Slackware File system layout

[Heeter]

Hi Guys,

I have a machine that I am dedicating to learning Slackware 10. In it is a 8.5gig HD. I would like some recommendations on how to slice it up, how many partitions and size of each. Also can I resize and add partitions later on or does Slackware need to be reinstalled for this?

So far, from reading I have come up with these slices:

/bin Basic user-related programs are here. Command shells and programs such as ls.
/boot LILO boot-related files
/dev Block and character device files.
/etc Configuration and system initialization files.
/home User home directories, except root.
/lib Essential libraries (like the system C library) and kernel modules).
/mnt Generic mountpoint for fixing filesystems.
/opt Optional software packages. Slackware installs KDE to this location.
/proc Proc filesystem mountpoint for kernel interaction.
/root Root's home directory.
/sbin System binaries. Programs run by root or at boot time.
/tmp Temporary directory. Everyone has read+write permissions here.
/usr User-related programs such as X11, netscape, and pine.
/var System log files, lock files, mail spools, and printer spools.
/cdrom I will mount my CDRom drive in here

I don't plan on installing a floppy drive, so I will not create a slice for it.


Should I buy the Slackware book of thier site? I am pretty sure that the cash would go to supporting the Slackware creators.

Thanks in advance.

Heeter

 

[Glaanieboy]

I think you should buy a book. When you buggered something up, I find it handier to have a book ready, rather than looking on the web. I did the same for FreeBSD (well, not really, I printed it at work ).

 

[Glaanieboy]

Oh and the filesystems, I can't recommend anything (I am a n00b), but you might get some ideas by looking at my filesystem layout, though it's for FreeBSD rather than Slackware:

Filesystem    Size   Used  Avail Capacity  Mounted on
/dev/ad0s1a   3.9G    87M   3.5G     2%    /
devfs         1.0K   1.0K     0B   100%    /dev
/dev/ad0s1e   1.1G    18K  1023M     0%    /tmp
/dev/ad0s1d    13G   3.7G   7.8G    32%    /usr

 

[Heeter]

Thanks Glaanieboy,

I did realize that FreeBSD, when I tried it, had way less slices than this Slackware.
But I am still wondering what sizes that I should break my 8.5 gig up for.


Heeter

 

[X-Istence]

Just a /

For any basic system you would normally need:

/ <contains boot and everything under linux, at least 5 GB, go BSD for better layout>
/home <Home directories>

The slices you came up is everything that can end up in /, but since /cdrom is just an empty folder, there is no point in creating an extra slice for it.

Check out FreeBSD, and use it's auto feature to set up everything, it does it well, and makes it easy on you.

Dun know much about slackware.

But with that size of a HD, just a / like most linux users should suffice.

Swap = 1.5x size of ram
/ = rest of drive.

Failure to do so will probably create you not having enough space.

 

[j79zlr]

No, you don't need 200 different mount points. As X said, just a root / and a swap partition. You are making this way harder than it is. Read the Slackware Handbook.

 

[Steevo]

I always create a 5Mb boot partition
/Usr ir root is the drive - 2X RAM
/Swap is the rest


The 5Mb boot is only for older systems where the BIOS only looks on the first 5Mb for a bootable system. Or is it 4? /scratches head.

 

[X-Istence]

Huh, steevo what you are saying is incorrect, and would leave him without a usable system.

 

[Steevo]

/shrugs


works for me

 

[desie]

Crazy partitions there matey, you only need a couple, simple works best . I think I know what your on about Steevo .

 

[j79zlr]

/shrugs


works for me

Swap should be 2x's RAM not the /usr partition and you had described no root / partition.

 

[Steevo]

Sorry guys.


I meant
/boot 5Mb
/usr and root
/swap 2X of ram

Mt first FreeBSD layout was
10Gb disk
/boot5mb
/root 2Gb (nuff for both CD's and a little extra)
/usr 7Gb
/swap = the rest

The swap was a bit large but the computer only had 64Mb of RAM.

 

[X-Istence]

You still don't have a "/" which is the root of your device, /root is your roots home account.

Since you don't have a /, the system CANNOT exist. as how would it create mount points ./etc, /var, /cdrom, /mnt then?

 

[ruiner_066]

/dev/hda1 boot partition 16mb (grub/lilo/whatever goes here)
/dev/hda2 swap partition 2X RAM size
/dev/hda3 / rest of the drive (this is the system root, slackware will install all those directories you listed here)

optionally you can have a 4th partition for /home, this way if you need to reinstall you dont have to worry about backing up personal files. if you do this, then /home should be the biggest partition and / will vary depending on how much crap you're installing- 2 gigs should be good

 

[j79zlr]

/home should not be the biggest partition, most everything is installed into /usr, /home only holds user config files along with browser caches etc, you have it backwards, 2G would probably be enought for /home. If you truly wanted to partition everything for some reason:

/ <-- 128MB
/tmp <--128MB
/home <-- 2GB
/var <--makes sence on BSD to have this small, but Slack uses /var to store slack packs so this can be large, also some linux distros use this incorrectly, e.g. to store web server content /var/www etc, and Gentoo uses this for its package builds, so it would have to be large. In other words, don't make this a seperate partition.
/boot <-- Not really necessary at all.
/usr <-- rest of drive