David Maxwell wrote:

> > Why is this change necessary?  IMHO, it isn't.  Leave it alone, there
> > are more important things to worry about.
> 
> Why was /etc/rc.conf created? Because it consolidates configuration
> into one place.
> 
> hier(7) says
> 
> /var/    multi-purpose log, temporary, transient, and spool files
> 
> Which doesn't fit semi-permanent user-configuration files.

A quick look through /var on one of my systems shows:

	/var/crash/minfree
	/var/cron/*
	/var/db/ntp.drift
	/var/db/pkg/*
	/var/games/*
	/var/mail/*			[*]
	/var/yp/[domain]/.ypservers

Should all of these be moved to /etc too?  Maybe hier(7) just needs
updating...

If the issue is "I don't want to back up all of /var", then our dump(8)
has support command-line list of files and directories to dump for a
while now (my 1.3.3 system has this).

ps: I'm in the "keep /var/cron there camp" :-)  My main reasoning is
keep the root filesystem quiet - that way it's got less of a chance of
getting corrupted during crashes, etc.  These days I set up my systems
with /, /var and "data" partitions like /home, etc.


[*] /var/mail/* could be called "temporary" files by some user's
    definitions

Simon.