/var on seperate partition -- reinstalling arch

procyon108 · 2017-10-16 22:04:31

I have /var on a separate partition and wish to reinstall Arch, leaving /var unchanged. Will this cause problems for me?

loqs · 2017-10-16 22:12:31

If the /var is mounted when you reinstall arch pacman will detect files already existing on the filesystem that it is not tracking and will abort the transaction.
If /var is not mounted then the reinstall will succeed but you later would have to merge the /var directory with the /var partition.
Generally reinstalling arch is unnecessary, why you believe you need to?

procyon108 · 2017-10-18 00:16:11

After doing a little looking about, I understand why / and /var need to be in sync. However, I should have been clearer about my intent.

I am installing btrfs into @root @home... and so on. The plan is to devise a good strategy for @root rollbacks.

Is it wise to install /var/lib as @lib so that:

A) I can isolate docker and lxc as they make nested subvols of their own, and that's just a mess. i.e in a standard install, none of my docker containers will be part of a @root snapshot since the read-write layers the btrfs storage driver creates when an image is launched are all nested subvols beneath /. Isolating container activity on this build is paramount to it's function.

B) I don't want to have to reinstall all of my lxc containers if I roll back @root.

C) When I defrag my plex, and kvm directories, I want to keep that activity isolated from @root so that I'm not breaking CoW on defraged files in a @root snapshot. With kvm, there is the desire for statefull machines during a rollback as well.

D) My /var/lib/plex is quite large and personalized. Every bit as necessary to keep a stateful plex as I would want a stateful @home during a rollback.

So the question is, if at some point when I rollback @root to @root-yesterday, what processes are going to freak out on me because @root-yesterday and @lib<today> will be out of sync?

fsckd · 2017-10-18 00:38:22

Filesystem Hierarchy Standard: /var/lib

Arch Linux

#1 2017-10-16 22:04:31

/var on seperate partition -- reinstalling arch

#2 2017-10-16 22:12:31

Re: /var on seperate partition -- reinstalling arch

#3 2017-10-18 00:16:11

Re: /var on seperate partition -- reinstalling arch

#4 2017-10-18 00:38:22

Re: /var on seperate partition -- reinstalling arch

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