source: chapter02/creatingpartition.xml@ e436213

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Last change on this file since e436213 was ffe0a2f, checked in by Matthew Burgess <matthew@…>, 14 years ago

Fix a few typos. Fixes #2618. Thanks to Chris Staub for the patch.

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1<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
2<!DOCTYPE sect1 PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.5//EN"
3 "http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.5/docbookx.dtd" [
4 <!ENTITY % general-entities SYSTEM "../general.ent">
5 %general-entities;
6]>
7
8<sect1 id="space-creatingpartition">
9 <?dbhtml filename="creatingpartition.html"?>
10
11 <title>Creating a New Partition</title>
12
13 <para>Like most other operating systems, LFS is usually installed on a
14 dedicated partition. The recommended approach to building an LFS system
15 is to use an available empty partition or, if you have enough unpartitioned
16 space, to create one.</para>
17
18<!--
19
20 <para>It is possible to install an LFS system (in fact even multiple LFS
21 systems) on a partition already occupied by another
22 operating system and the different systems will co-exist peacefully. The
23 document <ulink url="&hints-root;lfs_next_to_existing_systems.txt"/>
24 contains notes on how to implement this. This document was last updated
25 in 2004. It has not been updated since and it has not been tested with
26 recent versions of this LFS book. The document is more than likely not
27 usable as-is and you will need to account for changes made to the LFS
28 procedures since it was written. This is only recommended for expert LFS
29 users.</para>
30
31-->
32
33 <para>A minimal system requires a partition of around 1.3 gigabytes (GB).
34 This is enough to store all the source tarballs and compile the packages.
35 However, if the LFS system is intended to be the primary Linux system,
36 additional software will probably be installed which will require additional
37 space (2-3 GB). The LFS system itself will not take up this much room.
38 A large portion of this requirement is to provide sufficient free temporary
39 storage. Compiling packages can require a lot of disk space which will be
40 reclaimed after the package is installed.</para>
41
42 <para>Because there is not always enough Random Access Memory (RAM) available
43 for compilation processes, it is a good idea to use a small disk partition as
44 <systemitem class="filesystem">swap</systemitem> space. This is used by the
45 kernel to store seldom-used data and leave more memory available for active
46 processes. The <systemitem class="filesystem">swap</systemitem> partition for
47 an LFS system can be the same as the one used by the host system, in which
48 case it is not necessary to create another one.</para>
49
50 <para>Start a disk partitioning program such as <command>cfdisk</command>
51 or <command>fdisk</command> with a command line option naming the hard
52 disk on which the new partition will be created&mdash;for example
53 <filename class="devicefile">/dev/hda</filename> for the primary Integrated
54 Drive Electronics (IDE) disk. Create a Linux native partition and a
55 <systemitem class="filesystem">swap</systemitem> partition, if needed. Please
56 refer to <filename>cfdisk(8)</filename> or <filename>fdisk(8)</filename> if
57 you do not yet know how to use the programs.</para>
58
59 <para>Remember the designation of the new partition (e.g., <filename
60 class="devicefile">hda5</filename>). This book will refer to this as
61 the LFS partition. Also remember the designation of the <systemitem
62 class="filesystem">swap</systemitem> partition. These names will be
63 needed later for the <filename>/etc/fstab</filename> file.</para>
64
65 <sect2>
66 <title>Other Partition Issues</title>
67
68 <para>Requests for advice on system partitioning are often posted on the LFS mailing
69 lists. This is a highly subjective topic. The default for most distributions
70 is to use the entire drive with the exception of one small swap partition. This
71 is not optimal for LFS for several reasons. It reduces flexibility, makes
72 sharing of data across multiple distributions or LFS builds more difficult, makes
73 backups more time consuming, and can waste disk space through inefficient
74 allocation of file system structures.</para>
75
76 <sect3>
77 <title>The Root Partition</title>
78
79 <para>A root LFS partition (not to be confused with the
80 <filename class="directory">/root</filename> directory) of
81 ten gigabytes is a good compromise for most systems. It provides enough
82 space to build LFS and most of BLFS, but is small enough so that multiple
83 partitions can be easily created for experimentation.</para> </sect3>
84
85 <sect3>
86 <title>The Swap Partition</title>
87
88 <para>Most distributions automatically create a swap partition. Generally
89 the recommended size of the swap partition is about twice the amount of
90 physical RAM, however this is rarely needed. If disk space is limited,
91 hold the swap partition to two gigabytes and monitor the amount of disk
92 swapping.</para>
93
94 <para>Swapping is never good. Generally you can tell if a system is
95 swapping by just listening to disk activity and observing how the system
96 reacts to commands. The first reaction to swapping should be to check for
97 an unreasonable command such as trying to edit a five gigabyte file. If
98 swapping becomes a normal occurance, the best solution is to purchase more
99 RAM for your system.</para> </sect3>
100
101 <sect3>
102 <title>Convenience Partitions</title>
103
104 <para>There are several other partitions that are not required, but should
105 be considered when designing a disk layout. The following list
106 is not comprehensive, but is meant as a guide.</para>
107
108 <itemizedlist>
109
110 <listitem><para>/boot &ndash; Highly recommended. Use this partition to
111 store kernels and other booting information. To minimize potential boot
112 problems with larger disks, make this the first physical partition on
113 your first disk drive. A partition size of 100 megabytes is quite
114 adequate.</para></listitem>
115
116 <listitem><para>/home &ndash; Highly recommended. Share your home
117 directory and user customization across multiple distributions or LFS
118 builds. The size is generally fairly large and depends on available disk
119 space.</para></listitem>
120
121 <listitem><para>/usr &ndash; A separate /usr partition is generally used
122 if providing a server for a thin client or diskless workstation. It is
123 normally not needed for LFS. A size of five gigabytes will handle most
124 installations.</para></listitem>
125
126 <listitem><para>/opt &ndash; This directory is most useful for
127 BLFS where multiple installations of large packages like Gnome or KDE can
128 be installed without embedding the files in the /usr hierarchy. If
129 used, five to ten gigabytes is generally adequate.</para>
130 </listitem>
131
132 <listitem><para>/tmp &ndash; A separate /tmp directory is rare, but
133 useful if configuring a thin client. This partition, if used, will
134 usually not need to exceed a couple of gigabytes.</para></listitem>
135
136 <listitem><para>/usr/src &ndash; This partition is very
137 useful for providing a location to store BLFS source files and
138 share them across LFS builds. It can also be used as a location
139 for building BLFS packages. A reasonably large partition of 30-50
140 gigabytes allows plenty of room.</para></listitem>
141
142 </itemizedlist>
143
144 <para>Any separate partition that you want automatically mounted upon boot
145 needs to be specified in the <filename>/etc/fstab</filename>. Details
146 about how to specify partitions will be discussed in <xref
147 linkend="ch-bootable-fstab"/>. </para>
148
149 </sect3>
150 </sect2>
151</sect1>
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