From owner-freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Sat Sep 5 04:00:25 2015 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@mailman.ysv.freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:1900:2254:206a::19:1]) by mailman.ysv.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 96DDC9CA945 for ; Sat, 5 Sep 2015 04:00:25 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from rfg@tristatelogic.com) Received: from outgoing.tristatelogic.com (segfault.tristatelogic.com [69.62.255.118]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 7DC45FCA for ; Sat, 5 Sep 2015 04:00:25 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from rfg@tristatelogic.com) Received: from segfault-nmh-helo.tristatelogic.com (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by segfault.tristatelogic.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id D6E083AEF8; Fri, 4 Sep 2015 21:00:23 -0700 (PDT) From: "Ronald F. Guilmette" To: Polytropon cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Partitioning for a new system -- Third level mount point? In-Reply-To: <20150905031925.fd21458a.freebsd@edvax.de> Date: Fri, 04 Sep 2015 21:00:23 -0700 Message-ID: <83718.1441425623@server1.tristatelogic.com> X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.20 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Sat, 05 Sep 2015 04:00:25 -0000 In message <20150905031925.fd21458a.freebsd@edvax.de>, you wrote: >On Fri, 04 Sep 2015 17:34:36 -0700, Ronald F. Guilmette wrote: >> I'm setiing up a new system to run FreeBSD 10.2, and in the process >> of doing a ``manual'' initial partitioning of the main drive for >> this new system, I attempted to create a partition for which I >> specified a mount point of: >> >> /var/ftp/private >>.. >> Anyway, I was shocked to see... after doing the create step... that >> this new partition is listed in the partitions list as having a mount >> point of just: >> >> /var/ftp >> >> which is definitely not what I wanted. > >Maybe this happened because the desired mountpoint /var/ftp/private >didn't exist yet, so /var/ftp was being used? AHHHHHHH! Yes. Perhaps that is the explanation. However please note that the directory /var/ftp did not exist yet at the time that I was setiing up my partitions, and yet the partitioning tool graciously and automagically inferred (correctly) that I wanted to have that created for me... since I clearly planned to use it as a mount point. (And since I elected... because of the problem in using /var/ftp/private... to make /var/ftp a partition instead, I _can_ say with some certainty that the install-time manual partitioning tool did in fact cause that (/var/ftp) to be created... or at any rate, something did. So anyway, I do believe that I will file a PR on this. I think that the partitioning tool should be gracious in all cases, and should create directories, as necessary (and however many levels are necessary) in order to accomodate the user's stated preferences with respect to mount points of partitions that are being created. >However, if you create /var/ftp/private and then edit the entry >in /etc/fstab for that partition, things should work as inteded. Too tedious. (As I get older, and closer to death, I am more inclined to use GUIs rather than command line tools. It's not that I'm lazy. It's that I'm in a hurry.) >> Did I do something wrong, or is the install-time ``manual'' partitioning >> tool actually limiting the number of pathname components for the mount >> points to just two? >... >> If so, isn't that a bit... um... arbitrary? > >At least an error message should have been issued. A "silent >fallback" which "guesses" what the user might have wanted usually >is not a good idea I can only agree. Regards, rfg