Can someone explain the /home directory to me?

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I noticed that os x uses a home folder but it in the users folder. I had a Ubuntu box, and it seems like os x doesn't use the /home folder like Ubuntu. What actually goes on in the /home folder in os x? It is totally locked down and doesn't get backed up in Time Machine.
 

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I noticed that os x uses a home folder but it in the users folder. I had a Ubuntu box, and it seems like os x doesn't use the /home folder like Ubuntu. What actually goes on in the /home folder in os x? It is totally locked down and doesn't get backed up in Time Machine.

It's used in very much the same way as it is in Ubuntu. All of your user-specific settings as well as your documents and other files that pertain to your account are stored there. You can't see everything that resides in that folder within the Finder, since much of it is hidden. However, if you do an ls -a in the terminal in your home folder, you'll get a better feel for what is contained there.

What leads you to believe that Time Machine doesn't back it up?
 
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I don't have a /home folder on my systems. Either this is new in Leopard, or you made it yourself.

I do have a Home folder (~/, or /Users/myusername/)
 
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Actually there does seem be a hidden /home directory, but there's nothing in there.

Perhaps it's just there because of OS X's BSD roots (or perhaps it's needed for some reason?).

Anyway, for everyday use I think it doesn't have any relevance.

~/ is where the action's at ;)
 
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Code:
technologist$ cd /home
-bash: cd: /home: No such file or directory
 
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Must be a Leopard thing...

slashhome-20080511-011509.jpg
 
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tux08902

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I don't have a /home folder on Leopard. I don't think it's standard in OS X because OS X uses /Users instead of /home for non-root users.
 
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It's used in very much the same way as it is in Ubuntu. All of your user-specific settings as well as your documents and other files that pertain to your account are stored there. You can't see everything that resides in that folder within the Finder, since much of it is hidden. However, if you do an ls -a in the terminal in your home folder, you'll get a better feel for what is contained there.

What leads you to believe that Time Machine doesn't back it up?

I was reading a post about time machine, because, (as I posted in my other treads) my system sounds are all kind of messed up. I was going to do a reinstall and then use Time machine to restore all of my documents and things. I might even want to recover some preferences for the apps that I use and maybe even some account prefs. I did a search for Time Machine exclusions and read off the list, and one of them happened to be /home.

Here is the site I read.

@All others having trouble locating the directory:
With Finder in focus, click "go" in the menubar. Then select "go to folder" and then type /home. it won't do much, just brings up a directory that you cannot edit, or even see anything in.
 
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I don't have a /home folder on Leopard. I don't think it's standard in OS X because OS X uses /Users instead of /home for non-root users.
It's a hidden folder...
 
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Me too. It's clearly empty.


dr-xr-xr-x 2 root wheel 1 May 10 19:33 home
 

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