Can I get system update (synaptic) to use non-root filesystem?

[Chris G]

On Fri, Oct 02, 2009 at 10:15:49AM -0300, Derek Broughton wrote:
> Chris G wrote:
> 
> > I have eeebuntu installed on an Eee PC, it doesn't have much
> > memory/disk so update manager can't do updates at the moment.
> > 
> > I can plug in an SD card to give it some working space but I can't
> > see any way to tell Update Manager to use the SD card rather than /.
> 
> Of course not.  What do you think it would put there?
> 
Working files?!  After the update there's not going to be much
difference in the amount of space used, it's only *during* the update
that it needs teh extra space.


> Generally, the config files (/etc) and system executables (/bin, /sbin) MUST 
> go on the root filesystem.  You can move practically anything else to other 
> filesystems, but you still need to keep the names the same - Debian/Ubuntu 
> use a standard naming system - that means you have to use "mount" to put 
> your new filesystems in the right place.  Methinks that's probably too 
> advanced for you.
> 
Er, not really, I've been using/programming/administering Unix and
Linux systems since some time in the 1980s.


> First, in synaptic go to Settings/Preferences/Files and click on "Delete 
> Cached Package Files", this should free up a lot of space.  Then you can 
> choose to "Delete Downloaded Packages after Installation", which will stop 
> the package cache from growing in future.
> 
I've already done all the obvious removal of unwanted files. I've had
a pretty careful look and *most* of the space used on the system is
/usr/share and /usr/lib.

> It might be very useful for you to put /tmp on the SD card, but I doubt it 
> would be a very good idea to use it for anything else.

If System Update uses /tmp as working space it might well solve my
problem, if it doesn't but *really* uses space in / as working space
then I'm a bit stuck.

-- 
Chris Green