Re: correct way to move /usr to a new partition...

[William T Wilson <fluffy@snurgle.org>]

On Fri, 17 Sep 1999, rich wrote:

> I have decided that I need more room for my Slink system... my 1GB linux

Didn't we just do this one? :}

First go to single user mode.  It is probably not necessary but won't
hurt.

> 1. as root, cp -r -p /usr /linux2a

The correct sequence is:

cd /usr
tar cf - . | (cd /linux2a; tar xvf - )

cp gets things subtly wrong from time to time.  That includes sparse
files, device files and pipes, and hard links.  You probably won't
encounter any of these on /usr (although you might!).  But why do it wrong
when you can do it right?

> 2. change fstab to mount /dev/hdb1 as /usr (with options set to
> "defaults, errors=remount -ro" ???)

You should use the same mount options that you have for /usr currently.  I
see no reason why this process should generate filesystem errors.

> 3. rm /usr

This will not work.  You want 'umount /usr'.  You'll have to be in the /
directory to do that and you can't have any processes running that are
using any directory under /usr as their current directory, or which have
any files open on that partition.  You can use 'fuser' to determine which
processes are using the /usr partition.  In practice it may be simpler to
reboot at this point.

> 4. mount -a

ok.  That should work. :}