[ILUG] History of /etc ?

[Chris Higgins]

On Mon, 31 May 2004 15:31:15 +0100
Colm MacCarthaigh <colm at stdlib.net> wrote:

> On Mon, May 31, 2004 at 03:27:53PM +0100, Barry Flanagan wrote:
> > > Unless you mount /usr via nfs, and it's exported ro from the nfs
> > > server. 
> > >You can then modify the files on the nfs server using an admin host
> > >and the mount never has to be remounted. 
> > 
> > Thank you Dave. And in that way even if the box is rooted, no hard
> > can come to your /usr filesystem.
> 
> Sure it can, it can mounted over. And what if the admin box is rooted?
> fun-central! Or what if it just crashes, and so on ...

Having the ability to mount /usr as (ro), and define your setup
to match your needs is one of the great things about the Unix
way of doing things..

We all see the problems that have arisen because the network
transparency assumptions of X-windows are being abused or ignored
by people who don't use them as a key part of *their* way of
doing things.

/usr is a separate file system for a reason. That reason may not 
matter when you run Linux as a home OS for your own needs, but
it damn well does matter when I run it as a server os...  You 
can re-mount it all you want, but I'd like to see you try that
when it's a readonly CD.... 

There will always be a 'what-if' scenario, but with a flexible
approach to the location of '/usr', and '/var' etc.., I can
make my systems better suit my needs... Hopefully people will
continue with assumption that /usr *may* be a separate filesystem, 
and may be (ro), and that allows those from whom it makes sense
to implement it that way - and isn't that what it's all about - "best
tool for the job" and all that.

<troll>
If you just want "one way to do it", you know which OS to go play
with. 
</troll> 

:-)