Simon Hosie <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:

> On Tue, May 27, 2003 at 09:50:32PM +0200, Per Olofsson wrote:
>> And /bin, /sbin, /lib etc. could also be on different partitions. But
>> why have /usr? Why separate some "important" binaries and the rest? Is
>> there a real reason?
>
> You can't put /sbin on a different partition because that's where init
> lives, and without init you can't actually start the userspace aspect of
> the operating system and so you can't mount other partitions.  You can't
> put /bin on a different partition because that's where sh lives, and
> without sh you'll have a lot of trouble running your startup scripts,
> and without running your startup scripts you can't mount other
> partitions.  You can't put /lib on a different partition if mount or
> init or anything else if your startup procedure is a dynamic executable
> (on OBSD they're not dynamic, and there is no /lib); and, under Linux,
> you may need access to your kernel modules before you can reach all your
> required filesystems.

You can use initrd, I think.

/Pelle

> That's why critical binaries are separated from the rest.  Specifically
> to be on the ROOT filesystem.  Not just to be conveniently isolated from
> the rest of the world.
>
> Don't forget that at boot time / is usually read-only.  You have the
> option of keeping it that way by filling out /etc/fstab appropriately.
> I used to do that under Debian, and had no trouble.  I can't be bothered
> testing it under OpenBSD.  I also have a NetBSD setup at work where
> everything is read-only except for a ramdisk /var, and that behaves
> itself too.

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