From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: from lists.gentoo.org (pigeon.gentoo.org [208.92.234.80]) by finch.gentoo.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id BF1941381F3 for ; Mon, 17 Dec 2012 08:51:21 +0000 (UTC) Received: from pigeon.gentoo.org (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by pigeon.gentoo.org (Postfix) with SMTP id 905C221C07F; Mon, 17 Dec 2012 08:51:06 +0000 (UTC) Received: from mail-ea0-f181.google.com (mail-ea0-f181.google.com [209.85.215.181]) (using TLSv1 with cipher ECDHE-RSA-RC4-SHA (128/128 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by pigeon.gentoo.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id EEF0121C028 for ; Mon, 17 Dec 2012 08:49:54 +0000 (UTC) Received: by mail-ea0-f181.google.com with SMTP id k14so2335669eaa.40 for ; Mon, 17 Dec 2012 00:49:53 -0800 (PST) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=gmail.com; s=20120113; h=date:from:to:subject:message-id:in-reply-to:references:organization :x-mailer:mime-version:content-type:content-transfer-encoding; bh=1TZpW0yPcyiMq6j+rhq/JnN6bw7IaQOJupTP3poWj6Y=; b=NNMzRQ5nSROOzcYZtyYXUw+rbnar+G++yXq16vUmKaEBz2opL3wll83xY1MT8xY7X2 ejWMeMWTvLnR66KRywuGbaD3bR5fbqbHI/vRU6ftXQPPrlidtIVKW68TXQGYnaQGc1Vo iu28D41AuBKniyfhyAsWlE4z7saS/UQRiRT8XDp8NLHY1lOQj5vTx1RmyGIXnMCoiGmk bPzEx7TZLGdijxXLXXrpvUnavk4tcdxXCwoDiig3tZdsEbuzKE3GnXEQpTXbP0J+Uibm waGct7zfaAMdsFojP+jC5aKBOaSus5kS6Im7RvS0RqoJsS9BUB2U5H4eMj2IqA7ThZIy Ln0Q== Received: by 10.14.184.131 with SMTP id s3mr39237290eem.38.1355734193643; Mon, 17 Dec 2012 00:49:53 -0800 (PST) Received: from khamul.example.com (196-215-209-117.dynamic.isadsl.co.za. [196.215.209.117]) by mx.google.com with ESMTPS id f6sm27708276eeo.7.2012.12.17.00.49.50 (version=SSLv3 cipher=OTHER); Mon, 17 Dec 2012 00:49:52 -0800 (PST) Date: Mon, 17 Dec 2012 10:46:21 +0200 From: Alan McKinnon To: gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org Subject: Re: [gentoo-user] Re: Anyone switched to eudev yet? Message-ID: <20121217104621.735bf43a@khamul.example.com> In-Reply-To: References: <50CB1942.3020900@gmail.com> <50CB4A3C.1030109@gmail.com> <50CB5406.7040404@gmail.com> <8738z7hgsa.fsf@ist.utl.pt> <20121216171043.71084070@khamul.example.com> Organization: Internet Solutions X-Mailer: Claws Mail 3.8.1 (GTK+ 2.24.14; x86_64-pc-linux-gnu) Precedence: bulk List-Post: List-Help: List-Unsubscribe: List-Subscribe: List-Id: Gentoo Linux mail X-BeenThere: gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org Reply-to: gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Archives-Salt: 10cbddec-faa8-4aee-a3cb-4d8b6b7766b6 X-Archives-Hash: 576fe06edddd6e1b04148dcedcfd7124 On Mon, 17 Dec 2012 16:02:54 +0800 Mark David Dumlao wrote: > > That was the original reason for having / and /usr separate, and it > > dates back to the early 70s. The other reason that stems from that > > time period is the size of disks we had back then - they were tiny > > and often a minimal / was all that could really fit on the primary > > system drive. > > I'm sorry, but I just can't let this one go. The reasons are > backwards. The limitation in free space was the original reason [1] > why / and /usr were separated. In fact, /usr was supposed to serve the > same purpose as /home - it was originally a directory for users. It's > only a quirk of history that served to keep most of the binaries in > /usr when the home directories were moved elsewhere to /home. > > Long story short, Unix, too, has its share of old farts that are > unwilling to embrace change at anything faster than a glacier's pace. > Just ask the Plan 9 folks. > > [1] > http://lists.busybox.net/pipermail/busybox/2010-December/074114.html Well fair enough. This stuff is becoming more myth than fact as less and less people are around to remember how it really went. There may even have been to-ing and fro-ing moving bits around till Ken and Dennis settled on the eventual outcome in that post. Either way, we still agree. A separate /usr is, *for the most part*, a tradition applied without much understanding of the reason (most traditions are exactly like this). Most people do not actually need it. Some people do need it and can clearly state why; I am not in that group. -- Alan McKinnon alan.mckinnon@gmail.com