Gentoo Archives: gentoo-user

From: Pandu Poluan <pandu@××××××.info>
To: gentoo-user@l.g.o
Subject: Re: [gentoo-user] Re: LVM, /usr and really really bad thoughts.
Date: Tue, 13 Mar 2012 08:04:39
Message-Id: CAA2qdGVpTYhvnr+=87xQ8aVKWyLQKaXKdOadO+UKov5n95AYSA@mail.gmail.com
In Reply to: Re: [gentoo-user] Re: LVM, /usr and really really bad thoughts. by "Canek Peláez Valdés"
1 On Mar 13, 2012 2:41 PM, "Canek Peláez Valdés" <caneko@×××××.com> wrote:
2 >
3 > On Tue, Mar 13, 2012 at 1:31 AM, Pandu Poluan <pandu@××××××.info> wrote:
4 > >
5 > > On Mar 13, 2012 2:19 PM, "Alan McKinnon" <alan.mckinnon@×××××.com>
6 wrote:
7 > >>
8 > >> On Tue, 13 Mar 2012 11:54:58 +0700
9 > >> Pandu Poluan <pandu@××××××.info> wrote:
10 > >>
11 > >> > > The idea of trying to launch udevd and initialize devices without
12 > >> > > the software, installed in /usr, which is required by those devices
13 > >> > > is a configuration that causes problems in many real-world,
14 > >> > > practical situations.
15 > >> > >
16 > >> > > The requirement of having /usr on the same partition as / is also a
17 > >> > > configuration that causes problems in many real-world, practical
18 > >> > > situations.
19 > >> > >
20 > >> >
21 > >> > I quite often read about this, and after some thinking, I have to
22 > >> > ask: why?
23 > >> >
24 > >>
25 > >> I've also thought about this and I also want to ask why?
26 > >>
27 > >> I stopped using a separate /usr on my workstations a long time ago when
28 > >> I realized it was pointless. The days of 5M hard disks when the entire
29 > >> OS didn't fit on one are long gone. The days of my software going tits
30 > >> up at the drop of a hat requiring a minimal repair environment to fix
31 > >> it at boot are also long gone (my desk is littered with LiveCDs and
32 > >> bootable flash drives).
33 > >>
34 > >> So I can't find a single good reason why /usr *must* be separate and my
35 > >> workstations are the only machines that will ever have hotplug booting
36 > >> issues.
37 > >>
38 > >> I'm even considering changing the install standards for the company
39 > >> servers to dispense with separate /usr, as long as there are safeguards
40 > >> against clowns who don't read INSTALL files and happily
41 > >> accept /usr/local/<package>/var as a storage area.
42 > >>
43 > >
44 > > I just did some more thinking, and *maybe* the reason is to prevent
45 > > something under /usr (src and share comes to mind) from growing too big
46 and
47 > > messes up the root filesystem.
48 > >
49 > > Place the offenders on a separate partition, then mount them under
50 /usr, and
51 > > all should be well...
52 >
53 > The always used example is to have /usr shared as a read only NFS
54 > partition among several workstations. In corporate environments it is
55 > certainly used this way (or at least it was when I worked, and the way
56 > I used it in my office seven or eight years ago).
57 >
58 > Of course, for a normal desktop user, a separate /usr is basically
59 useless.
60 >
61
62 Ah, thanks for the explanation. Makes sense.
63
64 Rgds,