From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Sat Feb 18 10:22:54 2012 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 923861065674 for ; Sat, 18 Feb 2012 10:22:54 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from freebsd@edvax.de) Received: from mx01.qsc.de (mx01.qsc.de [213.148.129.14]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 29AE28FC0C for ; Sat, 18 Feb 2012 10:22:53 +0000 (UTC) Received: from r56.edvax.de (port-92-195-75-202.dynamic.qsc.de [92.195.75.202]) by mx01.qsc.de (Postfix) with ESMTP id F311B3CC6B; Sat, 18 Feb 2012 11:22:52 +0100 (CET) Received: from r56.edvax.de (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by r56.edvax.de (8.14.5/8.14.5) with SMTP id q1IAMq5l033317; Sat, 18 Feb 2012 11:22:52 +0100 (CET) (envelope-from freebsd@edvax.de) Date: Sat, 18 Feb 2012 11:22:52 +0100 From: Polytropon To: Lars Eighner Message-Id: <20120218112252.772c878b.freebsd@edvax.de> In-Reply-To: References: <4F3ECF23.5000706@fisglobal.com> <20120217234623.cf7e169c.freebsd@edvax.de> <3D08D03C85ACFBB1ABCDC5DA@mac-pro.magehandbook.com> Organization: EDVAX X-Mailer: Sylpheed 3.1.1 (GTK+ 2.24.5; i386-portbld-freebsd8.2) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: /usr/home vs /home (was: Re: One or Four?) X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list Reply-To: Polytropon List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Sat, 18 Feb 2012 10:22:54 -0000 On Sat, 18 Feb 2012 00:05:49 -0600 (CST), Lars Eighner wrote: > It seems to me that partition and mount point are being confused to a > degree. There is no reason what is mounted at /usr/home cannot be a > separate partition as well as if it were mounted at root. I thought of this fact as such an obvious thing that I didn't bother even mentioning it. :-) Of course, /usr/home can be a separate partition (even on a separate disk), just like /usr/ports or /usr/obj or even /usr/local could be. I've also seen systems having several subtrees in /export, each one being on an individual partition, some of them even on an own disk. > There are some > good reasons for the user directories (and perhaps some other data) to be on > a separate partition - mostly the reasons relate to ease of back up and > migration whether planned or emergency. Arguments about where to mount that > partition are not so practical, being more in the philosophic and historical > realm. Pick one, recognize not everyone will be on the same page and put > appropriate links in. I'd still be interested in why this particular location has been chosen. The typical access path for home directories is /home (that's why the symlink), and as long as this "top level entry" points to the proper data (no matter where they are located), it should be fine. > There may have been a historic reason, but now it is philosophical - trying > to keep the system and userland distinction clear. But there are many flaws > in the attempted separation. /var for example is the default location for > many logs, both system and user, the spools (remember news?), and databases. > You really cannot drop /usr into a different system and have an operational > result. Correct. Also see the difference in usage interpretation for /tmp (not guaranteed to be present after reboot) and /var/tmp (should be present in the same state after reboot). The separation of concepts FreeBSD is famous for basically is "the OS" (primarily /, /etc, /(s)bin, /usr/(s)bin) that provides the minimal functionality to bring up the operating system even in worst case, where only the root partition needs to be mounted, which can be done in read-only mode, to finally reach the single- user mode, and "3rd party applications" (everything in /usr/local). However, both system and 3rd party programs access things in /var or /tmp. Not having actual _user_ data in between can be a benefit especially when something goes wrong. > (I put the home directories, the www directory, databases and spools all on > the same physical partition which I mount arbitrarily at /usr/local/data. It > isn't exactly plug-n-play, but in tests and emergencies is has proved > practical to drop the partition into several linices with a high level of > functionally - depending on application versioning being close to in sync.) And I assume you still have /home pointing to the correct location on that "new" path? -- Polytropon Magdeburg, Germany Happy FreeBSD user since 4.0 Andra moi ennepe, Mousa, ...