On Fri, 26 Aug 2005 23:41:10 -0400, Walter Dnes wrote:

>   This'll be my first linux install that won't be 32-bit Intel.  I've
> been reading the AMD64 install docs on the Gentoo.org website.  The big
> items I've noticed are...
>   - stick with ext2fs/ext3fs with all other filesystems being unstable

I've been running resierfs and xfs for well over a year with zero
problems.

>   I intend to use the following partition layout...
>   - /    8 gigs
>   - swap 2 gigs
>   - /var 8 gigs
>   - /home gets the rest of the drive.  There'll be tons of my garbage
>     under /home/misc.  /usr/local and /opt will be symlinks on / with
>     the actual files sitting in /home/misc/local and /home/misc/opt.

8GB for / is probably OK, I have that size for /usr, with /var and .opt
mounted on /usr/{var,opt} and it's around 75% full (/ is ~150MB).
symlinks for partitions always seem kludgy to me, I prefer to mount on
the directory with the bind option, I use

/usr/var /var  auto  bind  0 0

in /etc/fstab.

>   This layout reflects my experiences from my Windows and Redhat days.
> Keep the OS on its own partition, so you can blow away and re-install or
> install the next version as required.

There is no "next version" with Gentoo, so this doesn't really apply.
Even if you did feel some odd need to reinstall, it's no big deal to tar
up /usr/local before doing so.


-- 
Neil Bothwick

Top Oxymorons Number 48: freewill offering