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Date:      Mon, 27 Apr 1998 19:21:40 -0700 (PDT)
From:      "Jason C. Wells" <jcwells@u.washington.edu>
To:        CyberPeasant <djv@bedford.net>
Cc:        freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject:   Re: Writable /usr?
Message-ID:  <Pine.BSF.3.96.980427190921.1001D-100000@s8-37-26.student.washington.edu>
In-Reply-To: <199804280016.UAA03779@pollux.loco.net>

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On Mon, 27 Apr 1998, CyberPeasant wrote:

>As a newcomer to FreeBSD but a greybeard in the unix world, can I
>politely ask why FreeBSD seems intent on making /usr a writable
>partition?  In another thread, someone reports that the user guide
>recommends locating /tmp and /var on /usr.  I believe I've seen
>recommendations to supply users' home directories in the /usr
>partition, too.  (The default installation script sets you up
>without a /home partition.) What's the rationale for this? Isn't
>readonly /usr (and /, if possible) a Good Thing anymore?

You may have to place /tmp or /var on user if you have a prexisting file
system that starts running out of space. By default /var partition is
mounted on /var and /tmp directory is mounted on /. 

Different unices do things differently as far as the hierarchy go. /usr is
only writable by root by default. Root owns /usr by default. If I was
insistent on adding a directory under /usr and I was root. I would not
want to be bothered by a perms issue. That is to say, I think /usr being
writable by root and root only is sane. Feel free to change it if your
philosophy differs. 

By default /home is linked to /usr/home to provide compatibilty with other
unix hierarchies. if you think there should be a seperate /home partition
and file system, feel free to make one. I am of a mind that user land
things go in /usr but I was weaned on FreeBSD so it is not unfamiliar to
me.

As a side note, IRIX puts home directories in /usr/people by default. Unix
flavors abound. The core developers had to pick one way of doing things.
This is the way that they chose. It does not prevent you from using your
own experience to configure your system.

Thank you,       | Try some of this. It will show you where you're at.
Jason Wells	 | http://www.freebsd.org/


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