Directories

The main Gentoo specific directories mentioned in Gentoo Handbook.

Directory	Description
/	by default Portage installs all files on the current filesystem
/etc/conf.d	every init script that can be configured has a file in there
/etc/env.d	files which contain the variables
/etc/init.d	Init Scripts
/etc/runlevels/boot	boot runlevel
/etc/runlevels/default	default runlevel
/etc/runlevels/nonetwork	nonetwork runlevel
/etc/runlevels/reboot	reboot runlevel
/etc/runlevels/shutdown	shutdown runlevel
/etc/runlevels/single	single runlevel
/etc/runlevels/sysinit	sysinit runlevel
/opt/ebuilds	overlay tree
/usr/lib/ccache/bin	ccache
/usr/local/portage	Portage Overlay directory
/usr/portage	Portage tree default location
/usr/portage/distfiles	the source files are downloaded and preserved in there
/usr/portage/licenses	licenses are stored in there
/usr/portage/packages	prebuilt packages
/usr/portage/profiles	holds the profile files
/usr/portage/profiles/license_groups	license groups are kept in there
/usr/share/doc/<package>	documentation is generally found in there
/usr/src/linux	Linux sources
/var/cache/edb	Portage cache
/var/db/pkg	Portage stores the state of your system
/var/lib/portage	the versions for the applications you have explicitly installed
/var/log/portage/elog	one log per package in there
/var/tmp	Portage temporary files
/var/tmp/ccache	Portage default ccache home directory
/var/tmp/portage	Portage specific build directories for each package it emerges inside there
emerge --info | grep CONFIG_PROTECT=	directories which should be protected by Portage during updates, see CONFIG_PROTECT
emerge --info | grep CONFIG_PROTECT_MASK=	directories which should not be protected by Portage during updates, see CONFIG_PROTECT