Bug#914897: debootstrap, buster: Please disabled merged /usr by default
On Sun, 2018-12-02 at 21:04 +0100, Marc Haber wrote:
>
> The next debhelper change might choose to give / instead of /usr as a
> target directory by default, moving hundreds of megabytes from /usr to /
> over time.
This solution was proposed by GNU/Hurd several years ago, and was scrapped due
to not being big enough player in the *NIX world:
https://www.gnu.org/software/hurd/faq/slash_usr_symlink.html
The distinction between / and /usr has historical reasons. Back when Unix
systems were booted from two tapes, a small root tape and a big user tape.
Today, we like to use different partitions for these two spaces. The Hurd
throws this historical garbage away. We think that we have found a more
flexible solution called union filesystems, which allow to create virtual
filesystems which are the union of several other filesystems. However, support
for union filesystems is still in early development.
About unionfs:
Unionfs allows you to simply union one directory or translator
into another one, so you see the files of both of them side by side.
More here:
https://www.gnu.org/software/hurd/hurd/translator/unionfs.html
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