@ /etc The directory /usr/etc has been removed. There should be a central place to store system-wide configuration files. Some files in /etc may be host specific (/etc/X11/XFConfig ), others might be system-wide, like /etc/profile. The reason for implementing /etc is to have configuration files in a central place. The same reasoning should also say that there be a place for system-wide configuration files. This problem comes up when /usr is remotely mounted