Re: /etc /usr/etc: solution?
On Fri, 4 Jul 1997, Lalo Martins wrote:
> Hrm. I forgot to follow this thread after I contributed :-) But _please_
> don't CC me, I don't want to waste bandwidth getting two copies of each
> reply! (I pay for my local phone calls)
Ok.
> On Jul 3, Boris D. Beletsky wrote
> > >>>>>>>> On Thu, 3 Jul 1997, Vadim wrote:
> >
> > Vadim>
> > Vadim> On Wed, 2 Jul 1997, Lalo Martins wrote:
> > Vadim> > 3.Have the config files in /usr/etc, search _only_ in /etc,
> > Vadim> > make symlinks. This is what FSSTND proposes. This also lets
> > Vadim> > us put the real files in /usr/share/etc or /usr/local/etc;
> > Vadim> > symlinks are easy. And dpkg can handle this, I believe.
> > Vadim>
> > Vadim> Again: don't touch /etc. You may have hundreds of
> > Vadim> workstations, so do you want to put the symlinks in /etc on
> > Vadim> each workstation manually? Or how? I want to use the program
> > Vadim> immediately after I install it, from each workstation. Must I
> > Vadim> repeat it once again? LOOK AT OTHER UNICES!
>
> I use Linux because I believe it's *way* superior to other unices. And one
> of the things that make this superiority is FSSTND - I know where to find
> files.
Yes, I agree, Linux is way superior to others, Debian is too. But
there are problems, see this:
> > I think Vadik is 100% right here, debian is absolutely unusable when
> > it comes to large networks with /usr shared.
>
> I see a quite radical, but probably working sollution here; have a
> completely different setup for non-/usr workstations.
Maybe it is quote radical, but basically, other Unices (like BSDI with
installation of which I worked a lot not much time ago) is *way*, I
repeat, *WAY* superior to Debian in this.
And about the solution: maybe the solution is the one proposed in this
thread, which basically says, make a workstation bootdisk which will
configure hard disks and basic networking and just copy the root
partition from NFS server. Nice solution, I think.
> Yes I will get flamed for this. But look. _If_ you want to add something
> that works in /bin /sbin you already _will_ have to go on each workstation
> right? So we could set up something special here.
>
> A non-/usr workstation could be set up by default with anything we expect to
> find in /bin /sbin and have some stuff (can't remember an exemple now)
> configured different. It could also apply the patch you guys proposed
> (likely in the kernel or libc [non-usr-libcxxx???]) so that:
Not libc, but a patch to almost all the programs.
> - if a program looks for a file in /etc
> - and it does not exist
> - and /usr is already mounted
> - and file exists in /usr/etc
>
> it works like a "transparent" symlink.
Ok, now I'll say the second point of having things in /usr: we must
keep the root partition as small and static as possible. I mean, less
files, less changes.
> Also I don't know if Debian's "/etc/init.d" and "/etc/rc*" policies would
> work for non-/usr workstations on boot.
Why would /etc/init.d and /etc/rc* policies matter?
> Just an idea... probably most packages used here wouldn't need modification,
> but what goes is a different _set_ of packages.
Why?
> Oh yes... /var/lib/dpkg would also be a problem ;-)
Well, if we have the `see above` solution for workstation, then this
directory will only exist at the fileserver. No problem.
Vadik.
--
Vadim Vygonets * vadik@cs.huji.ac.il * vadik@debian.org * Unix admin
The fish doesn't think, because the fish knows... everything.
-- Arizona Dream
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