Would be better to have:

lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 Apr 19 12:18 /var/mail -> spool/mail
drwxrwxrwt 2 root root 72 Apr 19 12:18 /var/spool/mail

or:

drwxrwxrwt 2 root root 72 Apr 19 12:18 /var/mail
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 Apr 19 12:18 /var/spool/mail -> ../mail

--
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Phil Howard KA9WGN | http://linuxhomepage.com/ http://ham.org/ |
| (first name) at ipal.net | http://phil.ipal.org/ http://ka9wgn.ham.org/ |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

On 2005-04-19, phil-news-nospam@ipal.net <phil-news-nospam@ipal.net> wrote:
> Would be better to have:
> lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 Apr 19 12:18 /var/mail -> spool/mail
> drwxrwxrwt 2 root root 72 Apr 19 12:18 /var/spool/mail

Make /var/spool/mail a separate partition and you can also set userquota
on the various inboxes.

Davide

--
Windows 95 is not a virus. Viruses actually do something.

On Tue, 19 Apr 2005 19:49:03 +0200 Davide Bianchi <davideyeahsure@onlyforfun.net> wrote:
| On 2005-04-19, phil-news-nospam@ipal.net <phil-news-nospam@ipal.net> wrote:
|> Would be better to have:
|> lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 Apr 19 12:18 /var/mail -> spool/mail
|> drwxrwxrwt 2 root root 72 Apr 19 12:18 /var/spool/mail
|
| Make /var/spool/mail a separate partition and you can also set userquota
| on the various inboxes.

I was going to do the separate partition, though for using the noatime
option on all the other paritions, but not for mail. But while I am
working on this, the question in my mind is whether that partition should
be mounted at /var/mail or at /var/spool/mail (and have the other point
to where mounted). I suppose mounting with --bind at both is an option
as well.

--
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Phil Howard KA9WGN | http://linuxhomepage.com/ http://ham.org/ |
| (first name) at ipal.net | http://phil.ipal.org/ http://ka9wgn.ham.org/ |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

On 2005-04-19, phil-news-nospam@ipal.net <phil-news-nospam@ipal.net> wrote:
> working on this, the question in my mind is whether that partition should
> be mounted at /var/mail or at /var/spool/mail (and have the other point

Well, this is more a matter of your preferences, I prefer to have it
under /var/spool/mail and have /var/mail as a symlink.

Davide

--
"I'm not lean and mean, I'm surly and anorexic".
-- Chris "Saundo" Saunderson on alt.sysadmin.recovery

On Tue, 19 Apr 2005 22:41:35 +0200 Davide Bianchi <davideyeahsure@onlyforfun.net> wrote:
| On 2005-04-19, phil-news-nospam@ipal.net <phil-news-nospam@ipal.net> wrote:
|> working on this, the question in my mind is whether that partition should
|> be mounted at /var/mail or at /var/spool/mail (and have the other point
|
| Well, this is more a matter of your preferences, I prefer to have it
| under /var/spool/mail and have /var/mail as a symlink.

I'm looking for any reasoning one way or the other. Could you describe
what you feel might be wrong if you had a system with the the opposite
way from your preference?

--
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Phil Howard KA9WGN | http://linuxhomepage.com/ http://ham.org/ |
| (first name) at ipal.net | http://phil.ipal.org/ http://ka9wgn.ham.org/ |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

On 19 Apr 2005 18:13:37 GMT, phil-news-nospam@ipal.net
<phil-news-nospam@ipal.net> wrote:
> On Tue, 19 Apr 2005 19:49:03 +0200 Davide Bianchi <davideyeahsure@onlyforfun.net> wrote:
>| On 2005-04-19, phil-news-nospam@ipal.net <phil-news-nospam@ipal.net> wrote:
>|> Would be better to have:
>|> lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 Apr 19 12:18 /var/mail -> spool/mail
>|> drwxrwxrwt 2 root root 72 Apr 19 12:18 /var/spool/mail
>|
>| Make /var/spool/mail a separate partition and you can also set userquota
>| on the various inboxes.
>
> I was going to do the separate partition, though for using the noatime
> option on all the other paritions, but not for mail. But while I am
> working on this, the question in my mind is whether that partition should
> be mounted at /var/mail or at /var/spool/mail (and have the other point
> to where mounted). I suppose mounting with --bind at both is an option
> as well.
>
I don't think there would be much difference between mounting a
partition at /var/mail or /var/spool/mail. There is a third option,
mounting a partition at /var/spool. Might be useful if you run a news
server.


--
"I deleted a file from my PC last week and I have just realized that I
need it. If I turn my system clock back two weeks will I have my file
back again?"

On 2005-04-19, phil-news-nospam@ipal.net <phil-news-nospam@ipal.net> wrote:
> I'm looking for any reasoning one way or the other. Could you describe
> what you feel might be wrong

Nothing, the systems I was working on in the beginning were this way
and I kept them this way.

Davide

--
Windows Tip of the Day:
Add DEVICE=FNGRCROS.SYS to your CONFIG.SYS file.

On Tue, 19 Apr 2005 17:41:59 -0400 Bill Marcum <bmarcum@iglou.com.urgent> wrote:
| On 19 Apr 2005 18:13:37 GMT, phil-news-nospam@ipal.net
| <phil-news-nospam@ipal.net> wrote:
|> On Tue, 19 Apr 2005 19:49:03 +0200 Davide Bianchi <davideyeahsure@onlyforfun.net> wrote:
|>| On 2005-04-19, phil-news-nospam@ipal.net <phil-news-nospam@ipal.net> wrote:
|>|> Would be better to have:
|>|> lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 Apr 19 12:18 /var/mail -> spool/mail
|>|> drwxrwxrwt 2 root root 72 Apr 19 12:18 /var/spool/mail
|>|
|>| Make /var/spool/mail a separate partition and you can also set userquota
|>| on the various inboxes.
|>
|> I was going to do the separate partition, though for using the noatime
|> option on all the other paritions, but not for mail. But while I am
|> working on this, the question in my mind is whether that partition should
|> be mounted at /var/mail or at /var/spool/mail (and have the other point
|> to where mounted). I suppose mounting with --bind at both is an option
|> as well.
|>
| I don't think there would be much difference between mounting a
| partition at /var/mail or /var/spool/mail. There is a third option,
| mounting a partition at /var/spool. Might be useful if you run a news
| server.

True. But then, news might warrant it's own private partition. I have
run those before. RAID storage is helpful.

--
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Phil Howard KA9WGN | http://linuxhomepage.com/ http://ham.org/ |
| (first name) at ipal.net | http://phil.ipal.org/ http://ka9wgn.ham.org/ |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

<phil-news-nospam@ipal.net> wrote in message
news:d43sia020g5@news4.newsguy.com...
> On Tue, 19 Apr 2005 22:41:35 +0200 Davide Bianchi
> <davideyeahsure@onlyforfun.net> wrote:
> | On 2005-04-19, phil-news-nospam@ipal.net <phil-news-nospam@ipal.net>
> wrote:
> |> working on this, the question in my mind is whether that partition
> should
> |> be mounted at /var/mail or at /var/spool/mail (and have the other point
> |
> | Well, this is more a matter of your preferences, I prefer to have it
> | under /var/spool/mail and have /var/mail as a symlink.
>
> I'm looking for any reasoning one way or the other. Could you describe
> what you feel might be wrong if you had a system with the the opposite
> way from your preference?

If you run other tools that have lots of little files that need backup less
often, such as a news server or mailing list or even some databases,
/var/spool has been a historically consistent place to put them.

It isn't important which of /var/mail and /var/spool/mail is the
real directory and which is the symbolic link pointing to the other.
I recommend leaving it set up however your distribution does it in a
standard installation so package updates don't get confused. If you
really want to optimize, however, you could survey the tools you use
that access the mail spool directly (/bin/mail, pine, IMAP server,
etc.) and make the most popular path the real directory.

:: Jeff Makey
jeff@sdsc.edu

Department of Tautological Pleonasms and Superfluous Redundancies Department