> "David J. Kanter" wrote: > > > > I'd like to make a new partition for /var because I don't have enough drive > > space where /var is currently mounted (/) to run apt-get dist-upgrade. > > What's the best way of doing this? I can create a new /var partition becaus e > > I've got plenty of available drive space, but what set-up files will I have > > to modify to make sure things go smoothly? > > > > I assume I'll have to change fstab. But then do I have to move all contents > > of the current /var to the new /var? Could I create the new partition using > > a temporary name, move all the /var stuff to it, then rename it to /var? > > Thats what I would suggest. > Stop everything you can, copy the contents and do the final swapover in one > line, just in case > # mv /var /old_var ; mv /new_var /var
NO, NO, NO, NO, NO!!!! Do *NOT* use "mv". This will change the ownership and protection rights of the contents. This will most certainly break something. Instead, use "cp -a" to preserve everything. 1. Log in as "root" 2. Go to run level 1 (kills networking). Also kill all user processes. init 1 3. Add the following to your /etc/fstab /dev/??? /var ext2 defaults 1 2 (The ??? is the partition of your new /var) 4. Change the name of your old /var directory and make a new empty one. mv /var /oldvar mkdir /var chmod 755 /var 5. Mount your new var partition. mount /dev/??? /var 6. Now, use "cp -a" (or "cp -av" if you want to watch it) to copy your files, permissions and ownership to the new partition. cp -av /var/* /var If things don't work, you still have your old partition in pristine shape to go back to where you were. I wouldn't delete the old /var until I determined that everything works fine--maybe a week. The idea of just getting a bigger root partition is a bad idea. /var is a very, very good candidate for a separate partition.