My main question is about /run/user/1000:

  • Should I avoid touching it?
  • Could I delete it?
  • Is there something wrong with it?

Background: I’m fairly new to Linux and just getting used to it.

I use fsearch to quickly find files (because my filenaming convention helps me to get nearly everything in mere seconds). Yesterday I decided to let it index from root and lower instead of just my home folder.

Then I got a lot of duplicate files. For example in subfolders relating to my mp3 player I even discovered my whole NextCloud ‘drive’ is there again: /run/user/1000/doc/by-app/org.strawberrymusicplayer.strawberry/51b78f5c/N

Searching: Looking for answers I read these, but couldnt make sense of it.

Puzzled:

  • Is this folder some RAM drive so my disk doesnt show anything strange? Because this folder doesnt even show up at the root level.
  • Are these even real? Because the size of it (aprox 370 GB) is even bigger then my disksize (screenshot).

Any tips about course of (in)action appreciated.

  • taaz@biglemmowski.winEnglish
    1·
    9 months ago

    https://serverfault.com/questions/24523/meaning-of-directories-on-unix-and-unix-like-systems

    • /bin - Binaries.
    • /boot - Files required for booting.
    • /dev - Device files.
    • /etc - Et cetera. The name is inherited from the earliest Unixes, which is when it became the spot to put config-files.
    • /home - Where home directories are kept.
    • /lib - Where code libraries are kept.
    • /media - A more modern directory, but where removable media gets mounted.
    • /mnt - Where temporary file-systems are mounted.
    • /opt - Where optional add-on software is installed. This is discrete from /usr/local/ for reasons I’ll get to later.
    • /run - Where runtime variable data is kept.
    • /sbin - Where super-binaries are stored. These usually only work with root.
    • /srv - Stands for “serve”. This directory is intended for static files that are served out. /srv/http would be for static websites, /srv/ftp for an FTP server.
    • /tmp - Where temporary files may be stored.
    • /usr - Another directory inherited from the Unixes of old, it stands for “UNIX System Resources”. It does not stand for “user” (see the Debian Wiki). This directory should be sharable between hosts, and can be NFS mounted to multiple hosts safely. It can be mounted read-only safely.
    • /var - Another directory inherited from the Unixes of old, it stands for “variable”. This is where system data that varies may be stored. Such things as spool and cache directories may be located here. If a program needs to write to the local file-system and isn’t serving that data to someone directly, it’ll go here.
    • Joël de Bruijn@lemmy.mlOP
      0·
      9 months ago

      Thanks, this doesn’t say anything tho about 2 levels deep in bullet 10. But I get anything in run/user/1000 serves the same purpose.

      • nottelling@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1·
        9 months ago

        The above is accurate, and can be considered accurate for any directory below or at well.

        Per /run, it’s also mounted in memory, so trying to “declutter” it won’t get you anywhere and things will return on reboot.

        • Joël de Bruijn@lemmy.mlOP
          1·
          9 months ago

          I learned a lot in these comments but in this specific context:

          • a flatpak app uses a base directory (mp3 player).
          • I set it to my NextCloud folder.
          • Now run/usr/1000 is “filled” with all my thousands of pdf from personal archive, several times per file (because multiple flatpaks).

          These don’t need decluttering I learned, but aren’t managed by package managers either.

          • nottelling@lemmy.worldEnglish
            1·
            9 months ago

            Flatpak is itself a file manager.

            That duplicate of your folder in /run is due to filesystem links (or more likely a fuse mount, I’ve never actually looked into how flatpak works). But either way, they aren’t copies of the data.

  • Still@programming.devEnglish
    1·
    9 months ago

    /run contains all sorts of virtual stuff, it doesn’t persist over a reboot,

    I would advise against deleting anything in it as those files are used by programs running as whether user has the ID of 1000 (most likely you)

    it contains things such as sockets and lock files so that programs can interact with each other

  • floofloof@lemmy.caEnglish
    1·
    9 months ago

    Then I got a lot of duplicate files. For example in subfolders relating to my mp3 player I even discovered my whole NextCloud ‘drive’ is there again: /run/user/1000/doc/by-app/org.strawberrymusicplayer.strawberry/51b78f5c/N

    In Linux a file can show up several times in the filesystem without being duplicated. Symbolic links and hard links will cause this to happen, and they’re a normal part of organizing the filesystem. Just because you see a file in several places, that doesn’t mean disk space is wasted with duplicates. There may be only one physical copy of the file, appearing in multiple places. With hard links you need to be especially careful about deleting, since you’ll think you’re deleting one of several duplicates but you’ll in fact delete the only copy of the file.

  • Alex@lemmy.ml
    1·
    9 months ago

    Don’t delete it. It’s an area of the filesystem where the current user session data is kept. This includes things like sockets to communicate with other session components and lock files. It’s usually hosted on a ram disk so takes up no space in the system and goes away when you shutdown your machine.

  • forwardvoid@feddit.nl
    1·
    9 months ago

    Something to realise when starting with Linux is that everything is a ‘file’. Sockets, processes, input, output etc. That’s very different from Windows and part of why scripting on Linux is so powerful. You can interact with anything.
    So some directories are filled with things that aren’t necessarily files but look like it. Someone else posted a whole list, just realise that under those directories/paths shouldn’t be messed with unless you know what it’s for.
    Generally when you’re getting used to Linux, /home/$user (aka ~) is where you put personal things. The rest is managed by OS and applications, don’t worry about it.
    Edit: spelling

  • FrostyPolicy@suppo.fi
    1·
    9 months ago

    I’d say a good rule of thumb for a beginner is not to touch anything outside of their own home directory. Modifying or deleting files in other locations is an easy way to break your system.