Re: What files in /etc must be writable?

[Adam Aube <aaube01@baker.edu>]

William Ballard wrote:

> Bootcd allows you to use the NOT_TO_RAM option to make files
> physically reside on the CD and only be symlinked into the Ram disk.

> I wrote a script which adds every file in /etc to NOT_TO_RAM, needing
> to conserve space in the Ram Disk.  The theory is if I need to change
> settings in the liveCD I'll copy the file to /root and update the
> symlink in Ram.

> However, the liveCD had errors during boot, because some files
> apparently have to be writeable during boot.  For example, I guess,
> /etc/mtab.  Does /etc/fstab have to be writeable?   What other files
> need to be writeable?

/etc/fstab does not need to be writeable. For finding those files that do,
after booting, look for all files in /etc modified in the last 10 minutes.

find /etc -mmin -10

According to the mount manpage, /etc/mtab can be linked to /proc/mounts, and
there is a -n flag to mount that makes it not update /etc/mtab. This might
solve the issue for /etc/mtab, though there are some known issues with
doing this (see the man page for details).

Adam