Re: [gentoo-user] Mounting Question...

[Mick]

On Friday 21 December 2007, Peter Humphrey wrote:
> On Friday 21 December 2007 10:00:40 Galevsky wrote:
> > I am interested in your advice [that] LVM is not the universal solution
> > for partition management,
>
> In the case under discussion, namely a stable server, I wouldn't challenge
> any advice to use LVM, but I was using it until recently on this
> semi-experimental desktop box and found I was getting too nervous for
> comfort. From time to time I would be tempted to give another distribution
> a spin, and every time I did it was unable to recognise my existing
> partitions (and therefore leave them alone). The same was true of a couple
> of rescue CDs I tried - which of course meant I couldn't use them.

The problem with some distros installation scripts is that they are trying to 
be too clever for their own good.  As a result they some times behave like MS 
Windows and unless you whip them into submission they could trash your 
system!  What I always do is to create the partitions and LV that I want and 
then instruct the distro in question to install itself in there.  Of course 
if the distro in question does not have an LVM compatible kernel then you'll 
need to install it using a different medium (with a kernel that has all the 
necessary drivers) and untar the distro's fs into your partitions of choice.

> That
> isn't a problem now, not since I installed a small rescue system on a spare
> disk in the same box.
>
> So, for an unchanging system setup, by all means use LVM; for toy boxes it
> seems to me not to offer much advantage.
>
> Incidentally, I have 4 GB RAM in this dual-246 box, so I've put /tmp into a
> tmpfs, which greatly speeds emerges. This is from /etc/fstab:
> tmpfs	/tmp		tmpfs	nodev,nosuid,size=6g	0 0
>
> and this is from /etc/make.conf:
> BUILD_PREFIX="/tmp/portage/build"
> PKG_TMPDIR="/tmp"
> PORTAGE_TMPDIR="/tmp"
> PORTAGE_TMPFS="/dev/shm"
>
> The disks get a holiday (except when compiling Open Office)   :-)
>
> --
> Rgds
> Peter



-- 
Regards,
Mick