Re: [tlug] Using TAR

[Christopher SEKIYA <wileyc@example.com>]

On Thu, Feb 14, 2002 at 08:35:50AM -0500, Josh Glover wrote:

> You have to remember, Chris, that things work a bit differently in the end 
> user world.

There is no excuse for RedHat/Mandrake excesses.  Requiring a 256Mb / is
practically criminal.

/ is for bootstrap, /usr for base OS install (and with the capability of being
mounted ro), /var for the rw bits.  "Base OS install", in this case, should be
the dynamically-linked bits that are required for normal OS operation.

Everything else belongs in /opt (for vendor-supplied bits) or /usr/local
(for local modifications).  Period.  That's the way it was decreed by the
wise UNIX lords of times past, for good reason.

The *BSDs are fairly good about sticking to these guidelines.  The various
linux distributions apparently don't give a damn about recoverability, past
practice, or sanity.

> And most people simply aren't capable of running through their list of RPMs
> and uninstalling everything they don't need.

Those who cannot determine what they need to be running should not be running
UNIX.  They want stability, they should buy a Mac.

> What I am trying to get at here is that the partitioning scheme for modern 
> desktop Linux boxen is very different from that of a server.

There should not be a difference.  The fact that a difference does exist means
that the various distro producers no longer care to follow past/best practice.

-- Chris