Hi, On Mon, Dec 22, 2008 at 12:33 PM, Farran <fazzy.bab...@ntlworld.com> wrote: > hi everyone again > sorry this is awfully complicated, but stick at it if you can be bothered I > try to make sense of it at the end. >
I read it, but I'll skip to the end to reply :) > following my previous question about compiz, I realised the issue was with > space on my / partition - every time I tried to do something, it complained > (which was when I noticed). I had only set aside 15gb for the /, and I'm a > bit of a program whore so I managed to fill it up. So much so, that synaptic > could not start because there was not enough space to write an index of > installed packages! > The only option I could think of was to move data to another partition > (I have two more 15gb sections, originally set aside to play with other > OSes) and remount it in the correct place. Looking through the different > system folders, I discovered /var was almost the biggest, so moved that - by > setting up a /var2 and mounting another partiton to it. I moved everything > over, and remounted it over /var. The only issue was that none of the socket > files would move. I figured I could move them over later on. I also felt > comfortable with it because when the moved files were in the wrong place, an > error popped up (about dpkg). When I remounted it, the error vanished, so I > presumed it was ok. I edited /etc/fstab to mount /dev/sda6 to /var2 (not > /var which was silly). Another weird thing - every time I removed anything > through synaptic - however big or small - no space was ever freed up. I > transferred 6.2gb of /var to the other partition, and there's only 5.4gb > space left on /. > After rebooting, it worked fine, but I wasn't happy with it being spread > around, so I looked through synaptic to try and remove stuff so I could put > /var back on the same partition as the rest of it. [Also playing around with > xorg.conf, I ran the reconfigure command it gave me in the file (no manual > editing!). This might have some relation to the next bit cos it links to the > input devices.] But now it won't/can't start gdm or X because /var is all in > /var2. It needs xauthority from /var/lib/gdm. I tried to re-edit fstab with > vi, but I don't know how to use it and I have no help file - how do I save > it? But even when I mount sda6 to /var, gdm starts and logs on, but nothing > works apart from <control><alt>F1-F12 and Delete. And the mouse doesn't do > anything. > > Another option I was going to try is repartitioning - through another [live] > os. Delete a spare 15gb, move everything up and resize the / partition. But > I'm scared of accidentally formatting something or wiping something off, and > ending up with no boot flag. > > Err that probably made no sense, but if you can get anything out of that, my > main questions are: > 1 is repartitioning safe and preferable? It should never be considered safe, and never do it without backups. > 2 how do I use vi? My solution is to use nano ;) If you do ever find yourself stuck with vi though, you can save and exit with: <Esc>:wq > 3 what are the commands to move /var2 back to /var (I think I know but don't > want to make it worse) mv /var2 /var? Since I really don't know how you moved it initially, it's hard to say. Did you move it to another partition, or...? and did you copy it, or move it? > 4 would it be best to generate an install list from synaptic so I know what > I've got, and do a clean install with a larger partition? (and how would I > do this through aptitude command line - I have no gui at all now). dpkg -l > packages.txt However if dpkg is in a bad state, this may not work. > > I'm thinking number 4 would be easiest and better for my ubuntu - but I want > my pc working cos I'm just about to get internet in my room > If you have backups, and are really in a mess, a clean install isn't too far-fetched. It can take less time to do that than you'll spend fixing it. The catch is the going through the configuration and installation all over again. However I personally reinstall (at least) every 6 months anyway, and it doesn't really bother me (I enjoy it, even :) ) Matthew. -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
