Define - /etc?

ogar572 asks: "There has been an ongoing and heated debate around the office concerning the definition of what /etc means on *nix operating systems. One side says "et cetera" per Wikipedia. Another side says it means 'extended tool chest' per this gnome mailing list entry or per this Norwegian article. Yet another side says neither, but he doesn't remember exactly what he heard in the past. All he remembers is that he was flamed when he called it 'et cetera', but that 'extended tool chest' didn't sound right either. So, what does it really mean?"

It means

[offlerthecrocgod]

It means etc...

Configs

[Chemisor]

Enormous Trove of Configuration files, that's what it is.

I know who to ask

[Anonymous Coward]

But I'm afraid Ken Thompson or Dennis M. Ritchie would rather talk to their own poop than to Slashdot journalists.

So we rather speculate.

Re:etc stands for...

[an.echte.trilingue]

Editable Text Configuration

That sounds like the most reasonable response to me, but do you have any references (so that we can correct wikipedia)?

Re:I vote for et cetera

[AsnFkr]

"/var" didn't exist until long after "/etc" was created; so, you can't look to /var's use to provide a clue to /etc's origins.

server / # ls -lah
total 72K
drwxr-xr-x 47 root root 4.0K Feb 11 10:23 etc
drwxr-xr-x 14 root root 4.0K May 11 2005 var


Wow, you're right. /etc is exactly three months older than /var. Amazing!!

Definition

[Anonymous Coward]

"Eh... That's where them Config files goes"

Re:etc stands for...

[russ1337]

>>>" Editable Text Configuration
>That sounds like the most reasonable response to me, but do you have any references (so that we can correct wikipedia)?

I think you're quite safe to use GP's Slasdot entry as the reference.

Yeah, and /lib stands for ...

[Bazman]

'linked-in binaries'. Here's some of the other TLAs: /lib: linked-in binaries /etc: extended tool chest /usr: unix system routines /bin: basic instructions (native) /var: volatile access region /opt: one per terminal /tmp: this maybe purged /mnt: multiple network things /dev: dont ever violate /sys: she's your sister

Actually, it comes from eta oin shrdlu

[jonadab]

You see, the etc hierarchy on Unix was the successor the etb hierarchy on Unics, which was named for the ETA configuration mechanism on Multics, which was named for ETA OIN SHRDLU. So, now you know.

Geeky would be...

[Mr. Underbridge]

...Etc Text Configuration.

Re:Let's be logical shall we

[lpcustom]

Sorry, I'm an early morning drunk. I meant "Essential Text Configurations"

Re:It means

[Anonymous Coward]

etc tool chest

Re:Pronunciation?

[Pharmboy]

If you read a million lines of C with lots of good comments, you'd figure out the syntax before you finished.

And if you read a millions lines of Perl, you would come to the conclusion that it has no syntax, then you would scratch your eyes out with a ball point pen. ;)

Re:Pronunciation?

[greenguy]

Thanks for the tip. All this time, I'd been pronouncing "C" as "one hundred."

Re:It means

[ultranova]

Judging by things like "GNU's Not Unix" "etc" is obviously short for "etc's the champ".

I don't get it

[Anonymous Coward]

Same reason people transliterate Ess-Que-Ell into "Sequel"...It's quicker, and it sounds better.

How do people get 'Sequel' from 'SKL'?

Re:I've always assumed et-cetera

[Anonymous Coward]

Historically, Unix had /sys for the kernel (short for SYStem, duh), /usr for user areas (yes, user areas)...

Almost got it all right, but "usr" is "Unix System Resources." That goes way back.

Re:Backward etymology

[Bandman]

Hey! You! You there, with your low slashdot number and your posts making sense! Ha! See if we listen to YOUR logic and experience! This is OUR flame war! Just because we've never touched anything more antique than Fedora Core 2 doesn't mean we don't know anything about the dark, mysterious history of Unix! Go back to your smarmy little terminal screens and your ascii based adventure games and leave the commenting to us REAL experts on the subject. We don't know what a teletype is, and we have some sort of vague idea that LISP might be a speech impediment, but we're doing just fine without your type in here interfering!

Teh Internets Have Spoken

[Trollusk]

Google "extended tool chest" [google.com] returns "about 13 results." If that's the meaning, it's a very well-kept secret meaning.

Re:I've always assumed et-cetera

[Mikachu]

/bin for top-level binaries

Wait wait wait... I always thought /bin was the recycling bin.

...

Shit.

Re:Let's be logical shall we

[HeroreV]

Let's be logical shall we

The logical choice would be to rename it to something that makes more sense. If renaming would cause problems, that is already a problem that needs to fixed. I should be able to name it "Pretty Pink Ponies and Princesses" if I want and not have any problems arise from that.

Re:I vote for et cetera

[Anonymous Coward]

> I would side with "et cetera", or (if I remember my Latin) "and the rest".

Yes, but next season they're changing it to /professorandmaryann :)

Re:I vote for et cetera

[Anonymous Coward]

You took the time to try to correct a +5,Funny post, and then can't even subtract correctly. So sad.

(Feb 2007) - (May 2005) = 1 year 9 months.

Re:I vote for et cetera

[jrockway]

I think you're misreading the output. /etc is from Feb 11 of this year, while /var is from May 11 of 2005. So /var is actually a few years older.

Re: other unix-related bacrynyms:

[Anonymous Coward]

emacs - Escape Meta Alt Control Shift.
gdb - Get Down Baby.
gcc - Give Communism (a) Chance.
linux - Linus Is Not Usually Xeroflulogitic.
lisp - Lisp Is (for) Symbolic Programming.
java - Just Another Variant (of) Ada.
perl - Perl Essentially Resembles Lisp.
printf - People Rarely Insist (on) Naming This Function.
sed - Slashdot (is) Easily Duped.
top - Totally Ongoing Programs.
vi - Very Irritating.

Re:Pronunciation?

[antibryce]

I used a mechanical pencil. When scratching out your eyes there's more than one way to do it.

Re:Let's be logical shall we

[tverbeek]

I should be able to name it "Pretty Pink Ponies and Princesses" if I want and not have any problems arise from that.

You mean aside from being beaten up after school every day by the neanderthals at your middle school?

Re:It means

[kumachan]

Exists To Confuse

Re: other unix-related bacrynyms:

[Anonymous Coward]

lisp = lots (of) infuriating, superfluous parentheses

Re:Pronunciation?

[Anonymous Coward]

Rock'n roll life of a developer... the stories these guys come out with are wild, man..

Re:Pronunciation?

[Anonymous Coward]

So, by "In the time of Caesar", do you mean in the time of Kaesar, or the time of Chaesar?

I can just see it:
Brutus: Die, Cheeser!
Caesar: Et tu--wait, what did you just call me?

Re:first post

[Anonymous Coward]

Elongated Terrible Conversation.

Re:Backronym.

[Anonymous Coward]

because when the system looks for the top-level directory, it would have to iterate through more directories to get a match. Duh. People think that just because 'cd /etc/init.d/' and 'cd /usr/local/include/emacs/emacs2.1/site-lisp/' take the same amount of time after you hit enter then they both must be a single processor instruction or something. In fact, the computer is doing millions of calculations more for the second command, while you sit there picking your nose. That's why I only put one file or subdirectory per directory, so it's simpler for the computer to find it. If a program installs differently, I rewrite it. Since my computer doesn't have to work as hard, it lasts longer. If I did things your way, I might as well pound my motherboard with a shovel. You fucking prick, you disgust me. If someone I knew were putting too many entries directly under root, I'd smash their face with my fist. Asshole.

Re:It means

[CAIMLAS]

I worked with a guy once who called "et see" instead of the historical "et cetera". Ironically, he'd supposedly (I doubted the veracity of his claims based on his relative level of knowledge - or lack thereof) been working with Linux/Unix for longer than I.

The first time he said "et see" it took him a good five minutes to explain to me what he was talking about, because he lacked the verbal skill required for sentences. And I eventually gave up saying "et cetera" in preference over "et see" - because he would ask me what I was talking about almost every single time.

God I'm glad I don't work with him anymore.

Is "/." pronounced "slash dot" or "oblique dot"?

[Derling Whirvish]

Is "/." pronounced "slash dot" or "oblique dot" or "diagonal dot"?

slash e t c

[Anonymous Coward]

Edit These Carefully.

Duh.

Re:Disingenious backronym

[David_W]

but then there was the sendmail configuration...

Hey, you can edit sendmail.cf by hand. Granted, you are likely to be committed to a mental institution shortly thereafter, but you CAN.