File System Directory Hierarchy

The Tizen platform uses the underlying Linux file system.

The following rules apply to the file system access:

  • Native applications can access the file system using native APIs and open source libraries, such as eglibc and glib.
  • Applications can use relative paths.
  • The file system is case-sensitive.
  • The I/O resources and limitations depend on the underlying Linux file system or system configuration.
    • The maximum number of file or directory handles: 1024
    • The maximum length of a file or directory name: 255
    • The maximum length of a full path name: 4096

The following table shows the application directory hierarchy:

Table: Application package directory hierarchy

Name Description Permission
bin Executable binary path Owner: Read
Others: Access denied
lib Library path Owner: Read
Others: Access denied
data Used to store private data of an application.
To get the application data directory path, call the app_get_data_path() function of the App Common module.		 Owner: Read and Write
Others: Access denied
res Used to read resource files that are delivered with the application package.
To get the application resource directory path, call the app_get_resource_path() function of the App common module.		 Owner: Read
Others: Access denied
shared Parent directory of the data, res, and trusted sub-directories. Files in this directory cannot be delivered with the application package. Owner: Read
Others: Read
shared/data Used to share data with other applications.
To get the directory path of your application, call the app_get_shared_data_path() function of the App common module.
Files stored in the shared/data directory can be read by other applications. Do not store application’s private data in the shared/data directory. Since Tizen 3.0, an application that wants to use shared/data directory must declare http://tizen.org/privilege/appdir.shareddata privilege. If the application does not declare the privilege, the framework will not create shared/data directory for the application.		 Owner: Read and Write
Others: Read
shared/res Used to share resources with other applications. The resource files are delivered with the application package.
To get this directory path of your own application, call the app_get_shared_resource_path() function of the App common module.
Files stored in the shared/res directory can be read by other applications. Do not pack application’s private resource files in the shared/res directory.		 Owner: Read
Others: Read
shared/trusted Used to share data with family of trusted applications. The family applications signed with the same certificate can access data in the shared/trusted directory.
To get this directory path of your own application, call the app_get_shared_trusted_path() function of the App common module.		 Owner: Read and Write
Family: Read and Write
Others: Access denied

Every application can access a storage area where media files are stored. This is the media directory. In native applications, to obtain the media directory path, call the storage_get_directory() function of Storage module. The following table lists the sub-directories of the media directory.

Table: Media directory hierarchy

Name Description Permission
Images Used for Image data. Read and Write
Sounds Used for Sound data. Read and Write
Videos Used for Video data. Read and Write
Cameras Used for Camera pictures. Read and Write
Downloads Used for Downloaded data. Read and Write
Music Used for Music data. Read and Write
Documents Used for Documents. Read and Write
System Ringtones Used for System default ringtones. Read
Others Used for other types. Read and Write

Every application can also access the external storage, such as MMC. This is the external storage directory. In native applications, to obtain the external storage directory path, call the storage_get_directory() function of the Storage module. The following table lists the sub-directories of the external storage directory.

Table: External storage directory hierarchy

Name Description Permission
Images Used for Image data. Read and Write
Sounds Used for Sound data. Read and Write
Videos Used for Video data. Read and Write
Cameras Used for Camera pictures. Read and Write
Downloads Used for Downloaded data. Read and Write
Music Used for Music data. Read and Write
Documents Used for Documents. Read and Write
Others Used for other types. Read and Write
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