Re: Repositioning /var | /tmp to avoid disk full condition

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Date: Sat, 31 May 2003 17:00:55 -0400
To: FreeBSD Users <questions@freebsd.org>

On Sat, May 31, 2003 at 11:58:23AM -0700, Joseph Maxwell wrote:
> Hello,
> The 3rd edition of "The Complete FreeBSD" suggest repositioning the /var
> directory ( and even /tmp) to prevent filling up that partition. I
> ignored it and did just that today, filled it up. So I attempted the
> repositioning with the following recommended command steps and results:
>
> cd /var
> tar cf - . | (cd /usr/var; tar xf - )
> cd /
> rm -rf /var
> ln -s /usr/var /var
>
> However the 'rm -rf /var' returned
>
> rm: /var: Device busy
>
> After trying all known tricks to me to remove /var, I concluded that
> since it was mounted from the /etc/fstab I should dismount it and remove
> the directory (link point ?) and create a soft link there as
> recommended. However, on rebooting boot was aborted, was thrown into

I've got a note in my copy of that book about that. Apparently,
back when I installed my first FBSD system, I tried the delete
the /var partition. The note indicates that I discovered that
it couldn't be done. :)

If you were following Leahy's instructions, then you copied the
contents of /var to /usr/var. If you haven't deleted /usr/var,
the you can copy the contents back to var. If you have deleted
/usr/var, but you have backup, then you can restore the contents
from your backup. If either of the above were true, you probably
wouldn't be posting here asking how to restore. Since you are
asking, you probably can't restore the contents.

However, you can still restore the directories (without any files
that might have been in them).

If you installed from a CD set, the second CD should contain a
live file system. Copy the contents of /cdrom/var to /var. If
you installed from downloaded sources, I'm guessing that the
freebsd.org site has a similar live file system somewhere, so if
you can find it, you should be able to copy it to /var. I've
never looked for it, so I don't know where it would be. Even if
you can restore from /usr/var or backup, you should check a live
file system to ensure that the restored directories in /var have
the correct flags and you haven't made some other error.

When you create /var and /temp in the disklable editor during
installation, you are creating partitions in your slice. Unlike
directories, which are only listings of addresses for files and
other directories, a partition is a persistent part of your hard
disk. The tools that delete directories have no effect on it.
You could probably muck up your system in a way that makes a
partition unavailable, but it is still occupying space on your
hard disk, and that space will be wasted. If you want to delete
the /var and /tmp partitions, you should do a 0-level dump of
your system, remove /var and /tmp in the disklabel editor during
reinstallation, and the restore your files from the dump archive.
Unless your have a tiny hard drive and are desperate for space,
I don't think it's worth the effort.

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• Previous message: Bob Hall: "Re: lynx on 4.8-stable"
• In reply to: Joseph Maxwell: "Repositioning /var | /tmp to avoid disk full condition"
• Next in thread: Lee Harr: "Re: Repositioning /var | /tmp to avoid disk full condition"
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