Re: deprecating /usr as a standalone filesystem?

[Goswin von Brederlow <goswin-v-b@web.de>]

Manoj Srivastava <srivasta@debian.org> writes:

> On Tue, May 12 2009, Goswin von Brederlow wrote:
>
>
>>>  I don't know if there are more blocker. Oh, and /root is a home
>>>  directory; unless we move that,  a read only / would affect root
>>>  negatively.
>>
>> How so? Only thing I can think of is the bash history. But it is not
>> like we force a read-only /. That is a choice.
>
>         it is the principle of the thing. /root is the home directory
>  for the  root user.  Home directories are mutable, programs may store
>  configuration files there, as may the user, by themselves. The root
>  user should not be more constrained than other users on the machine are;
>  making wirking as root irritating, less customizable, and harder does
>  not help the end user admin any.
>
>         Ideally, we should map /root somewhere persistent, writable, and
>  also a location available in single user mode; and there are few
>  pleasing solutions that meet that criteria; though less than perfect
>  solutions exist.
>
>         manoj

You can always (bind) mount something on /root. If you want read-only
/ but can't live with read-only /root then that is the way to
go. Alternatively you can change roots hoomedir or create a toor user
with id 0 and /home/toor or something.

I for my part don't work as root making use of sudo where
required. Never felt a great need to use /root.

MfG
        Goswin