Re: copying root partition

[Bob Hilliard <hilliard@flinet.com>]

Rick Macdonald <Rick_Macdonald@calgary.shaw.wave.ca> writes:
> I assume that on the new root partition, you have to manually create the
> /proc directory (mount point) and from there the kernel will fill it
> with whatever is required? Or will the kernel even create /proc?

     I have always manually created /proc.  I don't think the kernel
would create that mount point.  There is no magic about the directory
name proc - it could be called anything as long as fstab mounts the
proc file system on it.  The kernel provides the virtual entries in
the proc file system wherever it is mounted.  There really isn't
anything under /proc - it is just a way to access kernel information.

     In the course of upgrade testing I regularly copy a file system
to my test partition with cp-ax.  After copying, it is important to
edit /etc/fstab _before_ trying to mount the new partition.  After
editing fstab, I do ls /, then ls /mnt (assuming the newly copied
system is mounted on /mnt), so both are visible for comparison, and
make or remove directories in /mnt as necessary.

     As Nathan E Norman <finn@midco.net> mentioned, this is almost a
religious matter.  There are several satisfactory methods using
find/tar/cpio that work well, and some very passionate advocates of
each method.  I prefer cp -ax because I don't have to look up a
command sequence.  I don't think any of the various methods have any
technical advantages over the others - it's just what you are used to
and happy with.

Bob
-- 
   _
  |_)  _  |_       Robert D. Hilliard    <hilliard@flinet.com>
  |_) (_) |_)      Palm City, FL  USA    PGP Key ID: A8E40EB9


--
To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-request@lists.debian.org
with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmaster@lists.debian.org