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On Wed, Nov 12, 2003 at 04:16:42PM +0000, Toby Dickenson wrote: |
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> On Wednesday 12 November 2003 14:18, Paul de Vrieze wrote: |
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> |
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> > > With that in mind, why is there a /var? use /tmp ;-) |
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> > |
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> > Because /tmp is for shortlived temporary files. /var is for files that |
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> > can be regenerated, but that regeneration is allowed to be expensive. |
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/var is the compliment to /usr and /etc, not /tmp. |
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> That description applies to /var/cache. but not all of /var. |
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> http://www.pathname.com/fhs/2.2/fhs-5.5.html |
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> |
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> /var isnt only for things that can be regenerated. |
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It should be for files that are dynamically generated, as opposed to static |
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configuration and binary files. |
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> The content of /var/mail in particular is irreplaceable. |
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To users, maybe, but it's hardly critical to the operation of the system. |
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> http://www.pathname.com/fhs/2.2/fhs-5.1.html |
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> |
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> > tmp must not contain such caches. On /tmp one is able to run a tmp |
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> > reaper, on /var it would be less than desirable. |
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You should be able to run: |
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$ find /var -type f -exec cp /dev/null {} \; |
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$ reboot -f |
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and still have a bootable system. Consider doing that with /usr or /etc |
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to see the distinction. |
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-- |
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