Very Computer

I'd like to move my /home directory to /usr/home and
would like to know the correct way to do it and what
problems this may create. I've just installed RH 5.2
and have not setup any user accounts yet. I created
a small partition for the / directory and a large
partition for the /usr directory. Should I first
delete /home, then create /usr/home, then create a
symbolic link for example 'ln -s /usr/home /home'?
What other directories should be moved from / to /usr
and linked back to /? And how large should the partition
be to hold the / directory? My / directory occupies
about 30 MB. In future installations, if I set the
partition to 50 MB would it ever grow to more than this?

Greg

gbh> I'd like to move my /home directory to /usr/home and would like
gbh> to know the correct way to do it and what problems this may
gbh> create.

(Why?  The general idea with /usr is that it's data that doesn't
change unless you reinstall or upgrade your distribution, with the
possible exception of /usr/local, and /usr can (should?) be mounted
read-only.  Plus AFAIK there's no legacy software out there that
expects to find user directories under /usr/home.  If it's "I have a
huge /usr partition but no other space on my disk," and

gbh> I've just installed RH 5.2 and have not setup any user accounts
gbh> yet.

then you're probably better off reinstalling and either creating a
sizeable /home partition or not splitting off /usr.)

gbh> I created a small partition for the / directory and a large
gbh> partition for the /usr directory. Should I first delete /home,
gbh> then create /usr/home, then create a symbolic link for example
gbh> 'ln -s /usr/home /home'?

If you were going to do this, that's pretty much the right way, with a
check that /usr/home has the same permissions as the original /home.

gbh> What other directories should be moved from / to /usr and linked
gbh> back to /?

None of them.

gbh> And how large should the partition be to hold the / directory? My
gbh> / directory occupies about 30 MB. In future installations, if I
gbh> set the partition to 50 MB would it ever grow to more than this?

This really depends on how you've partitioned your hard drive and what
you install.  If your setup is

/       50 MB
/usr    (a lot)

then you'll be hurting for space in the root partition; my Debian
package database, among other things, lives in /var (and I believe RPM
does the same thing), and you'll need more room in /home.  If your
setup is more like mine:

/       32 MB
/usr    1000 MB
/var    300 MB
/home   400 MB
/usr/local 500 MB

(with /tmp being a symlink on to /var, and on three separate disks,
but no other weirdnesses) you'll be fine for space on the root
partition.

--

"Hey, Doug, do you mind if I push the Emergency Booth Self-Destruct Button?"
"Oh, sure, Dave, whatever...you _do_ know what that does, right?"

Quote:> gbh> I'd like to move my /home directory to /usr/home and would like
> gbh> to know the correct way to do it and what problems this may
> gbh> create.

> (Why?  The general idea with /usr is that it's data that doesn't
> change unless you reinstall or upgrade your distribution, with the
> possible exception of /usr/local, and /usr can (should?) be mounted
> read-only [...]
> then you'll be hurting for space in the root partition; my Debian
> package database, among other things, lives in /var (and I believe RPM
> does the same thing), and you'll need more room in /home.  If your
> setup is more like mine:

> /       32 MB
> /usr    1000 MB
> /var    300 MB
> /home   400 MB
> /usr/local 500 MB

> (with /tmp being a symlink on to /var, and on three separate disks,
> but no other weirdnesses) you'll be fine for space on the root
> partition.

The reason I wanted to do this is because the partitions will
all reside on one disk that is not terribly large. I need to
create large temporary image files (500+ MB) occasionally,
and if I divide up the disk into partitions of several hundred
MBs each, none will be large enough to hold the images. There
seems to be a lot of wasted space left over in each partition.
The question I have for you is, if /usr doesn't change then
why do you allocate more space than you do for /var, /home,
and /usr/local? It seems that once you install it, /usr would
not need any more than the few hundred MBs used for installation.

Given my requirements how would you change this partitioning scheme?

/             32 MB
/usr         200 MB
/usr/local  1000 MB
swap          64 MB

With /var, /home, and /tmp linked to /usr/local? BTW I'm the
only user of the machine with a dialup connection to the Internet.

Greg

  gbh> I'd like to move my /home directory to /usr/home and would like
  gbh> to know the correct way to do it and what problems this may
  gbh> create.

gbh> The reason I wanted to do this is because the partitions will
gbh> all reside on one disk that is not terribly large. I need to
gbh> create large temporary image files (500+ MB) occasionally,
gbh> and if I divide up the disk into partitions of several hundred
gbh> MBs each, none will be large enough to hold the images. There
gbh> seems to be a lot of wasted space left over in each partition.

gbh> Given my requirements how would you change this partitioning scheme?
gbh>
gbh> /             32 MB
gbh> /usr         200 MB
gbh> /usr/local  1000 MB
gbh> swap          64 MB
gbh>
gbh> With /var, /home, and /tmp linked to /usr/local? BTW I'm the
gbh> only user of the machine with a dialup connection to the Internet.

Yeah, given those requirements that's not entirely unreasonable.  Make
sure (particularly for the new /tmp) that you have the same
permissions as are on the original directory.

gbh> The question I have for you is, if /usr doesn't change then
gbh> why do you allocate more space than you do for /var, /home,
gbh> and /usr/local? It seems that once you install it, /usr would
gbh> not need any more than the few hundred MBs used for installation.

It depends on how much stuff you have installed on your system.  My
root, /usr, /home, and /usr/local partitions are all about half full;
/var could be smaller but downloads of Debian packages tend to wind up
there.  So I seem to have the right partitioning scheme for my
system.  :-)  (That /var, /home, and /usr/local are on a
less-than-reliable hard drive is another story...why doesn't anybody
sell ~1GB hard drives anymore?)

--

"Hey, Doug, do you mind if I push the Emergency Booth Self-Destruct Button?"
"Oh, sure, Dave, whatever...you _do_ know what that does, right?"

If you have no accounts set up, then just put it in /usr/home.
To make srute that this does not break any scripts which might decide

to enforce /home, make /home a link to /usr/home. That's it.

Quote:>and have not setup any user accounts yet. I created
>a small partition for the / directory and a large
>partition for the /usr directory. Should I first
>delete /home, then create /usr/home, then create a
>symbolic link for example 'ln -s /usr/home /home'?

Sure. That is fine.

Quote:>What other directories should be moved from / to /usr
>and linked back to /? And how large should the partition

Whatever you want. I would leave /bin and /sbin as you may need them in
/ someday when your /usr partition fails for some reason.
and the /var for loggin purposes.

Quote:>be to hold the / directory? My / directory occupies
>about 30 MB. In future installations, if I set the
>partition to 50 MB would it ever grow to more than this?

It could if you are not careful about rotating your log files or if
some process runs away (mind you filling 50M is better than filling
10G.)

Quote:>Greg

Look it is your disk. fill it the way you want to. There is nothing that
will break because of the way you want to do it. HIs is also a
philosophy of disk usage. None are "right" just as some people store the
vacuum cleaner in the hall closet, and some in the ba*t closet.
Neither are wrong. If it is more convenient for you to have home under
/usr, go ahead and do it. My /usr changes all the time as I add and take
away programs, etc. This is not an issue to fight a religeous war over.

David Z. Maze scribbled manically:

: ...and /usr can (should?) be mounted read-only.  

        Hmm.  What's the purpose of /usr/tmp, then?  Certainly a tmp directory
doesn't sound like something that should be read-only.  This is an honest
question, though...does anything notable actually use /usr/tmp?  On my system
(Slackware 3.5), /usr/tmp is just a link to /var/tmp anyway.

JD

--
"Satan, danger of....p. 627"  - _Essential_System_Administration_, p. 748

jdw> David Z. Maze scribbled manically:
 DZM> ...and /usr can (should?) be mounted read-only.  
jdw>
jdw> Hmm.  What's the purpose of /usr/tmp, then?

Historical, same as /usr/spool, /usr/adm, and the like.  Modern
Applications (TM) should use the equivalent directories under /var,
except that /var/adm has gone away too *sigh*.

jdw> Certainly a tmp directory doesn't sound like something that
jdw> should be read-only.  This is an honest question, though...does
jdw> anything notable actually use /usr/tmp?  On my system (Slackware
jdw> 3.5), /usr/tmp is just a link to /var/tmp anyway.

Ideally, nothing should use those, and if something does then a
symlink to a writable partition is TRTTD.  My Debian box doesn't have
a /usr/tmp, for example, and that it has a /usr/etc seems to be a
packaging error.

(And I'm not maniacal.  Really.  Well, only on alternate Tuesdays.
But not today.  :-)

--

"Hey, Doug, do you mind if I push the Emergency Booth Self-Destruct Button?"
"Oh, sure, Dave, whatever...you _do_ know what that does, right?"

Since you are the only user I suggest TWO partition:

/         1232 MB
swap        64 MB

There is really no need to create a lot of small partitions
on a small disc. Actually, there is really no need to create
a lot of partition on a large disc either.

/dev/hdd1             7.6G  3.0G   4.2G     41%   /home
Where G stand for Gigabytes.

The only problem is that it takes way too long time to do fsck and
backups in that disc.

Anders