On Wed, Mar 19, 2003 at 11:40:47PM -0500, Theodore Ts'o wrote: > > Since you'd be adding to the /etc written stuff do you have any comment > > on the thread that was on here recently about moving things which are > > written to out of /etc and into somewhere else (such as /run)? > I think /run is stupid. People who think that /etc should only be > config files are being just way too anal. Yeah, the FHS didn't > specify that there were certain writeable files which were necessary > during the boot process before /usr and /var is mounted. However, the > FHS also does specifically calls out the following writeable files as > being in /etc: adjtime, mtab. > I ask you: what specific problem does creating a new top level > directory solve, The problem of being able to set up machines with read-only root filesystems without undue pain, and without causing corresponding pain for users of diskless systems. The problem of implementing a filesystem layout suitable for the Universal Operating System. > /run and /etc have to be on the root partition, and the files need to > be persistent, so it can't be a memory based filesystem. No, the files it's been suggested that /run be used for do not require that it be on the root partition; it just needs to be writable, and mounted early. It also does not need to be persistent. If this new file is expected to be a persistent cache, it doesn't sound like it fits within the parameters of the hypothetical /run. > Why do we really want to separate configuration files such as > /etc/fstab from files like /etc/mtab? Being gratuitously different > from other Unix systems just to satisfy some abstract principle that > /etc "should be configuratoin files only" is just an idiotic idea. Then perhaps the FHS itself should be thrown out as an idiotic idea, given that it codifies a system layout that differs in many aspects from traditional Unices. It's also traditional to carry binary executables around in /etc, but we seem to be doing just fine without that bit of conformity. I don't see any reason this couldn't eventually be extended to move /etc/mtab elsewhere -- after a suitable transition period. The abstract principle of grouping like files according to their functions and storage needs is a useful one that takes a lot of the guesswork out of laying out a system. That said, it seems like this proposed cache fits in /etc as well as it fits anywhere else, currently. -- Steve Langasek postmodern programmer
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