Frequently Asked Questions

Why /var/null? Shouldn’t this be /dev/null?
Because cool people symlink /var/null to /dev/null – everyone knows that.

No they don’t! I think you just don’t know UNIX.
The real story: I wanted to name my blog after my favorite top-level directory in the Linux FHS (/var). However, I couldn’t figure out which subdirectory best fit the blog. /var/tmp was too fleeting, /var/mail didn’t make sense, and /var/crash was too depressing. ‘null’ was originally intended as a lazy placeholder of sorts. It wasn’t until later that I actually realized that the name sounded like /dev/null.

You have a favorite FHS directory? You’re a nerd.
Guilty.

Are all of these questions really frequently asked?
You’re asking them, aren’t you?