One or Four?

[Da Rock]

On 02/18/12 11:17, David Brodbeck wrote:
> On Fri, Feb 17, 2012 at 3:49 PM, Chris Hill<chris at monochrome.org>  wrote:
>>> Why not add a selection to the installer, something like
>>> this:
>>>
>>>         Partition scheme
>>>         ----------------
>>>
>>>         [ ] all in one + swap
>>>             Create one partition containing all subtrees
>>>             plus one swap partition.
>>>
>>>         [ ] separate partitioning + swap
>>>             Create /, /var, /tmp and /usr (including home)
>>>             partitions plus one swap partition.
>>>
>>>         [ ] user-defined
>>>             Make your own partitioning selection manually.
>>>
>>> Of course, the default SIZES for second choice should be
>>> reasonable.
>>
>> I like it. This, or something very similar, seems to me like the best way to
>> go.
>>
>> I am not a professional sysadmin, but have been using FreeBSD since 2.2.6.
>> FWIW, I prefer the multi-partition approach for all the reasons already
>> mentioned.
> I used to...I found it tended to result in more administration load
> later, though, because the automated installer's (or my own!) guesses
> for partition size are rarely entirely adequate.  Then you end up
> slapping in another disk, backing up and repartitioning, or
> maintaining a symlink farm...
>
> The default 512 MB root partition was always a particular pain point.
> It's completely inadequate if you ever try to build a custom kernel
> and want the option of falling back to the old one.  It makes
> distribution upgrades nearly impossible.
This has been fixed for some time now. The default for / (specifically 
to fit 2 kernels and some) is now 1G. /var is now 4G.
>
> Nowadays I tend to either use one big root or just root and home for
> desktops.  (having a separate home directory *is* nice for upgrades,
> sometimes, but again you gotta guess right...)  For servers I will
> additionally split off /var, to limit the damage if logging runs amok.