From owner-freebsd-current  Fri Oct  8 11:24: 8 1999
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Date: Fri, 8 Oct 1999 11:24:06 -0700 (PDT)
From: Matthew Dillon <dillon@apollo.backplane.com>
Message-Id: <199910081824.LAA03889@apollo.backplane.com>
To: "David O'Brien" <obrien@FreeBSD.ORG>
Cc: David Schwartz <davids@webmaster.com>,
	freebsd-current@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject: Re: {a}sync updates (was Re: make install trick)
References: <19991008093430.A17955@dragon.nuxi.com> <000d01bf11b1$5bfca1f0$021d85d1@youwant.to> <19991008105234.A58223@hub.freebsd.org>
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:> 	We're talking about the special case of small root partitions, such that
:> softupdates inability to make empty space available quickly can make the
:> difference between a major operation's success or failure.
:> 
:> 	This is almost impossible on a 1.8Gb root partition. 
:
:Again why?  What's the difference between a small / and a 1.8GB (byte not
:...
:Why would I be so concerned?  If I don't expect to need that 15M then,
:I've sized my partition just right.  Don't put cares in my basket that 
:...
:-- 
:-- David    (obrien@FreeBSD.org)

    I think the argument has become somewhat skewed.  The softupdates bug
    occurs when a filesystem fills up, it doesn't really matter how small or
    large the filesystem is.

    What matters more is how often a partition is actually written to and
    how likely the chance of the partition filling up.

    Personally speaking, I tend to use small (64-128MB) root partitions
    with a separately mounted /usr and /var (and /tmp a softlink to /var/tmp).
    In fact, I usually separate out /var/tmp as well.  I do this simply to
    reduce the amount of writing that occurs on the root partition in order
    to ensure that I don't lose it accidently.

    This has saved my butt on innumerable occassions... there is something
    to be said for being able to boot into a workable shell when you've
    blown up the rest of the system!  With my configuration I feel perfectly
    safe enabling softupdates on root.  In other configurations, such as 
    having /usr and /var on the same partition as root, I might not
    feel as safe.

					-Matt
					Matthew Dillon 
					<dillon@backplane.com>


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