16 Apr
2018
16 Apr
'18
7:09 p.m.
On Monday 16 April 2018 07:49:12 Kate Draven wrote:
That is more or less how I do it, except that root and swap are switched. Do
you think a smaller swap is better and faster?
And I have never overwritten a home partition since 2006, when I abandoned the
rotten Apple and Windoze for good, and moved to Linux. Since then, I have
only copied my home partition to an external backup, then recopied it back to
new hard drives when I create new systems. I have been using essentially the
same home partition and desktop appearance (with improvements, of course)
ever since. I discovered KDE3 when using PCLinux, then changed to Kubuntu,
and now at last run TDE with Debian Jessie, and it always looks basically the
same. This is useful, because I know where to find everything (meaning, my
shortcuts, and paths to various places). I don't like having to reinvent the
wheel every time I get or build a new computer.
>
http://www.linuxbase.org/betaspecs/fhs/fhs/index.html
>
> "/opt is reserved for the installation of add-on application software
> packages.
> A package to be installed in /opt must locate its static files in a
> separate /opt/<package> or /opt/<provider> directory tree, where
> <package> is a name that describes the software package and <provider>
is
> the provider's LANANA registered name."
>
> "/usr/lib includes object files and libraries. On some systems, it may
> also include internal binaries that are not intended to be executed
> directly by users or shell scripts.
> Applications may use a single subdirectory under /usr/lib. If an
> application uses a subdirectory, all architecture-dependent data
> exclusively used by the application must be placed within that
> subdirectory."
>
> As for partitioning your drive, I don't do separate partitions for /etc
> /opt /home. It has been decades since I even heard of anyone recommending
> doing that.
>
> -LTH
Yeah, this guy was a true O.G. (Original Geek), ex-MIT, etc. He still compiles
everything from source, and can remember when hackers hacked abandoned
buildings instead of computers.
On Sat, Mar 24, 2018 at 11:18 AM, William Morder
<doctor_contendo(a)zoho.com>
wrote:
> Okay, so new thread!
>
> As I was repartitioning my hard drive, I was trying to find out the
> lowdown on
> this /opt folder. This is a new thing since I have started running
> Trinity; I
> never noticed it before when running Kubuntu. Only after I started
> running the Trinity desktop, that is when I noticed the installation to
> /opt; and only then I noticed that other programs were installing in
> that folder.
>
> A friend told me that he creates separate partitions for both /opt and
> /etc;
> and then, too, I noticed that the new Icecat browser does something
> even weirder, which is to install in /usr/lib/icecat, rather than (like
> other Mozilla browsers) in /home/<USER>/.mozilla/.
>
> My question is really more or less the same for all these items. I want
> to be
> able, once I have configured them as I wish, just to clone that
> directory, so
> that I don't have to keep reinventing the wheel, over and over again.
>
> When I tried to research the /opt folder, I didn't find out much. If I
> create
> a separate partition, will I be able to leave it untouched like my home
> folder? Will Trinity (and other programs) automatically be installed
there?
> I suppose could just back it up regularly,
then overwrite it once I
> have reinstalled, but I would like to treat it like my /home/<USER>/
> folder,
and
> leave it intact.
>
> The same with Icecat: it seems to run better than Firefox/Iceweasel,
> but
to
> install everything in /usr/lib/icecat seems
very irregular. Is there
> some way
> to get it to install elsewhere? for example, in /opt?
>
> Bill
I do recommend using separate partitions for home. The advantage is, if you
need to reinstall the os. You need only reformat / (root). /home is left
untouched. If you have a computer with a small amount of ram and/or slower
CPU, I recommended a swap partition of no more than 2 gigs.
Example:
swap (sda1)
/ (root sda2)
/home (sda3)
There have been occasions when it became necessary to
reinstall the OS (Ex.
crackmonkey decided to make "room" by logging in a root and deleting
stuff). Having the sep /home saved all of the user data and settings etc.
My setup I actually have sep hard drives for things
like /home /media /software etc.
However, if this is a test machine, I wouldn't bother. No point to it.
Kate
I don't have a test machine at the moment. I have, let's say, a laptop for
backup, and for working remotely; and for whenever I mess up something on my
desktop, but need to do something right now.
My interest here is to create a system that I can just clone, and keep
cloning, and backup to a flash drive.
I also have a working version of my system, partitioned more or less as
described above, which I installed to a 64 gb flash drive; I can boot any
compatible computer, and just use the hardware, but work from my own system.
My aim is to have my complete system fit into my pocket, and to be able to
carry external hard drives in a bag. Then if I ever get stuck somewhere
without even a laptop, I can (with permission) use another computer, and boot
into my own system.
Where I live, in SF, there is always the vague fear of some disaster, like a
fire, or earthquake or tsunami, or my desktop/laptop may get stolen. So this
is my backup plan; not just for emergencies or disasters, but also to make
system restores quick and easy.
This is why my original question (at the top of this thread, if you've read
all the way to this point) about how to partition my system in order to
achieve this goal. At present I backup /etc and parts of /opt, so that I can
just copy them from an external drive, rather than having to reconfigure my
settings and preferences. (I do some kinky stuff like customizing my hosts
file, disabling ipv6, etc.) I can restore my settings from a backup file, but
all of this takes time.
There used to be a program for backing up an entire working system and
creating an installation DVD from it. (I think it was called mondo, but I
can't find it any more.) Does anybody know if there is a similar program, or
what might be a good plan? Maybe rolling upgrades, and backing up my system
to that flash drive?
Thanks for your time and suggestions.
Bill
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