Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watnot!watmath!clyde!rutgers!brl-adm!adm!rbj@icst-cmr.arpa From: rbj@icst-cmr.arpa Newsgroups: comp.unix.wizards Subject: File System Kudzu Message-ID: <4888@brl-adm.ARPA> Date: Wed, 11-Mar-87 10:25:40 EST Article-I.D.: brl-adm.4888 Posted: Wed Mar 11 10:25:40 1987 Date-Received: Thu, 12-Mar-87 23:31:51 EST Sender: news@brl-adm.ARPA Lines: 52 ? Call it file-system-kudzu. ? ? So, I began to write this shell-script which I hope to pass on to my ? staff which just goes running around checking out whether things seem ? ok with the file system, like is /tmp writeable? are the disks full? ? are various things that probably should be setuid and/or setgid ? actually set that way? ? ? THERE'S A ZILLION GILLION FILES OUT THERE THAT ALL HAVE TO BE SOMEWHAT ? RIGHT TO ALLOW THE SYSTEM TO WORK EVEN SORT OF PROPERLY! ? ? Ok, let's forget executable binaries as in /usr/bin, that's probably ? unavoidable, but all those little 'data base' files (/etc/passwd, ? /usr/lib/uucp/L.sys, /etc/syslog.conf, /mdec, etc etc., the tape reels!) ? ? This is serious, just try to list the critical little files on a piece ? of paper (it'll take several.) ? ? Any thoughts? Or am I the only one who thinks there is a problem? ? I think this is begging for some fundamental thinking. If you are, there is something wrong. I have often bemoaned the fact that /etc contains three different types of files: programs, configuration data (passwd, fstab) and log files (utmp). /usr and /usr/lib are overloaded with random stuff. In fact, /usr is really a misnomer since most users usually live on a different file system. What we really need is a rethinking of where things go and why. Sun has partially done this by making /usr essentially read-only, with symbolic links to /private for writeable (and config?) files. But they have only solved the problem halfway, keeping the basic organization (maybe it is good that they didn't unilaterally redefine everything!). I once did the same thing with my system, using symbolic links to relocate writable files elsewhere, and then mounting /usr read only. It would even be nice to be able to physically mount the entire system disk read only and then throw the write protect switch. Some people have done this, but you must require two disks and swap on the second. We need to have a basic reorganization: all log files go in /log, all daemons go in /daemon, all config files go in /conf. And are we to minimize the root system, or fold /usr in as well? My system packs are rm03's or equivalent (67M) with the last 33440 sectors in the B partition and the rest as the A partition, containing both root & usr. I would like the POSIX committee (or somebody equivalent) to address this issue, altho I admit it is premature at this stage. First we have to define what unix is before we redefine it. ? -Barry Shein, Boston University (Root Boy) Jim "Just Say Yes" Cottrell Why did Paul Simon name his album after Elvis Presley's house?