Re: /etc/fstab question (problem)?
On Wed 19 Apr 2023 at 16:06:57 (-0400), Default User wrote:
> Anyway, here is where I am at:
>
> I have two Clonezilla backups.
> 1) a full disk backup.
> 2) a "partitions" backup.
> So, if things really go bad, I can theoretically revert to the setup as
> of 2023-04-18, when this thread was started.
>
> I also have a backup of the current /tmp directory (from under the /
> directory).
> And I have a backup of the old tmp partition.
>
> Both of these tmp backups were made using a Debian Stable 11.6
> Live/install usb thumb drive, as root user.
>
> All of these backups are on an external usb hdd.
>
> Here is what was in the (root) tmp directory:
>
> _root_partition/tmp
> total 32K
> 88473604 drwxr-xr-t 8 [user] [user] 4.0K Apr 19 14:18 ./
> 88473602 drwxr-xr-x 3 [user] [user] 4.0K Apr 19 14:18 ../
> 88473608 drwxr-xr-t 2 [user] [user] 4.0K Apr 19 14:18 .font-unix/
> 88473606 drwxr-xr-t 2 [user] [user] 4.0K Apr 19 14:18 .ICE-unix/
> 88473609 drwxr-xr-t 2 [user] [user] 4.0K Apr 19 14:18 .Test-unix/
> 88473610 drwx------ 2 [user] [user] 4.0K Apr 19 14:18 tracker-extract-
> files.116/
> 88473605 drwxr-xr-t 2 [user] [user] 4.0K Apr 19 14:18 .X11-unix/
> 88473607 drwxr-xr-t 2 [user] [user] 4.0K Apr 19 14:18 .XIM-unix/
>
> And here is what was in the old tmp partition:
>
> total 48K
> 88473611 drwxr-xr-t 10 root root 4.0K Apr 19 14:20 ./
> 88473603 drwxr-xr-x 3 [user] [user] 4.0K Apr 19 14:20 ../
> 88473618 drwxr-xr-t 2 root root 4.0K Apr 19 14:20 .font-unix/
> 88473615 drwxr-xr-t 2 root root 4.0K Apr 19 14:20 .ICE-unix/
> 88473620 drwx------ 2 root root 4.0K Apr 19 14:20 lost+found/
> 88473619 drwxr-xr-t 2 root root 4.0K Apr 19 14:20 .Test-unix/
> 88473624 drwx------ 2 root root 4.0K Apr 19 14:20 tracker-
> extract-files.1000/
> 88473623 drwx------ 2 root root 4.0K Apr 19 14:20 tracker-
> extract-files.116/
> 88473621 -r--r--r-- 1 root root 11 Apr 19 14:20 .X1024-lock
> 88473622 -r--r--r-- 1 root root 11 Apr 19 14:20 .X1025-lock
> 88473612 drwxr-xr-t 2 root root 4.0K Apr 19 14:20 .X11-unix/
> 88473617 drwxr-xr-t 2 root root 4.0K Apr 19 14:20 .XIM-unix/
>
> As far as I can tell, there is nothing crucial in either tmp backup.
>
> BTW, I know nothing about bind or mount --bind. I looked them up
> briefly, and decided that they are too difficult and maybe dangerous to
> try to learn and use under the current circumstances.
>
> So here is what I am thinking of doing:
>
> While running from within the Debian Stable 11.6 Live/install usb thumb
> drive, as root user:
>
> 1) On the computer's internal ssd, delete the /tmp directory and its
> contents.
>
> 2) On the computer's internal ssd, delete the contents of the old tmp
> partition, but not the partition itself.
>
> 3) On the computer's internal ssd, replace /etc/fstab with
> /etc/fstab.original, renaming it /etc/fstab. I have already made a copy
> of the current /etc/fstab as /etc/fstab.as-of-2023-04-19.
>
> The UUIDs of all partitions on computer's internal ssd seem to be the
> same as in /etc/fstab.original.
>
> (Note: in /etc/fstab.original, it states "Please run 'systemctl daemon-
> reload' after making changes here." Since I am doing all this from a
> live usb, I do not think that applies, so I would skip that.)
>
> Then I would shut down, remove the usb thumb drive, and boot into the
> Debian system on the computer's internal ssd.
>
> I hope that from then on, the system would mount the old tmp partition
> on the computer's internal ssd as /tmp, re-populating it automatically,
> and use it as such from then on.
>
> Does that seem reasonable?
>
> Or am I missing something, obvious or not.
I see nothing unreasonable. The only oddity to me is that the listings
you give (which are from the backups, I assume) have today's date,
which means that the backup method is not preserving the file metadata.
(If you've not used partition 5 for a while, the dates should be old.)
It doesn't affect what you're doing now, as all the originals are
heading into oblivion, but I'd be reading the backup spec sometime
to see if I could improve that.
Cheers,
David.
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