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Date:      Sat, 31 May 1997 19:10:03 +0300 (IDT)
From:      Nadav Eiron <nadav@barcode.co.il>
To:        Sinuralan <sin@cowz.lumiere-cc.com>
Cc:        freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject:   Re: single filesystem?
Message-ID:  <Pine.BSF.3.91.970531190520.28293D-100000@gatekeeper.barcode.co.il>
In-Reply-To: <Pine.BSF.3.96.970531010608.17249A-100000@cowz.lumiere-cc.com>

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On Sat, 31 May 1997, Sinuralan wrote:

> 
> Heya,
> 
> I was wondering if it was necessary to have three file systems (/, /usr,
> /var), which seems to be the default. It seems like it'd be much more
> convenient to have them all in one filesystem, and not have to worry about
> logfiles/mail/tmp killing the /var section, or any similar occurances.
> 
> Since the three filesystems are the default, I assume there are some good
> reasons to keep it that way. What are some of these reasons? And if I
> wanted, is it possible to use 1, and if so, how?

You can use just one, I usually use more than 3...

The main reason for the separation is that each of these file systems 
have a different use, and a different pattern of accesses. Namely, the 
root partition "/" is required to boot the machine. If it is too much 
messed up you'll have to boot from a floppy to fix it, and even then it 
might not work. For this reason, it is usually set up to contain just the 
minimal bits that are required to boot up a system and to mount the other 
paritions, as well as some tools for fixing the other paritions if 
they're broken. This way, the root filesystem almost *never* gets written 
to, and so has a very slim chance of being inconsistent if the system 
suddenly crash. For this reason it is also important to put /tmp on 
something other than the root filesystem (either by using a seprate 
filesystem for it, or symlinking it to another file system).

/var, on the other hand, is meant for things that are written to a lot, 
and seldomly read (like log files). /usr is intended for the general stuff.

You can partition the disk in whatever way you see fit. Also remember 
that for most purposes you can use symlinks across filesystems to move 
specific directories to a different file system.

> 
> On another note, are there any known incompatibilities between the Triton
> III motherboard (Intel i430VX PCIset Chipset) and FreeBSD? I didn't seen
> an entry for the Triton III in the FreeBSD handbook.

Don't know.

> 
> Thanks.
> 
> ---
> Sin <sin@cowz.lumiere-cc.com>
> Cowz: http://cowz.lumiere-cc.com/
> 
> 
You're welcome,
Nadav



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