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Duncan wrote: |
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> Dale posted on Wed, 28 Mar 2012 19:35:40 -0500 as excerpted: |
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> |
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>> Joshua Saddler wrote: |
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|
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> Agreed, tho ACTUALLY having the documentation available, AND LINKING to |
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> it in the handbook ("For an in-depth discussion, read..."), would be a |
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> good thing. |
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> |
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>> Well, way back when I first installed Gentoo, I actually read some |
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>> before I even started. I learned through all that reading that /, |
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>> /boot, /home, /usr, /usr/portage and /var are best on their own |
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>> partition. Each of those are for different reasons. |
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> |
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> Same here. It's a bit of a point of pride for me that before I even had |
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> my own gentoo system installed (some problem due to my wanting posix |
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> threading, then relatively new to Linux, over Linux threads; didn't work |
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> for me with 2004.0, worked great with 2004.1), I had read the handbook, |
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> etc, and was replying on the lists to questions from folks who obviously |
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> hadn't read up... |
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I started with 1.4. Dang I'm getting old. It's one reason I would hate |
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to leave Gentoo. |
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> |
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> But I already had a good idea what I wanted my partition layout to look |
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> like based on my Mandrake experience. The questions I needed to ask, |
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> because they were NOT covered in the manual (or anywhere else in the |
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> documentation I could find at the time), and because they were self- |
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> evidently going to have rather different answers on gentoo than on |
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> mandrake, were things like: |
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> |
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> Just how big IS the portage tree? |
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> |
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> What about the package tree? |
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> |
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> What about the sources tree? |
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I think I found that info somewhere before I installed. Plus, one could |
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ask someone on IRC too. If they have it on a separate partition, the |
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results of df would be good enough and quick. |
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|
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|
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> |
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> After a couple partition reorganizations, I ended up with sources inside |
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> the portage tree, but packages on its own partition, making it easier to |
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> keep packages backed up, something the portage tree and sources don't |
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> need as the net's a far more sufficient backup for them than I could ever |
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> manage locally. |
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> |
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> |
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> For years I've thought that a bit more emphasis should be placed on |
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> FEATURES=binpkg, given the many ways it can save your ass and/or make |
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> troubleshooting a current version issue far easier. And while I agree |
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> that the installation section of the handbook, in any case, isn't the |
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> place for complex discussion of the many system partitioning schemes and |
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> their positives/negatives, information such as the above, exactly what |
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> sort of realistic sizes can be expected for the portage tree itself, for |
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> sources, and for binpkgs (if the feature is enabled), should be covered. |
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> |
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> That's because most gentoo users have at least some experience on other |
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> distros before they come to gentoo, and thus likely already have a |
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> preferred partitioning setup... if they care about it at all. All they |
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> really need is information about the relative sizes of gentoo-specific |
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> features, the ebuild tree, sources, and binpkgs, and perhaps a bit better |
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> coverage of the binpkgs option (which I'd simply link-punt in the install |
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> section as well, but cover it a bit better under the working with portage |
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> section, with the install-section link pointing there). |
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> |
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>> The root partition is obvious, I would hope anyway. ;-) The boot |
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>> partitions comes in handy if you don't automount it or have more than |
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>> one distro installed. Home is obvious. People recommended /usr because |
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>> it could a) be mounted read only and b) it can be enlarged if needed |
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>> since it tends to grow a lot. Portage since it is tons of small files |
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>> and tends to fragment a lot. The var partition is so that if some error |
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>> message repeats itself overnight and fills up the partition it at least |
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>> doesn't lock up the whole system. I actually had this one happen to me |
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>> once. For some reason, even logrotate didn't catch it, tar up and |
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>> delete the old ones. I woke up to a mess that only going to single user |
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>> would fix. The best thing I did was to have /var on its own partition. |
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> |
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> FWIW, that's /var/log on it's own partition here, for exactly the reason |
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> you mention. But /var itself is on rootfs here, these days. |
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That would work too. At the time, /var was recommended. |
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> |
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>> When people are planning to install Gentoo and they have not done at |
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>> least some research, I think they should get to keep the pieces. |
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>> Installing Gentoo is not something to do on a whim. It should be |
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>> planned and thought through even if the person is completely new to |
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>> Gentoo. I read up for at least a month before ever even starting. |
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> |
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> Again agreed, |
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> |
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> But really, to some degree it's something that's only learned from |
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> experience. If anything, what I'd suggest for the installation manual |
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> partitioning section would be a variant on the programmer's dictum: |
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> |
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> "Plan to throw one away, because you're either going to end up doing it |
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> anyway after you make your mistakes and figure out the way you /should/ |
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> have done it, or putting up with a sub-optimum setup if you don't throw |
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> one away, and planning for it from the beginning will make the process |
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> easier when the time comes." |
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> |
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> I know I've gone thru several partition layout iterations here, before I |
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> came up with something very close to what I'd consider optimal... that |
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> has stayed that way for several years. |
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> |
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> =:^) |
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If someone told me they was going to do a install similar to mine, |
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without all the udev, init thingy and /usr confusion, I would give a lot |
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of info but also recommend this. Install onto a spare drive then run du |
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on /usr, /var and such. Take that information and create partitions on |
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the permanant OS drive then copy the install over. That way you have |
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the best possible info based on your own install and what you plan to use. |
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They would then have a nice and neat system. If they use LVM, they can |
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even enlarge/shrink things as needed. This could be very true |
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considering the talk of moving portage files around. Sounds like /var |
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may be about to grow. |
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> |
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>> I agree with having a simple manual for the folks that want to install |
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>> just to look and then have a separate manual, wiki even, for more |
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>> serious set ups. This can include things like RAID, LVM and having more |
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>> than a couple partitions. Of course, Gentoo is almost endless in |
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>> options. |
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> |
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> Agreed. The only thing I'd add would be that the simple installation |
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> should have "for more information" type links to the more complex |
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> discussions of each step/decision, at the appropriate place. Then people |
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> like Dale and I will read them, and but they'll be clearly marked "for |
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> more information" or similar, so those uninterested in that sort of |
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> discussion can easily skip it. =:^) |
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> |
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No problem there. If folks could put info on a wiki, it would be nice. |
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Example, 'I have KDE, Fluxbox, and this is the space required xxxx |
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Gbs.' Or 'I have Fluxbox and apache installed and I use xxxxGbs.' Then |
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list what /usr, /var and others are in Gbs. That would save some people |
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from having to redo their drives. Let the docs point to that for the |
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ones interested. |
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What a wish list. ;-) |
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|
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Dale |
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:-) :-) |
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-- |
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I am only responsible for what I said ... Not for what you understood or |
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how you interpreted my words! |
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|
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Miss the compile output? Hint: |
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EMERGE_DEFAULT_OPTS="--quiet-build=n" |