RE: Question on Paritioning

["Robert P. J. Day" <rpjday mindspring com>]

On Mon, 31 Mar 2003, Martin, Ava wrote:

> I'm at work right now, but if my memory serves me correct it was multiple
> ones, /, /opt, and I believe /var.  The main problem is that you don't find
> out the partitions are not large enough until the install gets ready to
> start.  By then, it's too late to go back, you have to start all over.
> 
> Basically, I'd like some ideas for partition sizes.  Say if I have a 20GB
> drive what would be a suitable, good partition layout, keeping in mind I'd
> like to do a complete full install.  

here's a cheap trick i've used for a while.  as a first-time
"throwaway" install, do a full install into one humongous,
single root partition.  once that's done, boot, then

  # cd /
  # du -s *

this will give you a good idea of what you're looking at
in terms of directory usage.  note particularly the size
of /usr -- a full install will normally take 4-5G just 
under /usr alone.

note that all this is in aid of creating fixed partitions.
instead of that, just choose to use LVM at install time,
and you can manipulate your partition sizes at will later
on.

from what i've seen, assuming that LVM is a solid, stable
product, there's little reason not to start using it.

rday