To: Eric Fischer <eric@fudge.uchicago.edu>
Cc: rdkeys@seedlab1.cropsci.ncsu.edu, pups@minnie.cs.adfa.oz.au
Subject: Re: Looking for rationale of fs naming conventions (more????)
References: <199809011856.OAA15872@seedlab1.cropsci.ncsu.edu> <199809011945.OAA16702@fudge.uchicago.edu>
From: Tom Ivar Helbekkmo <tih@Hamartun.Priv.NO>
Date: 02 Sep 1998 22:14:56 +0200
In-Reply-To: Eric Fischer's message of "Tue, 1 Sep 1998 14:45:53 -0500 (CDT)"
Message-ID: <8690k2z2yn.fsf@barsoom.Hamartun.Priv.NO>
Lines: 19
Sender: owner-pups@minnie.cs.adfa.oz.au
Precedence: bulk

Eric Fischer <eric@fudge.uchicago.edu> writes:

> There's no urgent need for it if you don't mind having it as part of
> root or /usr.  On some systems it's nice to have /var on a separate
> partition so that large mail spools or log files that fill up the
> /var partition won't also break root or /usr, [...]

Another good reason to keep /var (and, for that matter, /tmp) off the
root partition is to keep that file system mostly quiescent.  You
really don't want more writing activity than is absolutely necessary
on the file system you have to have intact to even get to single user
to run 'fsck', 'restore' and friends.

On some systems, having the root file system mounted read-only during
normal operation would be a nice security improvement.

-tih
-- 
Popularity is the hallmark of mediocrity.  --Niles Crane, "Frasier"