Very Computer

I already got linux up and running on my PC. Now, I am thinking of changing
the sizes of two of my file systems(/var and /home, and their partitions are
next to each other.), since I assigned too much space to /var. I am wondering
if there is any easy and safe way to do this?

I am thinking of archiving(by tar) everything under /var and /home. Then,
move the tar files to somewhere(they are not too big yet). And then use fdisk
to repartition /var and /home. Finally, untar the tar files for /var and
/home back. Is this doable?

I've never done this before. My concern is whether the system will work
normally when I untar the files back after I repartition disk. That is,
will "tar" work correctly when /var is "empty"? Also, will the changes of
sizes of partitions affect the correctness of boot-up informations, so that
I'll have problem in boot-up/login next time?

I'm desperately seeking advice about this! If you know how to do it, please

Thanks in advance!

Yang-Cheng

(btw, I know that, under MS DOS, there is a program called "fibs" can
 change the sizes of partitions without destroying contents inside the
 partitions. Is there any similar program doing this under linux?)

: I already got linux up and running on my PC. Now, I am thinking of changing
: the sizes of two of my file systems(/var and /home, and their partitions are
: next to each other.), since I assigned too much space to /var. I am wondering
: if there is any easy and safe way to do this?

{chuckle, chuckle}  Such is life in the realm of "How big is too big?"

Seriously, though, do you have enough space on another partition to
relocate var?  You could copy the contents over, then umount /var ; rmdir
/var ; ln -s /var /newplace/var

Your home partition can be tarred and restored later without harmful
effects, but I would try to keep /var available while Linux is running.

: Also, will the changes of
: sizes of partitions affect the correctness of boot-up informations, so that
: I'll have problem in boot-up/login next time?

I don't believe Linux will moan about new partition sizes, so long as
/etc/fstab is still pointing /var to /dev/hda? (or whatever it is).  If
you change partitions (ie: /var is now /dev/hdb3, will be /dev/hda2),
then you need to change fstab so it's pointing to the new partition.

: (btw, I know that, under MS DOS, there is a program called "fibs" can
:  change the sizes of partitions without destroying contents inside the
:  partitions. Is there any similar program doing this under linux?)

I've heard of such a beast, something like fisk, but haven't see nor used it.