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

[Mark Syms]

> Message: 9
> Date: Fri, 2 Oct 2009 17:25:26 +0100
> From: Chris G <cl at isbd.net>
> Subject: Re: Can I get system update (synaptic) to use non-root
> 	filesystem?
> To: ubuntu-users at lists.ubuntu.com
> Message-ID: <20091002162526.GI20704 at chris>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
> 
> 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
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ------------------------------

Chris,

Placing /var/cache/apt/archives onto your SD card would be a very good
start, I've done this on a number of systems (including an eeePC). Mount up
the SD card some where temporary, mv the directory and then symlink it back
into place. I assume with 20 years of experience this makes some sense to
you. Also pruning your /var/logs directory before starting the upgrade to
get rid of as much as possible is good.

Regards,

Mark.