Re: /var/lib/dpkg on diskless linux
In article <[🔎] rebehn-990322101204.A01370@reno.comm.uni-bremen.de> you write:
>I operate a cluster of diskless linux PCs using debian hamm. It works quite
>well and i can say that debian causes the least problems with diskless machines
>(tried SuSe an Redhat too).
>However i was wondering about /var/lib/dpkg. Normally, in a diskless cluster,
>every client gets its own copy of /etc, /dev and /var, while /bin, /sbin, /lib
>and /usr are there only once.
>/var/lib/dpkg, however, which is NOT specifc for each client, occupies some
>10 to 20 MB of disk space. Also, if i install or upgrade packages on the server,
>the change is not reflected in the client's copy of /var/lib/dpkg.
>
>My questions:
> 1) Why is this stuff in /var? Shouldn't it rather go to /usr?
Interesting idea. Maybe files like /var/lib/dpkg/available should
remain, but files like /var/lib/dpkg/info should really be in /usr...
> 2) Can i replace /var/lib/dpkg on the clients with a link to the server's
> /var/lib/dpkg?
> 3) Is /var/lib/dpkg only used at install/upgrade time?
Yes.
With my diskless NFS-root Debian package I have designed, client
computers do not get any files under /var/lib/dpkg. While this
means that commands like "dpkg -l ..." do not work, dpkg has
minor (but irratating) problems working on NFS-Root systems anyway
(with /tmp being NFS mounted).
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