Skip site navigation (1)Skip section navigation (2)
Date:      Mon, 13 Apr 2020 12:46:15 +0000
From:      Grzegorz Junka <list1@gjunka.com>
To:        "Rodney W. Grimes" <freebsd-rwg@gndrsh.dnsmgr.net>
Cc:        freebsd-pkgbase@freebsd.org
Subject:   Re: /root on a separate dataset breaks FreeBSD-base installation
Message-ID:  <26892bda-635b-0d24-0534-ffc218815399@gjunka.com>
In-Reply-To: <202004121143.03CBh3s3027010@gndrsh.dnsmgr.net>
References:  <202004121143.03CBh3s3027010@gndrsh.dnsmgr.net>

next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help

> Here we disagree, I consider /root very much a part of the base
> system and it should be pretty much unused.  And I am a person
> that logs in as root and su -'s out to user accounts, but I
> still do not use /root as a normal home directory, everything
> else is done and stored some other place.


Do you see /root as part of the base here 
https://svnweb.freebsd.org/base/head/ ? ;-)

Also look here https://www.freebsd.org/doc/handbook/jails-application.html

/root is treated as editable part of the read-only base system, the same 
way as /home


> The fact that it is shipped with the base system, created by the
> base system installer, and is pretty much a mandatory required directoy,
> however does make it very much part of the base system.


We actually don't argue here if /root is part of a base system but if 
it's reasonable for the installer to assume that /root is on the same 
dataset as /.

Based on the links I mentioned above, and on your comment, my 
understanding is that /root is not part of the base system but it's 
created and populated by the installer when installing the base. Is the 
requirement that the /root dataset should be on the same dataset as / 
mentioned anywhere in the official documentation? I couldn't find it 
here 
<https://www.freebsd.org/doc/handbook/bsdinstall-partitioning.html#bsdinstall-part-shell>; 
but it's also hard to search for due to root being a very common word in 
various contexts. Certainly bsdinstall doesn't require /root to be on 
the same dataset as /.

If indeed there is no such existing requirement, then it would be 
something new that pkgbase is introducing. Which might be fine, but is 
it reasonable? I don't think so. Regardless if /root should be 
considered part of the base system or not, I don't see any reason for 
pkgbase or the FreeBSD's base system to require /root to be on the same 
dataset as / apart from those two hardlinks discussed earlier.


>> It's home directory for the /root user,
>> where I often have larger files that I either copy to install or just as
>> a backup of some parts of the system.
> I would never store backup's in /root!


Backup may mean different things. I don't mean backups of the system. 
Consider a tarball of the kernel copied from another system that needs 
to be unpacked to / or temporary copies of some configs that are being 
edited, e.g. pf.conf or rc.conf. Where would you store those?


>> Versioning it per boot environment
>> wouldn't make sense.
> Double edge sword.  The set of tweaks needed in .cshrc or .profile may
> vary by version of FreeBSD installed.
>

Well, I would assume that an administrator is free to edit .cshrc and 
.profile for their own needs, e.g. add aliases or env variables. Once 
changed they would no longer be updated with the system but skipped. 
There are always reference versions in / which the administrator should 
consult and copy over any required changes after the system has been 
updated.

--
GrzegorzJ





Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?26892bda-635b-0d24-0534-ffc218815399>