5

This has been bugging me for ages, I'm assuming it's not just "etcetera"..!?

I don't like not knowing the meaning of stuff, especially important directories!

Hennes
  • 65,804
  • 7
  • 115
  • 169
Josh Comley
  • 4,122

1 Answers1

7

My guess is that it's just a carry-over from some UNIX programmer who switched to hacking windows in the early days of System32 windows. /etc in UNIX/Linux holds two (or more) potential meanings: et cetera or Extended Tool Chest (Here's a Slashdot debate arguing the point), and it's just a place to store configuration files and some minor utility scripts for a given program. Many times you will see hierarchical breakdowns within smaller software projects (such as a windows driver) that resemble the breakdown of the UNIX directory structure, no matter what OS you are on.

J Mac
  • 1,320