> > /var is for files that are specific to the system they are on.
> Can you provide a reference for this somewhat extraordinary claim?
From the Solaris filesystem man page: ``/var: Root of a subtree for
varying files. Varying files are files that are unique to a machine but
that can grow to an arbitrary (that is, variable) size.''
/ and /etc are also host-specific, but they're on the root disk, which
is usually very small. Sun needed a host-specific place for mailboxes,
log files, etc., so they invented /var.
It turned out that making a new name for non-shared files was a mistake:
Sun should have left /usr alone, and set up a new name for shared files,
so that programs with host-specific files in /usr would continue to
work. Fortunately they did /usr/share and /usr/kvm the right way.
---Dan
Let your users manage their own mailing lists. http://pobox.com/~djb/qmail.html
> Can you provide a reference for this somewhat extraordinary claim?
From the Solaris filesystem man page: ``/var: Root of a subtree for
varying files. Varying files are files that are unique to a machine but
that can grow to an arbitrary (that is, variable) size.''
/ and /etc are also host-specific, but they're on the root disk, which
is usually very small. Sun needed a host-specific place for mailboxes,
log files, etc., so they invented /var.
It turned out that making a new name for non-shared files was a mistake:
Sun should have left /usr alone, and set up a new name for shared files,
so that programs with host-specific files in /usr would continue to
work. Fortunately they did /usr/share and /usr/kvm the right way.
---Dan
Let your users manage their own mailing lists. http://pobox.com/~djb/qmail.html