softupdates, adding space to partitions, etc

[Comrade Burnout]

   Jerry McAllister wrote:

I just noticed that I didn't create *quite* enough space in my /var 
partition for accepting somewhat larger email attachments/ messages.

i thought softupdates was the way to go, but on reading the handbook 
online, that's not quite what i thought it was ....

is there any way with 5.2.1 to move around disc space between partitions 
"on the fly" ?
    

Well, mostly no, but if you happen to have left some unused space
contiguous to the partition you have mounted as /var, then
you can try using growfs(8)
  

   i don't think i left any unused space sitting around, so it doesn't
   look like growfs is going to be an option.

But, really, you should either move some stuff from /var, such 
as /var/spool in to some larger space and make a symlink to it
or just start over with partition sizes rethought out according 
to your more recent experience of your usage patterns.
  

   not an option right now.  i didn't think my partitions through all the
   way .... /var is the only problem one.

If you have some large partition sitting there with lots of space,
it is easy to move some stuf in to it and make the links.  I commonly
move /var/spool and /var/log somewhere else because they are the
most likely to grow uncontrollably or unexpectedly.  I usually 
make reasonable sized partitions for /, /tmp, /usr and /var and
then one big one to hold all the stuff whose size can't be easily
guessed (which I usually call either home or work).
  

   i'm more than familiar with doing it the 'traditional' way -- creating
   a new dir, say /opt/sysmail/mail and symlinking it to /var/spool/mail.
   i was hoping there was another way to do it.