Re: tlug: How to install Linux (Part 1) ...

["Stephen J. Turnbull" <turnbull@example.com>]

>>>>> "Darren" == Darren Cook <darren@example.com> writes:

    >> In the documentation they recommend the following partitions:

    >> - A swap partition
    >> - A root partition
    >> - A /usr partition
    >> - A /home partition

    >> and additionally maybe:

    >> - A /usr/local partition
    >> - A /usr/src partition

No /var?  :-(

    Darren> Why do people recommend all these partitions? I've found
    Darren> when I partition up a disk I normally regret it beause I
    Darren> run out of space on one of them.

Well, if you've only got 500MB or less for your linux system, you're
right.  You're going to run out.  But then, I see a swing of 5% of
that amount if I simply clear Netscape's cache and save all of Emacs's
buffers (Emacs keeps an autosave copy of each file around for safety,
which disappears when you sync the disk and RAM copies by saving).
More if I get rid of the regular backup files for my mail folders.

Unix systems, with their efficient file systems and "everything is a
file" metaphor use lots of files.  If you don't have plenty of free
space, you're going to have to consciously control your disk usage
either way.  It's just a question of what level of usage causes
problems.

I can and do run Linux systems in that amount of space, sometimes far
less.  But it does take discipline.  I typically do give at least /var 
and /home their own partitions.  But I know pretty well what my usage
patterns are, and they are generally pretty efficiently used.

The basic issues are safety and convenience.  If /var is in its own
partition, a runaway process (or a mail-bomb) will fill the /var
partition, and possibly crash some programs, but shouldn't cause data
loss in your home directory.  If /home is in its own partition, and
you (or Scott Stone forces you to) decide to upgrade the system by
fdisk'ing all of /, /usr, and /var, you don't have to back up and
restore /home.  Ditto /usr/local (and maybe /usr/src).  The argument
for /usr being a separate partition is often that it can be mounted
r/o, increasing safety.

-- 
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