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Re: partitioning for dual-linux..



Digby Tarvin wrote:
> I have just about sorted out Debian on my laptop to the point where I
> am ready to do a final permanent install, so I now need to decide on
> a good final partitioning scheme.
> 
> I want to be able to run two unix/linux systems side by side, so I want to
> keep shareable partitions (such as home, swap and tmp) separate from
> distribution specific ones (root and usr). The parallel operating system
> provision means I can evaluate other distributions, as well as upgrade
> to new releases while keeping the previous one available for a while.
> 
> I also plan to keep the bundled operating system in case it ever needs
> service and to test new hardware before trying to get Linux driver working.
> 
> My traditional partitioning scheme is to have /var for all changing system
> data and /home for changing user data, and ideally these are the only
> partitions mounted r/w - which means these are the only partitions that
> need regular backup. They can also usually be mounted nosuid and nodev
> to improve security. /usr is fairly static and mounted read-only. The
> root filesystem is small and changes infrequently so gets backed up in
> full but less often.
> 
> This is my initial though on the partitioning of the 60GB drive on my
> Debian laptop:
>       XP         -10.00GB
>       boot       - 0.10GB ??
>   sys 1
>       root       - 0.15GB
>       usr        - 2.00GB
>       var        - 2.00GB
>   sys 2
>       root       - 0.15GB
>       usr        - 2.00GB
>       var        - 2.00GB
>   shared
>       swap       - 1.00GB
>       tmp - ramfs?
>       home       -10.00GB
>       home2      -10.00GB
>       local      -20.00GB
> 
> With this scheme I am only losing 3-5GB in order to have the parallel
> distribution installed, if I am estimating the size requirements
> correctly.
> 
> I'm not sure if I should have a separate /tmp filesystem, or perhaps
> should just add the space to swap and use a ramfs for tmp.
> 
> I'm also not really decided if I should use a separate /boot partition
> with both sets of kernels in it, or just use /boot directories in the
> two root filesystems. The latter implies that one of the root filesystems
> becomes special in that it will be the one pointed to by the master
> boot record.
> 
> Any thoughts or suggestions?
> 
> Regards,
> DigbyT

Why bother with two side-by-side installs?  Just use Xen and then you
can run multiple Linux (or BSD) domU's.  Of course, you will still need
a separate partition for windows.

-Roberto

-- 
Roberto C. Sanchez
http://familiasanchez.net/~roberto

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