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

[Chris G]

On Fri, Oct 02, 2009 at 05:14:58PM +0100, Colin Law wrote:
> 2009/10/2 Chris G <cl at isbd.net>:
> > On Fri, Oct 02, 2009 at 04:52:11PM +0100, Chris G wrote:
> >> 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.
> >>
> > ... and, yes, I do know that /tmp will use space in the / filesystem
> > unless it's mounted as a separate filesystem.
> 
> Could you mount /var/cache/apt/archives onto the SD card so that the
> apt downloads would go there?  If you are so short of space that you
> have not room for the downloads however, will you have room to install
> the new stuff anyway?
> 
I'm not installing any new applications, only trying to apply the
recommended System Updates, so while things inevitably grow I wouldn't
expect to be using much more space after the upgrade.

System Update says it needs 450Mb or so to do the upgrade, since the
system only has 2Gb altogether that's very difficult to manage.


-- 
Chris Green