Funtoo Reinstall - Some hints?

[pytony]

Hi,

 

I'm planning to reinstall Funtoo in order to move to pure64 (as I'm not using any 32bit).

 

Upstream of said reinstall, I think about repartitioning my disks.

 

I would like to leave some space free in order to be able to install LFS aside.

 

I do have one 56GB SSD (sda), one 233GB HDD (sdb) and 1?4GB RAM.

 

My disks are currently partitioned as the following :

 

• / -> /dev/sda3 53.5GB
• /boot -> /dev/sda1 0.5GB
• swap -> /dev/sda2 2GB
• /home -> /dev/sdb1 233GB

I think about keeping /boot and swap as-is, and split rootfs in 30GB for Funtoo and 23.5GB for LFS

 

However according  to df, rootfs already takes 30GB. So I scanned my disk to identify huge folders :

 

• /usr (19G)
  • /usr/portage (11G)
    • /usr/portage/distfiles (9.8G)
  • /usr/src (2.8G)
  • /usr/share (2.1G)
  • /usr/lib64 (1.8G)
• /var (11G)
  • /var/lib (9.7G)
    • /var/lib/mysql (9.5G)

 

Don't you think it would be appropriate to leave /var/lib on its own partition (uppon /dev/sda) ? Or maybe the whole /var directory should be on the HDD rather than on the SSD ?

 

Maybe /usr/portage would also be welcome on its own partition ?

 

If I do this, I guess I will have to setup an initramfs (which I don't have yet). I see it as an opportunity to learn what it is, how it works and why it is needed.

 

If I setup an initramfs, I will take the opportunity to go back to LVM as well (I left LVM in order to get rid of the initramfs when I wanted to focus on the kernel).

 

Finally, I also think about learning  more about filesystems and try "unusual" ones. Until now, I've only been using ext[2-4] and XFS. I've heard a lot about ZFS and BtrFS. Unfortunately I don't know much about filesystems (only got a very basic course about FAT, inode-based FS and the differences) and I don't know what changes I will be able to notice and what things I will be able to do with another filesystem. Do you think it is advisable to, let's say, use ZFS for the rootfs and learn more about filesystems a few months later ?

 

Thank you all.

[Tassie_Tux]

Moving /usr/portage/distfiles and /var/lib/mysql from your SSD (/dev/sda3) to your HDD (/dev/sdb) would give you that needed space for LFS. Both can be mounted via /etc/fstab instead of an initramfs. Moving /var to a separate partition would most certainly require an initramfs.

 

With /var/lib/mysql on its own partition you could then employ filesystem options that are tuned for optimal mysql performance. :)

 

/ (root) on /dev/sda with ext4 allows you the option of TRIM.

 

LVM, ZFS and Btrfs allow snapshots/rollbacks.

[pytony]

Thanks Tassie_Tux, I think I'm gonna do a separate `/var` and  `/usr/portage/distfiles`. I don't especially need options tuned for mysql performance. This is a database I only use occasionally when I am teleworking.

 

I am currently reading about ZFS. If I understand correctly, I can use ZFS instead of LVM as it ships with its own logical volume manager. However I guess I still need LVM if I want to have distinct filesystems on each volume.

[Tassie_Tux]

When I first started with Funtoo I had attempted to install with a separate /var but was unable to get it to work smoothly. It is a configuration that most likely requires initramfs to mount pre-sysvinit/OpenRC.

 

Well guess what? I am currently reading about LVM2!  :D

 

As for ZFS (which I run for non-root storage) I am not aware of a way to use ZFS zpools (i.e. logical volumes) with non-ZFS file systems. Keep reading.  ;)

[pytony]

Oh I just found eclean utility by chance and freed 4Go in /usr/portage/distfiles :)

[pytony]

It looks like zpools are currently not resizable. :/ If so I think I'd better use LVM on top anyway.