On Mar 22, 2005, at 4:23 PM, Greg Earle wrote:
>>   I guess you like logs and files in /tmp filling up your filesystem.
>> What about what the *application* is "most comfortable" with?   
>> Operating
>> systems aren't about administrator comfort...they're about controlling
>> access to a computer's resources.
>
> Logs tend to be rotated, last I heard.  And as for them - or /tmp files
> (I use an MFS /tmp anyway, so that's "separate" - happy?) filling up
> disks, I offer you this link:
>
> http://www.overstock.com/cgi-bin/d2.cgi? 
> PAGE=PRODUCT&PROD_ID=1106306&cid=25608&fp=F
>
> In these days when you can get 73 GB SCSI disks for US $80, the old
> "But you might fill up the disk!" arguments don't hold much weight.

   Yeah, yeah.  The "disk is cheap so who gives a damn" argument is  
popular, I just don't like it. ;)

...
> I separate my 9 GB boot disk.  But the point I was trying to make is
> that in this day and age of 73 GB SCSI drives and 400 GB EIDE drives,
> a lot of the old arguments for partitioning have gone out the window.

   But only some of them were based on limited disk space.  What about  
FFS optimizations based on access patterns?  What about things like the  
ability to mount /usr read-only?

> "Sick to your stomach"?  I suggest meditation if it stresses you that
> much  :-)

   Well meditation might make me more able to deal with the idea of  
people thinking that certain things have become "OK", and by extension  
other issues that come up frequently such as the x86 architecture being  
"modern" and similar arguments, but I'd rather just try really, really  
hard to do what I think is the right thing to do.

   Not trying to be argumentative here...just voicing an opinion.  A  
strongly-held one borne from years of experience just like you, but an  
opinion nonetheless.

>   I've been running NetBSD/SPARC since 0.9 as well (early 1994,
> if I recall correctly; with one abortive foray into NetBSD/SPARC64).
> I don't see how it's cut-and-dried that it's "good engineering  
> practice".

   Well der Mouse has made an excellent point on this matter, to which I  
will reply in a moment.

>>   Kids these days, indeed.
>
> I'm 46.  :-)

   Ahh, you old fart.  I just turned 36 yesterday. ;)

          -Dave

--
Dave McGuire          "PC users only know two 'solutions'...
Cape Coral, FL          reboot and upgrade."    -Jonathan Patschke