From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG  Tue May 29 19:16:54 2012
Return-Path: <owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG>
Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org
Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [69.147.83.52])
	by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 72FC9106566C
	for <freebsd-questions@freebsd.org>;
	Tue, 29 May 2012 19:16:54 +0000 (UTC)
	(envelope-from bonomi@mail.r-bonomi.com)
Received: from mail.r-bonomi.com (mx-out.r-bonomi.com [204.87.227.120])
	by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 2F2988FC0A
	for <freebsd-questions@freebsd.org>;
	Tue, 29 May 2012 19:16:53 +0000 (UTC)
Received: (from bonomi@localhost)
	by mail.r-bonomi.com (8.14.4/rdb1) id q4TJIxpL030182
	for freebsd-questions@freebsd.org; Tue, 29 May 2012 14:18:59 -0500 (CDT)
Date: Tue, 29 May 2012 14:18:59 -0500 (CDT)
From: Robert Bonomi <bonomi@mail.r-bonomi.com>
Message-Id: <201205291918.q4TJIxpL030182@mail.r-bonomi.com>
To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org
In-Reply-To: <4FC423B2.7020708@dreamchaser.org>
Subject: Re: removing /var/empty on a non-system disk
X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org
X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5
Precedence: list
List-Id: User questions <freebsd-questions.freebsd.org>
List-Unsubscribe: <http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions>, 
	<mailto:freebsd-questions-request@freebsd.org?subject=unsubscribe>
List-Archive: <http://lists.freebsd.org/pipermail/freebsd-questions>
List-Post: <mailto:freebsd-questions@freebsd.org>
List-Help: <mailto:freebsd-questions-request@freebsd.org?subject=help>
List-Subscribe: <http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions>, 
	<mailto:freebsd-questions-request@freebsd.org?subject=subscribe>
X-List-Received-Date: Tue, 29 May 2012 19:16:54 -0000

> From owner-freebsd-questions@freebsd.org  Mon May 28 20:22:58 2012
> Date: Mon, 28 May 2012 19:17:38 -0600
> From: Gary Aitken <garya@dreamchaser.org.r-bonomi.com>
> To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org
> Subject: Re: removing /var/empty on a non-system disk
>
> On 05/28/12 15:08, Robert Bonomi wrote:
>
> > I'm going to guess that you did 'su root', not 'su - root'.  The two 
> > commands are *NOT* identical.   'su root' does not run the root 'login'
> > scripts; thus environment variables (including path, user, logname etc.)
> > are *not* set as they are on root login -- this causes some 'am i root'
> > tests to fail.  OTOH, 'su - root' should be equivalent to a root login 
> > in all respects.
>
> Thank you.  That explains a number of problems I've been having.  doh.

To misquote Mae West: "When confronted with the choice between two mistakes,
I try to choose the one I haven't made before."

I've been doing this kind of stuff long enough that, under that philosophy,
I've seen things that hardly anybody else has ever experienced.  Luckily,
at least for me, I _do_ remember virtually all the mistakes I've made.

<wry grin>