usr is defined to be read-only, but /usr/local/bin needs to be read-write for local installation of software to succeed. The SVR4 file system standard, which was the FHS' main source of inspiration, is recommending to avoid /usr/local and use /opt/local instead to overcome this issue.

The informal rule was: "essential" stuff go to /bin, "the rest" goes to /usr/bin. Same with /lib. It was not long before /usr became crowded with system-related directories mixed with actual users' homes. Thus /home was born, to hold all user-related directories and keep /usr clean for "system stuff" only. This was long before the FHS exist.

/usr/bin is for distribution-managed normal user programs. There is a /usr/sbin with the same relationship to /usr/bin as /sbin has to /bin. /usr/local/bin is for normal user programs not managed by the distribution package manager, e.g. locally compiled packages.

cd /usr/local will get you there. You do need root privileges to edit files there, in which case you can invoke sudo, be very cautious about meddling with files however in the /usr directory and in the root directory / in general. BTW don't be afraid of the command line! A useful introduction to the CLI is available here.

/usr/local/etc is rarely used in the Linux world. But the decision whether to store configuration files in /etc, /usr/local/etc or some other location is generally made at compile time (and often can be overridden through a command line option or environment variable).

Feb 2, 2016 · /usr/bin: contains executable programs that are part of the operating system and installed by its package manager /usr/local/bin : default location for executable programs not part of the operating system and installed there by the local administrator, usually after building them from source with the sequence configure;make;make install .