Date: Sat, 10 Oct 2009 19:43:25 -0700 (PDT) From: Richard Mahlerwein <mahlerrd@yahoo.com> To: FreeBSD-Questions <freebsd-questions@freebsd.org> Cc: RW <rwmaillists@googlemail.com> Subject: Re: / almost out of space just after installation Message-ID: <59022.94044.qm@web51005.mail.re2.yahoo.com>
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--- On Sat, 10/10/09, RW <rwmaillists@googlemail.com> wrote: >From: RW <rwmaillists@googlemail.com> >Subject: Re: / almost out of space just after installation >To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org >Date: Saturday, October 10, 2009, 8:43 PM > >On Sat, 10 Oct 2009 12:28:08 -0700 (PDT) >Richard Mahlerwein <mahlerrd@yahoo.com> wrote: > >> The only time I can >> really think I'd want /tmp to be in RAM is if I already had too much >> RAM for the needs of the box - otherwise, just give me the RAM... > >But it wouldn't actually be a ram disk, that's just just a misnomer >that people, who ought to know better, are throwing around. It >would probably be tmpfs. Correction (or at least correction to precision) noted.=A0 I'd still rather= use it as RAM the regular way.=A0 :) >> While I'm reasonably happy rolling my own FS sizes, I would be even >> happier if I didn't have to.=A0 As long as we're doing the wish list, >> I'd guess for this (all numbers significantly flexible): >>=20 >> Drive < 16 GB =3D keep current layout? >>=20 >> Drive > 16 and < 40 GB =3D=20 >> / =3D 1 GB >> swap =3D 1.5x RAM=20 >> /tmp =3D 2 GB >> /var =3D 2 GB >> /usr =3D remaining space > >2 GB each for /var and /tmp is far too high for such=A0 small disks, I >wouldn't want to squander 4GB like that much below a TB. It's a figure >that's hardly ever going to be "about right" either for /tmp or /var, >when it isn't far too big, it's likely to be too small. So, your opinion is that if 768 MB (or 512 MB, or 1G, whatever) isn't enoug= h, then it's likely that 2 GB also isn't enough?=A0 That those who need mor= e than the default /var and /tmp often (or usually) need a LOT more?=A0 Rea= sonable, and I am not sure I could disagree with that completely. =A0=20 I was approaching it from perhaps a slightly different tack, though.=A0 Wha= t I was thinking of was of defaults for people who will use the defaults.= =A0 Someone running=A0 a mail server is unlikely to use the defaults, and y= ou are completely correct that they'd need a lot more space in /var.=A0 But= , average Joe may just use it for fiddling around with.=A0 Maybe one day he= 'll start fiddling with MySQL or perhaps even trying to partially or comple= tely host his own email.=A0 I'd like him, with his 250 GB drive, to have en= ough space to at least play with that for a while without worrying overly m= uch about running out of room or having to move DB files or something. For that matter, I wonder if the solution for those sorts is to make a 'sim= ple' mode that does swap and one big partition for everything else?=A0=A0 O= r make 'auto' do that, and let everyone else use their own sizes? Thinking out loud here: What if 'auto' did one big /, and 'advanced' only l= aid in the partitions without sizes at all, then for each you'd have to jus= t tell it how big to make it.=A0 A special option would be on the /home one= , which would be to symlink it to /usr/home.=A0 Not that this would happen = any time soon - that code doesn't look to be easily convertable to somethig= n like this.=20 >> Drive > 40 GB =3D=20 >> / =3D 1 GB >> swap =3D 1.5x RAM=20 >> /tmp =3D 2 GB >> /var =3D 2 GB >> /usr =3D 1/2 of remaining space, min 20 GB, max 35 GB >> /home =3D everything else. > > >Having a home directory separate from /usr is often a good idea, but >making it part of the default install is a really bad idea IMO.=20 > >A desktop user with a largish disk may want=A0 98% of it >under /home, a server may need next to nothing under /home. The amount >needed for /usr also varies enormously. I had been assuming that someone setting up a server was unlikely to accept= the default 'a'uto sizes and would have rolled their own.=A0 Under the sch= eme I had above, the desktop user with a large disk - say 1 TB - would have= ended up with 1TB - (1 GB / + ~4 GB swap + 2 GB /var + 2 GB /tmp + 35 GB /= usr) =3D about 950 GB in /home.=A0 (Or, well, that'd be what, 870MB out of = 925MB or something?)=20 A server with that same drive would likely never have had the 'a' key press= ed inside disklabel.=20 >It's so hard to come-up with sensible values that the only sensible >thing to do is leave them on the same partition by default. It's not >exactly rocket science to add your own /home partition. I do agree to some extent.=A0 On the other hand, what's the 'a'uto key do n= ow?=A0 / seems a bit small, notice the OP's subject?=A0 I've never had this= problem, though...=20 Hmm.=A0 All food for thought.=A0=20 =0A=0A=0A
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