[nycbug-talk] why /var?

[Okan Demirmen]

On Fri 2005.02.18 at 13:42 -0500, Jay wrote:
> On Fri, 18 Feb 2005 12:31:27 -0500 (EST), Dru <dlavigne6 at sympatico.ca> wrote:
> > 
> > Out of pure innocent curiosity, why do you prefer /var? I don't see the
> > logic as I never thought of a website as "variable" data but I'm
> > interested in hearing someone else's point of view.
> > 
> > Dru
> 
> I can't speak for anyone else, but I can tell you why I like /var.  It
> all depends on how you define 'variable'.  From a system standpoint,
> websites are fairly variable.  Unlike the executables in /bin, /sbin,
> and /usr/*, web content is intended to change.  Maybe not everday, but
> often.  In an ideal world, executables are completely static; if they
> didn't have bugs, we'd never touch them.  Also, if you have any kind
> of user-generated web data--bbs, bloggs, file submission pages--web
> data is extrememly variable.
> 
> The best answer, though, is that /var is where system daemons put
> their data.  Most partition labels don't accurately reflect use
> anymore, anyway.  We don't let many users store publically accessible
> executables in /usr/bin or /usr/local/bin, even though that's what
> they're there for.  Close to half of anything in most most variations
> on the bin theme is likely to not even be binary, but executables in
> some interpreted or compiled and interpreted language like perl,
> python, or java.  And if we're going to be really serious about truth
> in advertising on filesystems, the mail spool should almost certainly
> go in /tmp, and the only honest label for the rest would be to make
> one big /etc partition and leave it at that.
> 
> But these things have a long and not always rational history, and /var
> is where daemon's put their data, and /usr isn't where users put their
> data.  And it makes sense to put the webroot with the mail spool and
> the database directories so that you can harden /usr and enforce a
> serious look, but don't touch policy on that partition.

as you didn't intend to speak for anyone else, you did mostly for me ;)

i agree with what you have stated. one can take /var, and its depths
(/var/mysql /var/www /var/named /var/spool /var/mail .... one slice
or many) and ship them somewhere else, without arch/os concerns(mostly).
/usr contains utils and applications (minus the stuff on /) - one
note here, i don't quite agree with freebsd's location for
/usr/local/etc - creates one more place to keep track of - i know
i'll hear about this futher in this thread ;)

> This is probably a theological issue, though.

yes, most certainly.

okan

> best,
> 
> --jay
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-- 
Okan Demirmen <okan at demirmen.com>
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